Official Thread - Wizards vs Cavs (1/6/16)

[stevemcqueen1]

LeBron was shooting through a friggin hula hoop in the second half and JR Smith and Kyrie Irving were bad shot making like prime Kobe. We also played some really stupid defense and Wittman's substitutions in the fourth quarter were **** asinine. John was about as bad as he's ever been in that first half too. Disastrous.

Frankly, I'm surprised we managed to tie the game late. Cleveland's defense was shaky too and we also shot extremely well in the second half and their TOs kept us in it for a long time in the first half. But we certainly deserved to lose this game.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

LeBron was shooting through a friggin hula hoop in the second half and JR Smith and Kyrie Irving were bad shot making like prime Kobe. We also played some really stupid defense and Wittman's substitutions in the fourth quarter were **** asinine. John was about as bad as he's ever been in that first half too. Disastrous.

Frankly, I'm surprised we managed to tie the game late. Cleveland's defense was shaky too and we also shot extremely well in the second half and their TOs kept us in it for a long time in the first half. But we certainly deserved to lose this game.

Only post I've read. Busy day and didn't even know Cleveland was the opponent.

Thanks, Steve.

Box score alone says the Wizards lost the rebounding 44-33. Free throw attempts were +8 but makes were only +4.

Maybe 5 points more from the line and approximately 5 more rebounds and Wiz win???

Dunno didn't see the game...

See from box score Nene played and Neal is back...but no grinders Humphries or the guy I think Wittman might not like at all, Dejuan Blair.

[TheOUTLAW]

Cavs suck, their defense is laughable without a good Center, Mozgov has regressed and isn't playing much now.
Love didn't play the 4th quarter, that's funny since they gave so much for him..

Cavs suck? I wish we sucked like that. Irving, if healthy, gives them the East. They were winning without him by going to Love more and now he'll get less touches.

He's the worst kind of fan, he does nothing but hate on the team he's supposedly a fan of.

[stevemcqueen1]

LeBron was shooting through a friggin hula hoop in the second half and JR Smith and Kyrie Irving were bad shot making like prime Kobe. We also played some really stupid defense and Wittman's substitutions in the fourth quarter were **** asinine. John was about as bad as he's ever been in that first half too. Disastrous.

Frankly, I'm surprised we managed to tie the game late. Cleveland's defense was shaky too and we also shot extremely well in the second half and their TOs kept us in it for a long time in the first half. But we certainly deserved to lose this game.

Only post I've read. Busy day and didn't even know Cleveland was the opponent.

Thanks, Steve.

Box score alone says the Wizards lost the rebounding 44-33. Free throw attempts were +8 but makes were only +4.

Maybe 5 points more from the line and approximately 5 more rebounds and Wiz win???

Dunno didn't see the game...

See from box score Nene played and Neal is back...but no grinders Humphries or the guy I think Wittman might not like at all, Dejuan Blair.

It was a winnable game going into the fourth quarter. The Wizards started making a lot of dumb mistakes that allowed Cleveland to push the lead out of reach in crunch time. There was a sequence where Gary Neal switched onto Kyrie Irving about five straight times and got torched on each one. You'd think after the second time, the team would have recognized what Cleveland was doing and stopped making that switch. Or that Randy would have had the good sense to call a time out and fix the personnel and explain what was going wrong. Nope.

BTW, Randy let Cleveland go on a 15-2 run in the fourth quarter before calling a TO.

And his substitution patters in the fourth were an indefensible mess. He kept Nene in for way too long and then when he finally managed to sub him out, he put Jared Dudley in for him at center. Meanwhile, Gortat, who had been having a good game, rots on the bench. And this ended up hurting us too because Cleveland got a lot of offensive rebounds in crunch time. Neal had zero business playing crunch time too. When Nene subbed out around the 6 or 7 minute mark IIRC, Neal should have gone out with him, and Randy should have finished the game with his starters. Easy. But nope. Randy plays Neal for the rest of the game and decides to sub Dudley out for Gortat with a 12 point deficit in the final minute in the most pointless substitution of the game.

He had even taken a TO around the five minute mark giving him a chance to fix his mistake of subbing Dudley in at C and leaving Neal at SF and he didn't. That Wall/Temple/Neal/Otto/Dudley crunch time lineup is the one he wanted!

Randy is a poor in game coach and his ineptitude flat out costs us at least four or five wins a season. This was one of them.

[popper]

I hope TL is reading this game thread. The Wizards will go no where until it replaces the GM and coach.

[Dark Faze]

it really is time to make drastic FO moves

things just don't look good at all for the summer--we need an infusion of energy

[DCZards]

dub post

[DCZards]

Only post I've read. Busy day and didn't even know Cleveland was the opponent.

Thanks, Steve.

Box score alone says the Wizards lost the rebounding 44-33. Free throw attempts were +8 but makes were only +4.

Maybe 5 points more from the line and approximately 5 more rebounds and Wiz win???

Dunno didn't see the game...

See from box score Nene played and Neal is back...but no grinders Humphries or the guy I think Wittman might not like at all, Dejuan Blair.

Hump was on the bench in street clothes (don't know what his health issue was) and Blair is apparently dealing with some kind of knee issue. He's been unavailable the last 2-3 games.

[DCZards]

It really bothered me when I saw Otto get fouled into the cameras and nobody went to help him up except Temple. Gortat turned his back on him and walked towards the bench and John and Dudley were nowhere to be found. Temple ran over from the perimeter to help him.

IMO that little instant spoke to bad chemistry and a lack of engagement and professionalism from the team. I bet the locker room is, quietly, a wreck right now. Just totally adrift. And the only reason we're not hearing anything about it is because the team plays in anonymity. I mean we didn't even hear a word about Nene's injury, he goes out for weeks, and then he's suddenly back, again with zero explanation. It's like there are zero professional journalists covering this team...

Losing Pierce gutted the leadership of our locker room, and the problem was made far worse by having Beal and Nene miss so much time. Vets like Alan Anderson and Drew Gooden are supposed to be buttressing the locker room and they've been gone. Our young players are playing, but they are floundering. Gortat is usually a good teammate but he has zero leadership qualities, no one would take him seriously even if he tried.

And it pains me to say it, but Wall is not mature and professional enough to galvanize the locker room and make them perform with the effort, communication, and accountability necessary to be a great team. He himself does not demonstrate the level of nightly effort and accountability to demand it of his teammates. And this season he is getting ZERO help leading the team from Beal, Nene, Gortat, and Randy. He is a fabulous talent that's carrying a huge load but he is not ready to lead a championship contender yet.

As for Randy... it's time for him to go. He isn't filling the leadership void of the team adequately. Missing the playoffs would be a disaster. But the silver lining that could come from it would be firing Randy. We need a coach with MAJOR credibility to replace him and get our kids playing with the effort and professionalism they need. They're lost right now.

I think you're reading too much into the Porter incident. Cleveland called timeout just as Porter scored and most of the Zards had barely passed halfcourt when Porter scored and almost certainly did not see him go down hurt. They had already turned their backs to head to the bench for the timeout.

The Wash. Post reported yesterday that Nene (and Neal) would likely play last night.

I do agree that leadership is an issue. JWall usually leads by example. Yeah, John struggles offensively at times but he typically plays hard. Anderson would be another important and respected voice, imo. But he needs to be playing to really be effective in that role.

[sashae]

Wittman continues to be one of the least in-game aware coaches I've ever seen -- I have no idea how he did well in the playoffs last year vs what you see now. That massive run at the beginning of the 4th by the Cavs right after the Wizards tied the game was utterly unconscionable. How Wittman didn't call a TO or attempt to make changes during that time blows my mind -- Irving was ROASTING people, and the team was helpless to stop it. Perhaps time to check on the patient, doctor?

Missing the playoffs this year is going to be a massive shame as to the damage it's going to do to the hopes of the KD2DC plans, but even worse as Ernie traditionally responds to hard times with panic moves of unenviable sensibility. I look forward to him chucking max dollars at Brad and a past-his-prime vet in order to make up for KD not taking the bait. What a team to root for...

[keynote]

Ugh. I didn't realize that the Wizards' marketing/in-arena team tried to pile on the Kyrie/Wall "feud" *during* the game.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wizards-insider/wp/2016/01/07/kyrie-irving-displays-all-star-credentials-in-cavaliers-win-over-wizards/

During a timeout in the second quarter of the Cavaliers’ 121-115 win in Washington on Wednesday night, the Wizards’ in-game entertainment arm presented a lighthearted video spoofing the matter on the jumbotron.

A few fans wearing Cavaliers gear — perhaps solely for the purposes of the segment — were asked if Wall or Irving was more deserving to start in the all-star game. Every fan shown said Wall. The video lasted less than a minute but the Cavaliers noticed, according to Cleveland.com.

“We didn’t like it as a team,” Cavaliers guard J.R. Smith said. “We didn’t like it at all.”

No wonder LeBron was so pointed in his defense of Kyrie during his post-game interview:

“At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter how many games Kyrie plays,” Cavaliers forward LeBron James said. “He’s an all-star player. That’s out of the question. He’s, if not the best, one of the two best point guards in our league, along with Steph. So that’s not even a question, and he just continues to show why he’s that. I think, and I’m going to continue to harp on it, he’s much more than just an all-star player. He’s much better than that. He’s 23 years old. He hasn’t even scratched the surface yet.”

It's one thing for for the FO to have Wall's back and promote him like a superstar; it's another thing to provide the other team bulletin board material during a (then) close game. And it's not even classy. That's some Mark Cuban-level nonsense.

This organization needs an upgrade on a variety of fronts.

[nuposse04]

Yah that is some systemic level of incompetence right there. Why play a video taunting your opponent when you are LOSING???!! Who the **** approved that? plz let it be EG.

[tontoz]

[Dark Faze]

if yall think thats bad wait until reggie jackson earns the final guard spot over wall

[DCZards]

Ugh. I didn't realize that the Wizards' marketing/in-arena team tried to pile on the Kyrie/Wall "feud" *during* the game.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wizards-insider/wp/2016/01/07/kyrie-irving-displays-all-star-credentials-in-cavaliers-win-over-wizards/

Yeah, I thought it was a tacky, bush league move by the Wizards marketing folks when I saw it on the big screen at the game last night. I'm guessing that Wall and his teammates didn't like it either.

All it did was piss off Kyrie who proceeded to take over the game after that.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

LeBron was shooting through a friggin hula hoop in the second half and JR Smith and Kyrie Irving were bad shot making like prime Kobe. We also played some really stupid defense and Wittman's substitutions in the fourth quarter were **** asinine. John was about as bad as he's ever been in that first half too. Disastrous.

Frankly, I'm surprised we managed to tie the game late. Cleveland's defense was shaky too and we also shot extremely well in the second half and their TOs kept us in it for a long time in the first half. But we certainly deserved to lose this game.

Only post I've read. Busy day and didn't even know Cleveland was the opponent.

Thanks, Steve.

Box score alone says the Wizards lost the rebounding 44-33. Free throw attempts were +8 but makes were only +4.

Maybe 5 points more from the line and approximately 5 more rebounds and Wiz win???

Dunno didn't see the game...

See from box score Nene played and Neal is back...but no grinders Humphries or the guy I think Wittman might not like at all, Dejuan Blair.

It was a winnable game going into the fourth quarter. The Wizards started making a lot of dumb mistakes that allowed Cleveland to push the lead out of reach in crunch time. There was a sequence where Gary Neal switched onto Kyrie Irving about five straight times and got torched on each one. You'd think after the second time, the team would have recognized what Cleveland was doing and stopped making that switch. Or that Randy would have had the good sense to call a time out and fix the personnel and explain what was going wrong. Nope.

BTW, Randy let Cleveland go on a 15-2 run in the fourth quarter before calling a TO.

And his substitution patters in the fourth were an indefensible mess. He kept Nene in for way too long and then when he finally managed to sub him out, he put Jared Dudley in for him at center. Meanwhile, Gortat, who had been having a good game, rots on the bench. And this ended up hurting us too because Cleveland got a lot of offensive rebounds in crunch time. Neal had zero business playing crunch time too. When Nene subbed out around the 6 or 7 minute mark IIRC, Neal should have gone out with him, and Randy should have finished the game with his starters. Easy. But nope. Randy plays Neal for the rest of the game and decides to sub Dudley out for Gortat with a 12 point deficit in the final minute in the most pointless substitution of the game.

He had even taken a TO around the five minute mark giving him a chance to fix his mistake of subbing Dudley in at C and leaving Neal at SF and he didn't. That Wall/Temple/Neal/Otto/Dudley crunch time lineup is the one he wanted!

Randy is a poor in game coach and his ineptitude flat out costs us at least four or five wins a season. This was one of them.

My complaints are IMO he's fixed, predictable, and perhaps is hating Blair too much. He really can't stand Gortat IMO. Likes jump shooters and favors his kind of players. Leaves it up to Beal and Wall.

All of that said I think he's pretty good. At least average. He's a father figure type. He knows which buttons to push. Randy is a hard ass in mostly good ways. I think he's very competent but NOT an elite coach.

[Dark Faze]

i just want everything to burn to be honest

hope wall misses the ASG so there's a ton of bad feelings in the building--greater chance for people getting fired when people aren't happy, especially wallstar

[Higga]

The Wizards franchise as a whole is just so out of touch and lame. Its mom and pop crap all over again.