[D.C. Council: setting the scene, rating the starters, assessing the subs, providing the analysis, and catching anything that you may have missed. Unlike the real DC Council, everything here is on the table. Game No. 29, Washington Wizards vs Dallas Mavericks in D.C.; contributor: Kyle Weidie from the Verizon Center.]
Vince Carter started the game with a dunk against the #SoWizards… Surprise, surprise.
Below is the brief reaction I submitted for ESPN’s Daily Dime, and then a video of some Wizards talking about losing to Dallas while witnessing some retro Vinsanity.
MVP.
If a bad team like the 4-25 Wizards doesn’t get what’s left of Vince Carter’s juices flowing, what will? The artist formerly known as Vinsanity started the game with a monster dunk, of all things, and pretty much ended the night with a more vicious dunk. Carter finished with an efficient, game-high 23 points on 9-for-14 shooting.
Chris Singleton’s run of eight straight starts for the Wizards ended on December 19 against the Magic in Orlando. Actually, it ended at halftime of the December 18 game against the Hawks when Randy Wittman opted for the since waived Earl Barron to begin the third quarter. Since, Singleton has struggled to get on the floor. His coach hasn’t played him in three of the Wizards’ last four games, and the game in which Singleton did see the court, against the Cleveland Cavaliers on December 26, he only managed to do so for 6.5 minutes, scoring two points and grabbing two rebounds.
Before tonight’s game against the Mavericks, Wittman’s reason as to the absence of Singleton was simple: not enough minutes.
“There’s not enough minutes to play everybody … can’t play everybody,” said the coach. Certainly there’s more to it. The coach also mentioned the oft-used concept of consistency. But will Singleton have a chance to find it, especially with depleted resources and underwhelming performances from those such as Jan Vesely?
Here to provide the DC Council Opening Statements for Washington’s 29th game of the season against the Dallas Mavericks in Washington are TAI’s Kyle Weidie (@Truth_About_It), and guests Ian Levy (@HickoryHigh), Kirk Henderson (@KirkSeriousFace), and Shay Vance, all of whom write about the Mavericks for the TrueHoop blog The Two Man Game.
[D.C. Council: setting the scene, rating the starters, assessing the subs, providing the analysis, and catching anything that you may have missed. Unlike the real DC Council, everything here is on the table. Game No. 7, Washington Wizards at Dallas Mavericks; contributors: Rashad Mobley, Arish Narayen andKyle Weidie from behind the T.V.]
Here to provide the DC Council Opening Statements for Washington’s seventh game of the season against the Mavericks in Dallas are TAI’s Kyle Weidie (@Truth_About_It), guest Bryan Gutierrez (@BallinWithBryan), who writes about the Mavericks for the TrueHoop blog The Two Man Game, and TAI’s John Converse Townsend (@JohnCTownsend), who drops in with another game prediction.
Remember Gilbert Arenas’ final act as a Washington Wizard? It wasn’t pretty. It was self-destructiveness with a premonition. JaVale McGee’s exit act is not as egregious, but it’s so JaVale, with a twist of Wizards past to boot.
There were about 70 seconds left in Tuesday’s game at Dallas, the Mavericks holding a 107-96 lead. McGee blocked a Jason Terry shot and sprinted his hardest in the other direction, leaving his teammates to recover the ball. Jordan Crawford did, and he pushed it, eventually finding himself and McGee with a 2-on-1 advantage… Could the result be anything other than a lob dunk?
Unfortunately the oft-absent concentration was broken, McGee missed the easy dunk. Would it have made a difference in the outcome? You can never be sure (in most situations), but McGee didn’t play like that. He played within himself, as if that next offensive possession or that next block opportunity was his and his alone, and not a collection of game possessions that belonged to the team.
After McGee craned his neck to see the ball bounce behind him, he came down from high after his missed dunk and worked to run back uphill on defense. Meanwhile, former teammate Brendan Haywood, a guy who gave the impression that he wasn’t really a fan of McGee during Haywood’s own last playing days as a Wizard, positioned himself just so… in a manner to provide McGee with one last parting shot, former Wizard to future former Wizard.
[The DC Council -- After each Wizards game: setting the scene, rating the starters, assessing the bench, providing the analysis, and catching anything that you may have missed. Unlike the real DC Council, everything here is over the table. Click here for cumulative DC Council 3-star ratings over the course of the season. Game 41 contributors: Markus Allen, Adam McGinnis (@Adam McGinnis) and Arish Narayen.]
The Washington Wizards continue the road trip in Dallas tonight for a matchup against the Mavericks. These two teams are most recently connected by the seven-player deal they completed on February 13, 2010. Washington sent supposed cornerstone pieces Caron Butler, Brendan Haywood and DeShawn Stevenson (and cash, don’t forget the cash) to the Mavericks in exchange for Josh Howard, Drew Gooden, James Singleton and Quinton Ross. The crew from Washington helped Dallas win an NBA championship; the crew from Dallas helped Washington accomplish nothing but a chance to clean up after mistakes. Haywood is the only player from the trade remaining on either team. What maneuvering. Moving on, for tonight’s 3-on-3 we have Ian Levy (@HickoryHigh) from the ESPN TrueHoop Network Mavs blog The Two Man Game (amongst other blogs), Beckley Mason (@BeckleyMason) of HoopSpeak.com/ESPN, and TAI’s Kyle Weidie (@Truth_About_It). Three questions, three answers starts now…
#1) Although questionable in general, Brendan Haywood is evidently not physically questionable against the Wizards tonight and is set to return to the court for the first time in five games, essentially (he sprained his ankle in the opening minute of Dallas’ loss to Oklahoma City on March 5th and missed the next four games). This will be the third meeting between the two former practice sparing partners, former Wizards teammates Haywood and JaVale McGee, and the numbers for each player over the previous two look pretty paltry. Who prevails in the matchup tonight and what does it mean for their respective teams?
IAN LEVY: I think Haywood gets the better of McGee, and it means a ton for the Mavericks. The Mavericks have capable depth in the front-court but when Haywood is out, everyone has to move up a chair into a role that asks a little more of them then they are capable. Getting Brandan Wright back will help settle the rotation as well.
BECKLEY MASON: McGee prevails with his activity and earnest effort. If McGee can control the glass, it might make up for what I predict will be a decided shooting advantage in the Mavs favor. The Wizards need to get more possessions, and while Dallas won’t test McGee at the rim too often on drives, he’ll need to be active and communicative on the perimeter. What I’m saying is: McGee will likely outplay Haywood, but he has to do more than that to swing the game.
The Washington Wizards continue the road trip in Dallas tonight for a matchup against the Mavericks. These two teams are most recently connected by the seven-player deal they completed on February 13, 2010. Washington sent supposed cornerstone pieces Caron Butler, Brendan Haywood and DeShawn Stevenson (and cash, don’t forget the cash) to the Mavericks in exchange for Josh Howard, Drew Gooden, James Singleton and Quinton Ross. The crew from Washington helped Dallas win an NBA championship; the crew from Dallas helped Washington accomplish nothing but a chance to clean up after mistakes. Haywood is the only player from the trade remaining on either team. What maneuvering. Moving on, for tonight’s 3-on-3 we have Ian Levy (
