Posts for category ‘atlanta hawks’

Editor’s Note: Adam Douglas is the new photography assistant for Truth About It.net. Occasionally he also contributes with some excellent writing. Previously he wrote about Emir Preldzic, a Euro-stash player the Wizards acquired in the Ilgauskas-Jamison trade. Below, Adam writes about his first game on the job, the March 11th Wizards-Hawks blizzard make-up game, and his observations of a certain NBA referee.

Reflecting on my pictorial under the hoop debut at the Phone Booth and the Wizards loss to the Atlanta Hawks with Mr. Truth About It, I made a comment on how one official made some really bad calls that both teams were complaining about.

The most egregious were two inadvertent whistles in the fourth quarter that left players and coaches scratching their heads.

One was a momentum crusher.

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[Mike Miller's final shot versus the Atlanta Hawks, March 11, 2010]

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.

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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.

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“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.

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Of mice, of men … the Hawks were the predator and the Wizards were the prey. Early, both teams were cold. I’ll concur with a comment of Wiz broadcast TV HOFer (or at least he should be if he’s not … if that type of thing exists), Steve Buckhantz, who said that unlike versus the Pistons, the Wizards started against Atlanta with energy. They just couldn’t buy a basket, and neither could the Hawks in the beginning.

The Wizards should have felt at home though, the Phillips Arena looked dwarfed by the Verizon Center in capacity. After getting down by as many as 22 points, 40-18 with 3:43 left in the second quarter, the Wizards made the game competitive, getting as close as two points, 66-64, with 11:41 left in the game. But they never could get over a seven point hump late in the fourth quarter.

The Wizards were bested by only 43.5% shooting from the Hawks and a couple ineffectual turnovers. They lost to the better team, and not necessarily because of lack of effort, but because they are not very good.

It’s worth observing that their reason to play inspired basketball has drastically dwindled. If two things plague this team most, one is lack of discipline, which is on the account of the players inconsistently following Flip Saunders’ game plan and often free-styling at crucial points of the game. The second is that the Wizards are not hungry, as in, ‘Did you see D-League call-up Mario West hustle his ass off?’ West had four offensive rebounds in 12 minutes.

As a team, the Wizards don’t know how to play like the Mario Wests of the world, many evidently comfortable with the status quo. Someone tomorrow will take solace in the fact the Wizards fought back from a deficit the size of Jim McIlvaine‘s jersey number. That same someone has started out the decade rooting for moral victories.

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Success of the Wizards is contingent upon the court leadership of Gilbert Arenas. This is not a ground-breaking concept. Despite looking “back” in Dallas, he’s still rusty, and he and the team have a good deal of the development “process” to go.

Nothing could have more exemplified this than the first quarter in Atlanta. As I wrote in the previous game post, Arenas had eight points, one turnover in the game’s first 6:20 and one point, five turnovers in the remainder of the first half. When the offense started to get sloppy, Arenas did not exert control on this situation to calm his team down.

Mike Prada did a good job of breaking this down on Bullets Forever:

A large part of the problem was that Arenas was breaking a lot of plays to drive to the basket.  Yes, it’s true that you want Arenas to be aggressive, in particular because it would wear down Joe Johnson.  However, that has to come more in the flow of the offense than it did tonight.  Arenas kept calling his own number instead of letting the offense run itself and then dumping the ball to another scorer.  The rest of the players were often not prepared for Arenas’ decisions and didn’t get in position to defend in transition.

The strive to achieve more balance is new to Arenas. It’s gonna take some time. All Wizards fans can do is have faith that the experience of Flip Saunders will work to correct these issues and the desire of Arenas to be a better player will make him wholly receptive to the process.

Let’s also be glad that Sam Cassell is around to put some flavor in Arenas’ ear.

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Just as holistically in-sync the Wizards looked on Tuesday in Dallas, they looked about the exact opposite on Friday in Atlanta. What gives?

Sure, the team came on late behind some yesteryear Hibachi appetizers and a little Epic Vale pogo-stick length. But when Agent Zero goes from eight points and one turnover in the game’s first 6:20 to Agent Turnover with one point and five giveaways in the first half’s remaining 17:40, the team is digging itself a hole.

Gil likes to listen to Jay-Z before games … I wonder if he was listening to track #12 off ‘Kingdom Come’ pregame at the Phillips Arena.

Not to discredit the Hawks, they are a good team. But it was less of them beating the Wizards and more of the Wizards beating themselves. Oh … and well, Atlanta was also 31-34 from the free-throw line while the Wizards shot 14-22. The disparity seems dramatic, but the Wizards migrated between trying to carelessly attack the basket and settling for jumpers. So in that regard, the Wiz really don’t have anyone to blame but themselves … but I’ll also credit Atlanta’s defense just a tad.

Looking for areas to pin blame? Point guard play and poor initiation/stewardship of the offense stand out to me. To others, it was the defensive presence of Haywood (minus-11, tied with Arenas for the second worst plus/minus) and Blatche (team worst minus-17), and their inability to contain Al Horford and Josh Smith.

There were a couple positives … a bit of sun shining on the hound dog’s ass through a cloudy Georgia day if you will.

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Just released: Team President Ernie Grunfeld announced that the Wizards would exercise the contract options on Nick Young and JaVale McGee. Young will be retained for his fourth season (2010-11) for an estimated $2,630,503, and McGee for his third season (also 10-11) for an estimated $1,601,040. [Salary Source: HoopsHype]

Now on to the preview of tonight’s game … back to the ATL already?

The Wizards were in Atlanta just over 10 days ago for a preseason game that was disappointing … to put it simply. Of course, they were without Gilbert Arenas and Mike Miller due to the flu, and Antawn Jamison due to a shoulder subluxation. Still, lack of effort is lack of effort.

Part of me wonders if tonight the players will be more motivated because of such a languid effort against a full Hawks squad last time. The other part of me says the past shouldn’t matter. Games now count, the effort should be present regardless.

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{flickr/Rick Austin}

Well, I started off trying to listen to the Wizards versus Hawks on DC’s 106.7 The Fan via the Internet. I heard some Randy Foye turnovers, heard him jack some threes and heard him get his shot blocked going to the rack (Foye led the NBA last season with a fifth of all of his inside shots being blocked).

I also heard the Hawks rain threes (4-4) and the Wizards turn the ball over some more (Andray Blatche had three). And this was all in the first quarter as Atlanta took a 35-18 lead.

Thankfully, technical difficulties spared me from listening to the rest as it only seemed to go downhill from there. The most telling stat(s) from the game? The Wizards’ plus/minus leaders were: Paul Davis +5, Vincent Grier +5, JaVale McGee +4, and Mike James +3.

But hey, at least the guy whose struggles I chronicled earlier on Monday had his strongest effort of the preseason. James finished with six points, four rebounds, eight assists and zero turnovers in 24 minutes.

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flickr/art crimes

The rumors,  the possibilities … they must be tired because they’ve been running through my mind all night. It’s getting a little crazy leading up to the draft, but bloggers, MSM types, and the Internets wouldn’t have it any other way.

First of all, I’d like to remind the basketball world, despite the fact that 99% of it won’t see this post, that the Wizards are not “desperate“ to shed salary.

I’ll simply point to a Washington Times piece from late March highlighting that owner Abe Pollin would pay the luxury tax in order to win a championship. No, this doesn’t mean Ernie Grunfeld won’t be looking for creative ways to save money, he just won’t be making any wholesale giveaways in the process.

Pollin is 85 and another title is number one, two, three, four and five on his bucket list. Question the validity of Pollin’s edict if you want, but at least give it the respect it deserves. Some people don’t.

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I’m a huge Antawn Jamison fan. He’s a classy dude, I’ve nicknamed him ‘The Gentlemen’ (hasn’t caught on), and the women folk say he’s got eyebrows for days.

Jamison is the current patriarchal cornerstone of the franchise. This year’s team MVP? Unquestionably. He possesses the never-quit attitude that should be infecting the locker room via leadership by example … Jamison is quite the opposite of past clubhouse cancers, like Christian Laettner.

But sometimes, everyone needs to be questioned, Jamison being no exception.

Jamison’s struggles on defense are no secret. He has aging lateral movement, and as discovered this year, he’s not an adequate substitute for Brendan Haywood‘s post defensive communication. Are we to just accept Jamison’s “unique” scoring ability, rebounding numbers, and minimal turnovers as big pluses? Or should Flip Saunders seek improved defense out of the starting lineup?

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Andray Blatche had a great start to last night’s game against the Hawks. He hit three open jumpers that Atlanta gave to him, and a crazy out-of-control runner for eight points in the first quarter.

Unfortunately, in the second half, he settled for jumpers. And the times he did drive to the hoop, he seemed to easily bobble the ball away as if he didn’t value it with intensity.

But that’s the Andray Blatche we know….a foundering soul from whom we keep expecting big things.

In the post game show, Comcast’s Ron Thompson and Chris Miller dubbed Blatche a “20 & 10 waiting to happen.”

But how long are we supposed to wait?

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Back to reality? We’ll see.

Q1

Wow, the Phillips looks emptier that the Verizon these days. The Hawks have the 4th best record in the East…..sad to say, Atlanta doesn’t deserve an NBA team.

11:45: Caron misses his assignment to protect the hoop after Songaila goes to double Joe Johnson and Horford gets an easy dunk on Atlanta’s first possession.

Hmm….long missed jumpers from Caron, bad P&R defense from Mike James….S.O.S. (Groundhog Day) – 6-1 Hawks.

9:00: Yep, it’s 9-1 when Tapscott decides to take timeout #1.

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I’ve been a little MIA over the Thanksgiving holiday. It’s nice to take a step back from the computer to hang with family…and that’s been graciously guided by severely limited internet access.

So the Wizards lost games 2 and 3 of the Tapscott era….ho hum. I have yet to read all reactions to losses to both Orlando and Atlanta, and I only was able to watch the Wizards face the Magic from a bar because it was on national television, but the indication seems to be that no one is surprised.

Yea, Dwight Howard is a bad man. In his time on the court against the Wizards this season, he pulls down a rebound every 2.43 minutes, attempts a free-throw every 2.61 minutes, and makes a FG every 3.84 minutes. Not many teams can stop Howard, and the Wizards are especially bad at doing so.

But it boils down to the fact that this Washington team is still not very good, just as indicated by their game performances all season. They’ve fallen short of pretty much everyone’s expectations, even those knowing that Gilbert Arenas would be absent. I would be more disappointed at failing to meet expectations if the team were not trying hard, if they weren’t displaying the want to win. For the most part, the Wizards are making an effort, but for some reason, things just aren’t clicking.

I still refuse to subscribe to the theory that the Wizards played completely above their heads last year. There is still a ton of talent and depth on this team, but not enough healthy fuel to keep the train going. At this point, there’s not much anyone can do outside of giving it the ol’ college try. Unfortunately, most teams the Wizards will be matching-up against graduated from the university long ago.
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Seen, Heard & Said

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So the big news: JaVale McGee and Dee Brown will be in the starting lineup for Etan Thomas and Juan Dixon. Brown is a little bit of a surprise as his play this year has been spotty, and uneventful when he does see the court. Plus, we know that Juan Dixon had built somewhat of an alley-oop rapport with McGee.

However, Dixon may be better coming off the bench, and Brown is a better defender. Still no Nick Young in the starting lineup, but if I had to choose a starting experiment, it would be McGee before Young.

What scares me: Atlanta is one of the best three point shooting teams in the league.

Q1

McGee easily wins the tip over Pachulia….on the first possession for the Wiz, the Hawks double Jamison and give Brown all the room in the world to shoot the three….he misses left.

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