GT #62: Golden State Warriors @ Wizards 8:00 PM (NBCSW/ESPN/1500 AM)

[Illmatic12]

Preview of what we would likely look like in the playoffs without Wall.

We aren’t playing the best team ever in the Eastern Conference playoffs.

No, but that's how teams will defend us in the post season. It's a totally different type of game. Notice we couldn't get anything close to the rim with our starting lineup.

In the playoffs, guys that can break down defenses with dribble penetration are so important.

On the Dunc'd On podcast they pointed out that during this stretch without Wall, Washington ranks 28th in the league in shot attempts in the paint.

Basically our recent success comes largely on the back of unsustainable midrange shooting, which will quickly turn into bricks and bad offense against elite teams. We saw that last night.

The Wizards have also been turning the ball over at a very high rate, and many of them are live ball turnovers. We NEED John for his ballhandling, his ability to create easy transition opportunities, and to put pressure on the rim in half court. There's no way around it. John is 10x more threatening with the ball in his hands than Sato who's hesitant to shoot, and he can dribble consistently without losing the ball unlike Beal. Hope he comes back 100% soon.

[Ruzious]

We aren’t playing the best team ever in the Eastern Conference playoffs.

No, but that's how teams will defend us in the post season. It's a totally different type of game. Notice we couldn't get anything close to the rim with our starting lineup.

In the playoffs, guys that can break down defenses with dribble penetration are so important.

On the Dunc'd On podcast they pointed out that during this stretch without Wall, Washington ranks 28th in the league in shot attempts in the paint.

Basically our recent success comes largely on the back of unsustainable midrange shooting, which will quickly turn into bricks and bad offense against elite teams. We saw that last night.

The Wizards have also been turning the ball over at a very high rate, and many of them are live ball turnovers. We NEED John for his ballhandling, his ability to create easy transition opportunities, and to put pressure on the rim in half court. There's no way around it. John is 10x more threatening with the ball in his hands than Sato who's hesitant to shoot, and he can dribble consistently without losing the ball unlike Beal. Hope he comes back 100% soon.

I think you guys are over-doing this. There's absolutely no question the Wiz will be better off with Wall, but... if Beal had just a half-way decent game, the Wiz would have won. Beal had a horrific game, and that is what's not sustainable.

[Error Afflalo]

I appreciated how hard the team played and rebounded on the second night of a tough back-to-back. The turnovers and inability to get anything close to the rim doomed us. As others said, we really missed Wall last night.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Preview of what we would likely look like in the playoffs without Wall.

We aren’t playing the best team ever in the Eastern Conference playoffs.

No, but that's how teams will defend us in the post season. It's a totally different type of game. Notice we couldn't get anything close to the rim with our starting lineup.

In the playoffs, guys that can break down defenses with dribble penetration are so important.

Yep.

They jammed things shut and there was not much movement. GS prepared well. They knew Tomas Satoransky is afraid to shoot. They confused Beal with different looks and defenders..Their game plan probably was Otto Porter cannot beat us.

They fouled the hell out of Kelly knowing he would not get a free throw. Alternatively, they drove at Kelly Oubre knowing he would get called for fouls. Regardless, I thought the Wizards did fine.

Most of the calls went Golden State's way. The Wizards made it an 8-point game, which was fantastic in my opinion.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

We aren’t playing the best team ever in the Eastern Conference playoffs.

No, but that's how teams will defend us in the post season. It's a totally different type of game. Notice we couldn't get anything close to the rim with our starting lineup.

In the playoffs, guys that can break down defenses with dribble penetration are so important.

On the Dunc'd On podcast they pointed out that during this stretch without Wall, Washington ranks 28th in the league in shot attempts in the paint.

Basically our recent success comes largely on the back of unsustainable midrange shooting, which will quickly turn into bricks and bad offense against elite teams. We saw that last night.

The Wizards have also been turning the ball over at a very high rate, and many of them are live ball turnovers. We NEED John for his ballhandling, his ability to create easy transition opportunities, and to put pressure on the rim in half court. There's no way around it. John is 10x more threatening with the ball in his hands than Sato who's hesitant to shoot, and he can dribble consistently without losing the ball unlike Beal. Hope he comes back 100% soon.

Porter , Morris , and Beal hit mid-range shots when there's ball movement. GS jammed cutters and Beal had a rough night.

Washington needs someone who can dunk in traffic besides Kelly and Ian..

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[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

I appreciated how hard the team played and rebounded on the second night of a tough back-to-back. The turnovers and inability to get anything close to the rim doomed us. As others said, we really missed Wall last night.

Even without Wall I thought they did great.

That second quarter they kicked the crap out of Golden State.

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[nate33]

We aren’t playing the best team ever in the Eastern Conference playoffs.

No, but that's how teams will defend us in the post season. It's a totally different type of game. Notice we couldn't get anything close to the rim with our starting lineup.

In the playoffs, guys that can break down defenses with dribble penetration are so important.

On the Dunc'd On podcast they pointed out that during this stretch without Wall, Washington ranks 28th in the league in shot attempts in the paint.

Basically our recent success comes largely on the back of unsustainable midrange shooting, which will quickly turn into bricks and bad offense against elite teams. We saw that last night.

The Wizards have also been turning the ball over at a very high rate, and many of them are live ball turnovers. We NEED John for his ballhandling, his ability to create easy transition opportunities, and to put pressure on the rim in half court. There's no way around it. John is 10x more threatening with the ball in his hands than Sato who's hesitant to shoot, and he can dribble consistently without losing the ball unlike Beal. Hope he comes back 100% soon.

I'm not so sure that midrange shooting is unsustainable when so many of those extra midrange shots are coming from Otto Porter, who shoots 51% on long 2's.

FWIW, Beal is only shooting 42% on long 2's, but he shot 50.5% last year (and maybe he has regained his last-season form over these last 14 games).

[payitforward]

Man o man, the amount of over-reading a single loss in every direction is kind of amazing.

We lost w/o Wall, which somehow "proves" that we'd have done better (what does that mean? that we'd have won?) with him.

Beal had a bad game -- means he's "a choke artist." Also means Oladipo is a "better" player.

We lost a regular season game -- means we won't be able to be successful in the playoffs.

Sheesh... it was one loss. To a much much much better team. GS came into the game with a 23-7 record on the road. Is it a surprise that they beat us? W/ or without John Wall? Does it really call for all this tearing of hair? No.

[WallToWall]

I just finished watching the game again. This was actually a winnable game. Although most of the time, we were a good 10 point behind, we were hanging around close enough to strike. We out-rebounded them 51-36. Thats huge. Basically, we out-rebounded them at every position. We matched their assist total (25-24). We had more total shots than them 90-72, and more 3pt shots as well 32-24. All those numbers point to a win for us. Where we failed is in efficiency. A couple more shot dropping, and this would probably be a win for us. Where we lost were with turnovers, blocks, steals, and getting to the line. I'm going to ignore the getting to the line part because that is just a matter of getting respect from the refs. The refs were not putting us at the line more than them, and that's just the way that's going to be. Steals, and blocks...we could probably have played better D. If we raise our game with our D, then this is probably a win for us. You know what would have helped us in this game? Wall. Wall would have given us the better D we needed. Heck, even if he were coming off the bench, he would have killed their 2nd unit.
I would have liked to face GS in the playoffs, because I think we can beat them. Let Durant get his points, but make him work on D, and keep everyone else in check.

[payitforward]

I just finished watching the game again. This was actually a winnable game. Although most of the time, we were a good 10 point behind, we were hanging around close enough to strike. We out-rebounded them 51-36. Thats huge. Basically, we out-rebounded them at every position. We matched their assist total (25-24). We had more total shots than them 90-72, and more 3pt shots as well 32-24. All those numbers point to a win for us. Where we failed is in efficiency. A couple more shot dropping, and this would probably be a win for us. Where we lost were with turnovers, blocks, steals, and getting to the line. I'm going to ignore the getting to the line part because that is just a matter of getting respect from the refs. The refs were not putting us at the line more than them, and that's just the way that's going to be. Steals, and blocks...we could probably have played better D. If we raise our game with our D, then this is probably a win for us. You know what would have helped us in this game? Wall. Wall would have given us the better D we needed. Heck, even if he were coming off the bench, he would have killed their 2nd unit.
I would have liked to face GS in the playoffs, because I think we can beat them. Let Durant get his points, but make him work on D, and keep everyone else in check.

Forgive me, but this is really pretty silly. Using a loss as evidence that "we can beat them"...??

&, no, losing numbers never "point to a win." For example, "We out-rebounded them..." Actually, what you mean is that we got more offensive rebounds than they did. Well... how about we look at how many shots we missed as part of the reason for that? You can only get an offensive rebound off a missed shot, right? We missed 20 more shots than they did! So, yeah, we got a lot of offensive boards -- & if we hadn't the game wouldn't even have been close. But, a lot of O boards b/c of a lot of missed shots isn't a winning strategy.

As to getting to the line... they got to the line more b/c we fouled them more, not b/c the refs give them "respect."

In short, they pretty much controlled the game from the beginning, & the outcome was really not much in doubt once they dominated Q1. Take a look at box scores of their road games -- a lot of them resemble the one from 2 nights ago. They dominate the first & third quarters while loafing a little in the 2d quarter & just getting the 12 minutes of the 4th quarter over with.

The final score may not show it, but we got killed by the Golden State Warriors the other night. We aren't in a class with that team. With or without John Wall.

[bsilver]

Hubie Brown made some good points about why the 2nd team did so well in the 2nd quarter and the starters dd so poorly in the 3rd. The backups were making good hard cuts to the basket, playing team baaketball, and the starters were standing around in the 3rd.

IMO they were standing around because Beal was so determined to get off no matter what that they realized he was not going to pass. The main reason to fault Beal, and also Brooks for not taking charge, was Beal's judgement. There was no good reason to keep forcing shots when the defense is focused on stopping you. He should have been looking to set up his teammates rather than making up for the 0 point first half.