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A couple pre-game photos of the Orlando Magic courtesy of site photographer Adam Douglas.
Your average gambling addict is probably keeping track of every game on every night, including a Wizards game. But last Thursday against the Hawks, even the most casual sports gambler was probably paying attention to the Wiz.
Even though there was a full slate of college basketball conference tournament action that night, there were only three NBA games on the schedule … the Bulls at Magic and the Warriors at the Blazers in addition to the Hawks at Wizards, which was a snow make-up game.
Heading into the night, Atlanta was favored by seven points. And with time running out in the fourth quarter, it looked like the Hawks were going to cover. Up 104-97, Marvin Williams was fouled by Mike Miller with nine seconds left. At this point, the clock could have run out, causing a push. And at this point, someone was probably thanking Miller for the foul, possibly allowing Atlanta to cover the spread.
Free-throw #1 … a miss. Free-throw #2 … a make. Hawks up eight, 105-97.
You think watching the Pistons run over the Wizards with little resistance was hard, try starting to watch it on a two-hour delay (sometimes college basketball takes precedent, especially at this time of year), then accidentally finding out the score, and then watching the second half the next day. Boy it was ugly … but at least it kinda/sorta made for quick work. Below are a couple notes I took from witnessing the carnage.
The game starts with Wizards TV guys Steve Buckhantz and Phil Chenier talking about Gilbert Arenas‘ jersey number change from #0 to Mike Miller‘s current #6. Let’s pick up on their conversation …
Buckhantz: “…. Agent Zero will be no longer, we’ll have to come up with something else.”
Chenier: “New identity.”
Turnovers have been an issue for Andray Blatche lately, and you can sense it’s starting to frustrate him.
In the 12 games Blatche has started since Antawn Jamison was traded, he’s averaged 24 points, 10.3 rebounds and 3.8 turnovers per game, but has also had two games with five turnovers, one game with eight, and on Thursday night against the Hawks he had seven.
Dray’s Usage-percentage during this time has been 29.7%. USG% is an estimate of the percentage of team plays used by a player while he is on the floor.
As you heard in the video above, Blatche keeps telling himself that his current role of increased playing time and being the focus of the opponent’s defense is new to him. He says turnovers will be an issue until he learns, whenever that may be.
And Dray will learn, the line of questioning wasn’t necessarily to pick on him, but rather an attempt to gather what his mental process is when trying to correct. Less light was shed than frustrations were expressed.
Nonetheless, his recent numbers are pretty astounding. So for the heck of it, I plugged some of them into the season finder tool on Basketball-Reference.com — searching for players who have averaged equal to or over 38 minutes, 24 points, 10 rebounds and 3.8 turnovers over a season.
Sure it was yet another loss for the Wizards, but it was an eventful one. No, I’m not talking about Gilbert Arenas‘ number change and Mike Miller talking about it. Nor am I talking about JaVale McGee‘s thought process on being so readily available to leave his feet on defense or his career high 20 points and eight dunks. I’m not even talking about Andray Blatche getting frustrated about his turnovers … more on that to come.
Nope. I’m talking about newcomer Alonzo Gee making his NBA debut. Gee, pronounced like the ‘G’ in G-Wiz, the Wizards’ mascot, saw seven minutes of action in the second quarter, certainly no garbage time. In the process, he pulled down two rebounds, one of which was offensive and led to a quick two-hand jam from the former D-Leaguer. So while McGee’s eight dunks were nice, he didn’t score the first points of his NBA career on a dunk (they actually came on a single free-throw in a November 5, 2008 game against the Bucks in Milwaukee).
Gee did.
After the game, after all the other locker room happenings and most of the media had left to file their stories and reports, one guy who most neglected to pay attention to quietly sat in his chair tying his shoe, getting ready to go on his first “official” NBA road trip (Gee met the Wizards in Boston for a game the day he was signed to a 10-day contract).
My colleague Mike Prada of Bullets Forever and I caught up with Gee after the loss to Atlanta to talk about his NBA debut and ascent from the D-League …
JaVale McGee tends to be quick to leave his feet on pump fakes. You’ve probably already noticed that opponents are increasingly using ball fakes that will get the JaValevator a floor above them and then rising up when his cord is cut and the elevator gets the shaft. After the game, McGee expressed that he was willing to give up one foul for five misses. Lovely.
It’s also worth noting that McGee had a career high 20 points in a Wizards 105-99 loss to the Atlanta Hawks. JaVale was very active on the offensive end, proving he can be a great weapon for a transition team, or one that sets solid screens and has a point guard who can penetrate the lane. The elevator went eight floors up with that number in dunks to go with nine rebounds, five fouls and one turnover. Lovelier.
Inexperienced players just need to learn quick trigger jumping is not always a good idea, especially when Al Horford knows it’s coming. This is evidenced below. Photos courtesy of Adam, the new site photographer/media guy.
As the Post’s Michael Lee reported before the game, Gilbert Arenas has filed paper work to change his jersey number from #0 to #6, and the NBA has given its approval.
What does it all mean? The death of Agent Zero? The birth of Agent Six? With Gilbert, who knows. What we do know is that a current Washington Wizard wears #6, and that would be Mike Miller, who probably had to file paper work himself.
Miller was asked about the number change after the game. {more below the jump}
Although this move achieved a certain level of knowledge by late Friday in the least, the February 26 deadline to submit paper work to the NBA (also exactly a month prior to Gilbert Arenas’ sentencing date), there are whispers that Arenas’ intentions have been known for longer.
“Drama, thy name is the Washington Wizards,” began a post by Joanne C. Gerstner on Off the Dribble, the New York Times’ NBA blog. The post is also titled, “Wizards Drama Continues.”
Drama again? This team certainly doesn’t need any more drama after all the unfathomable events of this season. What exactly is this drama that the NY Times speaks of?
A bizarre season already marred by the Gilbert Arenas gun incident took another ugly turn when coach Flip Saunders and starting center Andray Blatche engaged in a war of words.
A war of words? Boy, sounds dangerous. But in reality, the incident was nothing more than an intense discussion between coach and player. Something that happens at any level of basketball.
The incident in dispute revolves around the exchange of words, among other extra-curricular activities, between Kevin Garnett and Blatche during last Sunday’s Wizards-Celtics game in Boston. Saunders, knowing Garnett, felt that Blatche should not have bought into Garnett’s bait. The coach’s point was that K.G.’s juices get flowing when his antics are acknowledged, as opposed to when he is ignored. Blatche’s defense to Flip was that he wanted to stand up for himself.
After Tuesday’s game against the Rockets, James Singleton said, “After every game I go home and watch film. I look at more of the negatives than the positives because the positives are going to happen. But the negatives you want to keep to a small minimum.”
And while there isn’t any adjusting I can personally do for this Washington Wizards basketball team, these screen-shot posts tend to focus on the negatives for the same reason outlined by Singleton. The positives are going to happen because that’s what the Wizards are trying to do. I want to know when they weren’t trying. And away we go…
I plan on breaking-down Tuesday’s loss to the Rockets in screen shots at some point in the near future. But until then, here are some pictures of various Houston Rockets from the pre-game shoot-around followed by some of the best of what was said about the game.
Remember NBA JAM? I do. The arcade version, which I didn’t play much, and the Sega Genesis version, which I played a TON, came out sometime in late 1993. Often times I “gamed” and never looked back, whatever that means … probably ignoring homework and listening to the Wu’s 36 Chambers. Of course, I did kinda like Arch Rivals better. In that game you got to punch players and steal the ball while they were dribbling or shooting … although NBA JAM did allow for some rough play, pushing, et cetera.
NBA JAM featured 2-on-2 basketball and the real draw … actual NBA players (unlike Arch Rivals, which featured generic players named Mohawk, Moose and Reggie). Unfortunately with NBA JAM, Washington Bullets fans were left with Tom Gugliotta, who was the best choice, and Harvey Grant, who had been traded to Portland for Kevin Duckworth by the time the game came out. Later versions featured Googs and Calbert Cheaney.
Flash forward to 2010 where EA Sports is coming out with an updated version of NBA JAM for Nintendo Wii. I might be kinda excited if I still played video games, but I retired those for blogging long ago. But that didn’t keep me from voting. On what you say? Well, EA Sports is allowing fans to vote for which players they would like to see in the game from each NBA team.
For the Wizards, your options are: Randy Foye, Nick Young, Josh Howard, Mike Miller, Al Thornton and Andray Blatche. Pick three, which is already more choices than Gilbert gave Javaris.
Not mentioning that three of those six might not even be with the team next season, where’s Gilbert Arenas? Or if you really want to have fun with dunking and blocking shots on a smaller court where it’s easier to get back on transition defense … how about JaVale McGee?
If you saw the Wizards-Rockets game on Tuesday night, you know part of the story (in case you didn’t, the Wizards lost 96-88). If you’ve read recaps from various sites, you know another part of the story … from someone’s perspective. If you were lucky enough to be in the locker room after the game, your knowledge of the story gets even deeper. Not everyone can be so lucky. But if you’ve come here, you can at least know part of what it was like with this video comprised of Wizards player quotes and responses to the questions they were asked.
[UPDATE/Correction] It looks like I misunderstood Josh when speaking to him the other night. Per a recent (3/11/10) tweet of Michael Lee (and post on Wizards Insider) he actually has yet to have surgery and is waiting for the swelling to go down. I thought that sounded a little soon. Next time I’ll be sure and double-check. My bad.
I briefly caught up with Josh Howard about an hour before tonight’s game. He was here at the Verizon Center to rehab his knee with the Wizards’ training staff. A couple weeks out of surgery to repair a torn ACL, he said everything was going according to plan and that he was waiting for the doctors to tell him the next step. Howard said he’s been rehabbing by lifting light weights and that he was about to try some light jogging/backpedaling.
He referred to his knee injury as a “little setback” and said that it would not affect rehabbing his ankle, which he had previously said was around 80% when he arrived in Washington after the trade and reaffirmed that percentage tonight. Before he got hurt during a February 22nd home game against the Chicago Bulls, the first knee injury he said he’s ever experienced, Howard was hoping to make the ankle, which has given him so many problems over the past couple of years, better and stronger by playing on it.
I mentioned that a lot of people are assuming the Wizards will not pick up his $11.8 million option for next season and asked if that would factor into the possibility of him resigning with the team. Howard gave a sheepish smile and said, “That doesn’t mean anything.” He indicated it did mean something that the Wizards brought him in and touted the fact that the team has two first round draft picks this summer and plenty of cap space.
Despite the disappointment, Howard seemed genuinely happy to be in Washington around a group of guys his age who were playing hard-nosed, hustling basketball at the time he got hurt. It’s a ways until summer, but I think the Wizards brass, and Howard himself, hope that this change of scenery will help the former All-Star mature and return to his past level of play. If his rehab goes according to plan, all of this could translate to the 29-year old being apart of the team’s talent in the future.
Washington fans are used to seeing JaVale McGee do a Presidential salute after dunks, a celebratory tradition that originated when President Barack Obama came to see his hometown Chicago Bulls play, and lose, to the Wizards at the Verizon Center on February 27, 2009.
On Sunday against the Celtics, McGee unveiled a new dunk celebration …
Now if he could just stop behaving like a fresh fish.
“We choked. Six minutes to go, we’re up 13. We got young guys, they don’t know what it’s like to be in the situation. We start talking to Garnett, start talking trash and everything else. Got Garnett and those guys’ juice up and we just pissed down our leg the last six minutes.
You have a veteran team that knows how to close out games against a young team that hasn’t been there. Instead of letting a sleeping dog lie, we just juiced up their energy. We had players coming out of timeouts, we had guys going to the wrong side of the floor. We were so discombobulated.”
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