GT #48: Raptors @ Wizards 7 PM (CSN/99.1 FM) [1/31/15]

[Steelo Green]

Welcome.

Agreed, the loss had nothing to do with sloppy refereeing.

But, we didn't lose because of "depth." We lost because our starting 4 and 5 were absolutely awful last night. It jumped out at me during the game, and it certainly jumps out of the box score.

What? 28, 26, 19, 16 from 4 of 5 starters, all on good %ages. Hump had a good game off the bench, but you guys expect so much out of Wall, and Beal to hit the 3s, that when they aren't clicking the secondary scoring becomes a huge issue.

Looking at the box score, all the starters for Washington were in the + whereas the bench is all in the -, and the entire Raptors bench is in the +. I am not a big proponent of +- always, but it seems to point out that the depth was the difference yesterday.

In 62 minutes, Gortat/Nene combined for 6 rebounds & 9 turnovers, & they went a combined 6-15 from the floor and 6-10 from the line.

Yes, the 3 other starters and Hump played very well -- which is why we almost pulled out a win.

Gortat was atrocious, Nene was okay, but the rest were great.

I really think they need to add some bench depth and it will pay large dividends. Unless they know Durant is coming and are just waiting, which is entirely possible.

[hands11]

TOR 25.3 threes a game
WIz 15.8 threes a game

If we try to beat them scoring 2s vs their 3s. I don't think we will make is up in efficiency and volume.

And A Miller should not see the court against TOR. Vaz and Lou will eat him up.

Also, Miller is 1-7 on the SEASON

Thats in 47 games. Here is what he 3 ball line says. 0.0-0.1
His one made over 47 games doesn't even register.

He is 83rd for PGs shooting 3s. That's damn near dead last.
http://espn.go.com/nba/statistics/playe ... s/count/81" target="_blank" target="_blank

Man, I love the Professor, but that is TERRRABLE.

GS might be able to get away with that from a younger Livingston as their back up with Curry and Klay jacking up 3s, but the Wizards can't live with Miller not shooting it or not being able to shoot it.

57 John Wall, PG .302 on 2 attempts have got to do better as well.

Wizards could use someone from this list page one
http://espn.go.com/nba/statistics/playe ... int-guards" target="_blank" target="_blank

15 C.J. Watson, PG IND .393 33 for 84
23 Pablo Prigioni, PG NY ..375 42 for 112 would only coast a 2nd. NY said so.

But if not them, Wizards have to let Temple play back up PG.. He is listed as a SG so not on that list

Garrett Temple, SG .388 19 for 49

And Temple can defend. And dunk. And run.

Well that went well. Miller 3:30 -12

During that time, Lou, Vaz and TRoss where playing Horse

[hands11]

As someone who always looks for the silver lining and looks to be positive, it hard to do in this scenario until the team comes up with the solution for dealing with this kind of them.

ATL, TOR and even to some degree a few less teams like DEN who are quicker, swam on defense and shoot 3s are a problem.

Been talking about it for a while. The only solution I see given the roster is to alter the line ups against this kind of team and Randy hasn't shown he has the insight to do that.

Power ball in the post
2s vs 3s
No motion offense where they can jump our passing lanes
None 3 ball shooting back up PG

None of that adds up against these kinds of teams.

Temple needs to be the first PG off the bench
Changing the starters so the floor is more spread and Wall start the game more in attack mode

Thats the min that needs to get done.

more aggressive moves, I might even start Webster. He gets up 3s and he can catch and shoot with a quickness Beal can't. And draw fouls. Webby isn't confused about mixing in long 2s. He is looking to shoot 3s and he can get his shot off quick. And draw fouls doing it.

Wall, Webster, Otto, Paul, Gortat would be a better starting line up against a TOR or ATL

Get back to Wall and Gortat PnR.. Gortat needs to be on the move to score.
Otto would gobbles up loose long balls in space on the 3,energy, offensive rebounds. So would Webster
Webster, Otto and Paul would all shoot the 3
Floor would be spread for Wall to drive and he should attack and not kick out 2 ft shots for 3s
and Paul can delayed break iso and draw fouls.

Pull Web, Paul, Gortat at the 5-6 min mark for and see if Beal can keep it going once Webster sets the tone.

come back with
Wall, Beal, Otto, Hump, Nene

Then come back with Temple at PG

Temple, Beal, Rasual, Hump, Nene

Sub in Gooden for Hump when needed as he plays with energy and spreads the floor, draw offensive charges, tip backs, and can spread the floor even more the Hump can.

Kevin only comes in if Nene or Gortat aren't getting it done as both should be at center, not PF making Kev 3rd center.
Miller doesn't see the court unless Temple fails and Wall to to tired

Do something like that, and they might stand a chance.

If they go basic Wall, Beal, Paul, Nene, Gortat to Miller, Webster/Rasual, Otto, Hump, Kevin...and get up 15 three's trading 2pts for 3pts with Beal stepping inside the 3s line for long 2s and Wall passing out of the drive from 2ft for kickouts, they will lose.

I have zero doubt in my mind the above or anything close to this strategy would have won the game EASILY.

[payitforward]

I come in peace. Just want to make a note. Washington had 11 more FT's and 5 more fouls committed against them. For anyone to believe that it was the reffing is making excuses. There were bad calls both ways, that's how basketball works. People tend to only notice the fouls missed on their team, and not notice those same ones occurring the other way and attribute that to a "clean" play.

It was a good game. It was as expected. Wall does as he pleases, Toronto could not stop the drive and kick to Beal, but they couldn't do it all and Toronto pulled it out due to the depth.

Welcome.

Agreed, the loss had nothing to do with sloppy refereeing.

But, we didn't lose because of "depth." We lost because our starting 4 and 5 were absolutely awful last night. It jumped out at me during the game, and it certainly jumps out of the box score.

From the box score, I would say that Gortat was awful and Nene was below average. Those 5 turnovers by Nene could put him in the awful category as well but Gortat's 2 points and 4 turnovers would have to put him in some new craptastic category. At least Nene did shoot 50% from the field.

Yep, Gortat was worse than Nene last night, but "below average" is not how to describe Nene's game. He was awful. Think of every turnover as equivalent to a missed shot the other team rebounds.

[krii]

Gortat stat line was horrible last night but it looks like some of you guys has been out during first half yesterday. He had like a minimum chance to grab rebounds while on the court as Raptors were super-efficient on 3pointers at the beggining of the game. Valanciunas has been even more useless during this minutes (after 1Q he was like 4 minutes in a game?).

For the last few weeks most of Gortat game is actually limited to do screens & pass to others. His offensive usage is high but most of these plays are quite similar: Beal/Pierce handing him the ball and then running around to grab the ball back. Wittman completely resigned from this pick and rolls they have been rolling last season. Right now most of Gortat shots are those 2`s or crappy postups (I blame Marcin for being low efficient on that but yet that is not his game).

Last year he was setting screens for Wall and then rolled to the basket, which was opening the court for Wall to pass him / shooter on 3 line or just drive to the basket. Right now most of this screens are set for Beal and Pierce which are making long 2`s.

I know most of you think he should have 20/10 each night but IMO the team is not playing any plays through him unless it`s neccessary and it`s not building his confidence (which is quite visible last few weeks). Maybe ASG break will change something.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Worked late tonight so I just finished with the DVR of the game (and we're at 3:58AM so....yeah).

Overall, we played well and on most nights would have come away with the win.

Wall and Beal were spectacular.

The refs were the suck. (Home cooking my ass)

Toronto's 3pt shooting in the first half would be enough to knock most teams out of the game for good.

And Lou Williams went "God Mode" for long stretches. Wall played him well but you can't defend some of those shots.

All in all, can't be mad at our performance. Sometimes, the other team just outshoots you while the refs try to make life unbearable.

Gortat needs some therapy, though. New-contract-itis?

Respectfully disagree.

They made all those threes in large part because they were wide open. Just watching the highlights, look to see who was closing out on those shots. To many times I saw Nene or Gortat or another big as the close out player and that's why they were wide open. Our bigs aren't the type to close out to the 3 line. And on another play I saw Wall covering the PG who passed to another player on the 3 line and it was Wall who had to both cover the dribble penetration and then leave that man and run to cover the 3 ball shooter.

It looked like EFJ was the head coach.

They beat us every time in large part because of the line ups Randy puts out there. Much like ATL tore up IND last year by making Hibbert a boat anchor by lining up 3 ball shooters he couldnt extend to cover, that's what TOR does to us. EVERY TIME.

Hands, they went 7-8 on threes to start the game. Then they went 4-18 on threes the rest of the game. The defense didn't change.

Moreover, they went 11-26 on threes, and 33-52 on two-point attempts: absolutely identical scoring efficiency. The threes weren't what beat us. Especially given that we went 10 of 24 on our threes.

The differential in scoring efficiency was on two point attempts, not threes: we went 27-55 on twos. I.e. they had 6 more makes on 3 fewer shots. Why not blame our defense on twos instead of blaming our defense on threes?

We went 1-4 on our first FTAs. Had we gone 2-4 (let alone 4-4 !!) we'd have won the game in regulation.

So, no, I don't think the lineup was an issue. I don't think Wittman was the issue in any way.

I thought it was pretty obvious why we lost. In 74 combined minutes, Gortat, Nene & Seraphin managed 8 rebounds. That is pathetic; it's a drag sail, makes it hard to win. Especially when the same guys in the same minutes also committed 10 turnovers!

Seraphin contributed nothing. Nene was worse than Seraphin. And Gortat was even worse than Nene.

Lowry kicked butt in overtime.

They lost in overtime.

[dckingsfan]

I think the bottom line is our bench stinks... if you are Wittman, you are choosing between Temple and Miller - ugh. And you are going to have Seraphin on the court at the same time - ugh.

This isn't about strategy so much as about depth. I am amazed Wittman has sucked out as many wins out of this team as he has.

Gotta say, it is still fun watching this team just to see what Wall does night in and night out - he really is special.

[Higga]

I actually stayed the entire game. Man it would have been awesome to complete the comeback and win it in OT but that awful 2nd quarter just killed us.

WTF has happened to our bench? I guess since they're all old they have all hit the decline at once. We just can't rely on them at all. Seems like everytime they come in our offense goes to a screeching halt and on defense we can't stay in front of anyone.

Really disappointing that we can't beat the Raptors. Gotta try to avoid them like the plague in the playoffs.

Atmosphere at the game was pretty nice but man there were a lot of Raptor fans...

[Wizardspride]

I actually stayed the entire game. Man it would have been awesome to complete the comeback and win it in OT but that awful 2nd quarter just killed us.

WTF has happened to our bench? I guess since they're all old they have all hit the decline at once. We just can't rely on them at all. Seems like everytime they come in our offense goes to a screeching halt and on defense we can't stay in front of anyone.

You want to know what has happened to our bench?

Focus on Andre Miller and you'll have your answer....

[Higga]

I actually stayed the entire game. Man it would have been awesome to complete the comeback and win it in OT but that awful 2nd quarter just killed us.

WTF has happened to our bench? I guess since they're all old they have all hit the decline at once. We just can't rely on them at all. Seems like everytime they come in our offense goes to a screeching halt and on defense we can't stay in front of anyone.

You want to know what has happened to our bench?

Focus on Andre Miller and you'll have your answer....

Yeah...he's just, terrible now. Maybe he just doesn't give an ish until the playoffs but I guess that's what happens when you rely on a near 40 year old.

[Wizardspride]

I actually stayed the entire game. Man it would have been awesome to complete the comeback and win it in OT but that awful 2nd quarter just killed us.

WTF has happened to our bench? I guess since they're all old they have all hit the decline at once. We just can't rely on them at all. Seems like everytime they come in our offense goes to a screeching halt and on defense we can't stay in front of anyone.

You want to know what has happened to our bench?

Focus on Andre Miller and you'll have your answer....

Yeah...he's just, terrible now. Maybe he just doesn't give an ish until the playoffs but I guess that's what happens when you rely on a near 40 year old.

Yep.

I was worried about him hitting the wall this season and it looks like its happening.

[Ruzious]

Miller and Seraphin are nice guys, but they easily have the worst +/-'s of all the rotation players - Miller worse than Seraphin. Going from Wall (+17.3) to Miller (-16.1) might be the biggest dropoff in the NBA. Even Garrett Temple is 0.0. I'll gladly take 0.0. Miller and Seraphin have their low post strengths, but they don't do enough outside of those strengths. They've got to be replaced.

[Wizardspride]

Miller and Seraphin are nice guys, but they easily have the worst +/-'s of all the rotation players - Miller worse than Seraphin. Going from Wall (+17.3) to Miller (-16.1) might be the biggest dropoff in the NBA. Even Garrett Temple is 0.0. I'll gladly take 0.0. Miller and Seraphin have their low post strengths, but they don't do enough outside of those strengths. They've got to be replaced.

I can deal with Seraphin but Miller provides absolutely nothing.


He's getting into Eric Maynor territory.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Miller and Seraphin are nice guys, but they easily have the worst +/-'s of all the rotation players - Miller worse than Seraphin. Going from Wall (+17.3) to Miller (-16.1) might be the biggest dropoff in the NBA. Even Garrett Temple is 0.0. I'll gladly take 0.0. Miller and Seraphin have their low post strengths, but they don't do enough outside of those strengths. They've got to be replaced.

You cannot fix stupid, or so the saying goes.

The Wizards and many fans THINK Seraphin is good.

I KNOW Blair is better.

However, no amount of statistical data over time will persuade Wittman and the Wizards that they're making a huge mistake not playing Blair more and Seraphin less.

[tontoz]

Gortat stat line was horrible last night but it looks like some of you guys has been out during first half yesterday. He had like a minimum chance to grab rebounds while on the court as Raptors were super-efficient on 3pointers at the beggining of the game. Valanciunas has been even more useless during this minutes (after 1Q he was like 4 minutes in a game?).

For the last few weeks most of Gortat game is actually limited to do screens & pass to others. His offensive usage is high but most of these plays are quite similar: Beal/Pierce handing him the ball and then running around to grab the ball back. Wittman completely resigned from this pick and rolls they have been rolling last season. Right now most of Gortat shots are those 2`s or crappy postups (I blame Marcin for being low efficient on that but yet that is not his game).

Last year he was setting screens for Wall and then rolled to the basket, which was opening the court for Wall to pass him / shooter on 3 line or just drive to the basket. Right now most of this screens are set for Beal and Pierce which are making long 2`s.

I know most of you think he should have 20/10 each night but IMO the team is not playing any plays through him unless it`s neccessary and it`s not building his confidence (which is quite visible last few weeks). Maybe ASG break will change something.

Given that Gortat is averaging 12/8 i am pretty sure nobody is expecting 20/10. We also aren't expecting 0 field goals, 2 rebounds and 4 turnovers.

The only play Gortat can score on effectively is the pick and roll. He is pretty lame on post ups, spot up jumpers and drives.

[Ruzious]

Gortat's looking awfully tired out there. Ya know, there's a reason Pop rests his starters a couple games a season. Mentally and physically it gives them a refreshing break from the grind (not to mention giving the reserves an opportunity to shine). I think Gortat and all the starters would benefit.