GT #26: Wizards @ Cavaliers

[Eli Babak]

Wizards have won three in a row and played great team basketball against the Hawks. Unfortunately John Wall likely returns which means back to the norm. Mr. Wall reads social media so I think he's fired up to prove doubters wrong and will have a great game only to go back to the old habits in the next match.

A huge trade happened between these two teams (and the Bucks) last night and now Sam Dekker is part of the Washington Wizards. He's injured (I think) so we have to wait for his debut. Must be strange for him to go to different locker room before the game!

Cavs tank has been rolling well. After 0-6 start to the season they fired LeBron's puppet on October 28th. Larry Drew replaced him and their record right now is 5-20.

Starting lineups from last game:

Sexton - Rivers
Hood - Beal
Osman - Satoransky
Nance - Porter
Thompson - Bryant

Home team will focus on developing their young guys like Sexton and Osman whereas away team would have same record with 8th seed Magic if they manage to win the game. I guess Wiz steals a W after #sowizards-moment in the 4th quarter.

[montestewart]

Damn Eli, you're about to bring on the Wizards longest winning streak of the season, thus giving me false hope that my preseason prediction was correct and I am going to win that Tesla. Carry on!

[FAH1223]

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[nate33]

Since Sato has joined the starting lineup, the team is 3-0. Prior to Sato starting, their DRtg was 114.9, good enough for 29th place in the league. With Sato starting, the DRtg is 103.0, good enough for 2nd place in the league, albeit against weak competition.

But the weak competition doesn't explain all of the difference. The average ORtg of BRK, NYK and ATL is 106.4, so the Wizards still held them to 3.4 points below their normal ORtg. If the Wizards held the entire league to 3.4 points below their normal ORtg, they would have the 7th best defense in the league.

[ClutchDJ]

Didn’t we blow the Cavs out with John starting last time?

[FAH1223]

Since Sato has joined the starting lineup, the team is 3-0. Prior to Sato starting, their DRtg was 114.9, good enough for 29th place in the league. With Sato starting, the DRtg is 103.0, good enough for 2nd place in the league, albeit against weak competition.

But the weak competition doesn't explain all of the difference. The average ORtg of BRK, NYK and ATL is 106.4, so the Wizards still held them to 3.4 points below their normal ORtg. If the Wizards held the entire league to 3.4 points below their normal ORtg, they would have the 7th best defense in the league.

Effort, length and basketball IQ increases with Sato on the floor. PLUs the offense tends to run actual plays which allows the defense to set back up on the other end instead of scrambling for dear life.

[Eli Babak]

Didn’t we blow the Cavs out with John starting last time?

Yes, 119-95. Wall had 8 points (on 3/10 shooting , 1/1 from FT line), 9 assists and 5 rebounds in 21,5 minutes. Ian Mahinmi led +/- stat. Rivers played most minutes (29).

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I guess we just have to agree that Brown's not gonna be in rotation this year (and of course it's better to play somewhere than rot on the bench...).

[ducler]

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[frothbrain]

playoff seeding starts here.

[payitforward]

Guys... don't jinx this!!

[trast66]

We win this then go 3-8 for the rest of 2018.

[NatP4]

Satoransky is so good.

[80sballboy]

Defense not on point early on.

[NatP4]

I’m not even sure why you would play wall at this point.

[NatP4]

I don’t even see how you can watch a wizards game and not see that Satoransky and Porter are their best players

[80sballboy]

Otto and Sato seem to really work together well.

[FAH1223]

I’m not even sure why you would play wall at this point.

Wall is actually setting screens off the ball

[NatP4]

I’m not even sure why you would play wall at this point.

Wall is actually setting screens off the ball

And standing and watching on defense

[80sballboy]

Oubre and Morris come in and the defense goes back to sh-t.

[80sballboy]

So when Beal runs the point, he sets himself up. Wonder if Troy Brown will ever play meaningful minutes or is he going to be the Go-Go's MVP?