GT #55 Pelicans at Wizards 7:00 pm 02/22/2014

[Illmatic21]

^Wall had Roberts on skates there

The problem with benching Beal is that there isn't a solid 2-guard option. Webster is a three with no handles and a sub-par defender against quicker 2's. Ariza has been playing a ton of minutes and maybe you can move John there with Andre Miller at the 1 or vice versa, but that's not a very good defensive backcourt. If we had a guy like Morrow (or my guy Gary Neal), I'd say get Beal out of there when he's cold. I do wish Temple shot the ball better, but he can at least defend. Then there's GR Jr who I think is on a milk carton somewhere and I guess won't play until next season.

And Beal has handles? Beal can defend quick 2s?

I don't understand why Wittman leaves Beal out there for 35+ minutes when he's hurting the team. Bradley took it upon himself to screw up the second unit today. He isn't some All-Star or a 'horse' that you can ride for 35+ minutes every game like Wall, he is a 20-year old guard who doesn't do any one thing consistently. A good coach wouldn't hesitate to sit him when he decides to pull one of his disappearing acts.

[Ruzious]

Nene looking like he had LIFT on that last play. Superb game by him.

No question about it, but... there are folks out there who are going to focus on him only having 7 rebounds and having 4 to's vs no assists. If he doesn't fill up every stat while playing stellar team defense, he will get criticized, because he's one of those players that certain people focus on what he doesn't do rather than what he does do.

[Jay81]

terrible win against a depleted team playing 2nd of back to back. Really..most average teams would win by 10 pts.

[jeffsays]

terrible win against a depleted team playing 2nd of back to back. Really..most average teams would win by 10 pts.

I'll take a terrible win over a close loss any day.

[keynote]

Snuck down to DC to take my dad to the game. Great to see the clutch plays at the end in person.

NO doesn't have a national brand yet, so the crowd was solidly pro Wiz.

Fans were disgruntled with Beal, and pleased with Miller. A few folks near me asked about Rice (not pictured). The crowd showed a lot of love at the end. God times.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using RealGM Forums mobile app

[miller31time]

Was at the game tonight. Really good atmosphere. People are starting to actually get behind this team (and I'm not just talking about that last play which brought the house down).

Thought Wall played a solid floor game though the shot wasn't falling and he wasn't being nearly aggressive enough on offense.

Beal frustrates me to no end. It's like he thinks he's the point guard, how much he handles the ball out there. There were times when Andre Miller was in the game that Bradley would take the ball up and try to initiate the freaking offense. Hard to do with no handles and average-at-best passing skills. The sooner he realizes his current limitations, the better. I have no problem with him working on these things and eventually developing the ability to be more of a combo guard but now is CLEARLY not the time.

Nene was a beast. You didn't need to be at the game to see that. That was a bad man out there tonight.

Wittman should probably re-work his rotations. Have Wall come out at the 3-minute mark of the 1st and 3rd quarters and check back in around the 6-minute mark of the 4th. Keeping John out until 4 minutes to go was a very, very dangerous move.

And lastly, it was weird seeing a game without our craptastic bench guys checking in. The sadistic part of me misses Fart and Self Czech.

[jivelikenice]

I don't agree with the notion at all that we were coasting today. New Orleans hasn't had a good season but they an MVP caliber talent on their roster in Anthony Davis. On our end Néne was on so the ball went to him a lot. Not saying it shouldn't have but that took us out of our 3 pt game and its difficult to build a big lead playing by 2s.

Most importantly Beal screed us. Why did he play the most minutes tonight? Wall didn't force his shot attempts with Néne going. Beal however played his typical ball stopping type game. He had a real pg on the floor with him but continued to run 15 seconds off the clock running or dribbling behind screens. Wittman needs to sit him down and tell him he needs to let Miller and Wall set him up if something isn't immediately there off the initial move. But back to the point, his poor shooting and ball stopping won't allow us to pull away so I just don't think coasting was applicable here....I hope the only reason we didn't see Wall/miller was because it was andre's first game. Side note, I've never seen anyone dribble so much to make no progress towards the basket....
My minutes distribution....
Wall -35 minutes
Beal-32 minutes
Miller-23 minutes
Webster-6 minutes @ SG, another 15 at SF
Ariza-33 minutes

[mohammed10]

terrible win against a depleted team playing 2nd of back to back. Really..most average teams would win by 10 pts.

Was thinking the same thing. Was not expecting it to be that close.

However, with both Wall and Beal having off nights, the fact that we got the 'W' is encouraging...

Now only 1 game south of mediocrity

[crackhed]

frustrating to watch i agree, however what i see is a young guard making an effort to expand his game.
beal understands that at 6' 4" his best shot at success at his position is to put the ball on the floor, and i hope to see him in a couple of years (or less) come down the court and show amazing handles

[jivelikenice]

frustrating to watch i agree, however what i see is a young guard making an effort to expand his game.
beal understands that at 6' 4" his best shot at success at his position is to put the ball on the floor, and i hope to see him in a couple of years (or less) come down the court and show amazing handles

I think his best shot is to move better without the ball, be ready to shoot, and be decisive off the pump and drive game (like Oladipo was versus the Knicks yesterday). Him learning bad habits is not going to help him and skill development should come in the summer. Right now he needs to just focus on being a good player and playing to his strengths.

A lot of it is mental. Shooters always seem to get edgy when they hear they can't dribble. Brad is trying too hard to be something he's not right now and really should be focusing on his shooting. 41% from the floor & 39% this month is killing us.

[jivelikenice]

Just saw the post game interviews. Two things annoyed me.

1. John saying he wanted the jumper on the last play. I'm glad he adjusted based on the defensive pressure but the fact that he was looming for a midrange J to win the game versus driving is ridiculous;

2. Beal saying he enjoyed playing with Miller cause he got to handle the ball a lot. Instead of Miller getting him looks, he's glad cause he gets to struggle using to get off a quality shot. Fantastic! Beals having an identity crisis out there....

Who's talking to these guys? Where's the coaching?

[mohammed10]

Just saw the post game interviews. Two things annoyed me.

1. John saying he wanted the jumper on the last play. I'm glad he adjusted based on the defensive pressure but the fact that he was looming for a midrange J to win the game versus driving is ridiculous;

2. Beal saying he enjoyed playing with Miller cause he got to handle the ball a lot. Instead of Miller getting him looks, he's glad cause he gets to struggle using to get off a quality shot. Fantastic! Beals having an identity crisis out there....

Who's talking to these guys? Where's the coaching?

Is this a rhetorical question? We all know that Witless is the worst coach in the Association. Bench mob is even worse...

[Hidden Eye]

Send Beal to DLeague he stinks it up with poor % shooting too much this season.

[mohammed10]

Send Beal to DLeague he stinks it up with poor % shooting too much this season.

You forgot the green font. Otherwise, thank you for showing why you are a freshman...

[LyricalRico]

Nene was a beast. You didn't need to be at the game to see that. That was a bad man out there tonight.

The Andre Miller effect?

[dckingsfan]

Nene was a beast. You didn't need to be at the game to see that. That was a bad man out there tonight.

The Andre Miller effect?

I liked Miller's bully ball in the paint too... fun to watch.

[dobrojim]

I just want to say that for one game at least, Wall showed he can be a closer
even if he didn't score the winning points. He spoonfed Nene and that's just
as good or maybe even arguably better (motivates teammates, forces defenses
to consider multiple possible threats).

[nate33]

Nene made Steisma his b1tch tonight. He absolutely destroyed his soul.

[nuposse04]

Nene made Steisma his b1tch tonight. He absolutely destroyed his soul.

I imagine nene would have a tougher time with redheads then, as they are soul-less.