Ok, a screen shot post. I don’t do these often enough,  here goes …

First, a disclaimer: Sometimes an opponent makes good, (relatively)unstoppable plays, and sometimes the defense isn’t up to snuff. Since defense wins championships, these screen shot posts tend to concentrate on the correctable defensive plays. So, sorry NBA millionaires if you are criticized and nitpicked too often. That just how it goes.

Because of the 8 pm start time, and then Duke-Maryland, I could only muster myself to re-watch the first half of last night’s Wizards-Bucks game, one where the Wiz lost 100-87. I’ll likely try to watch and chronicle the second half tonight, but I’m sure that a third quarter where, I believe, the Wizards had the same amount of turnovers as points (12), will be especially “fun” to watch. And yes, I realize this re-watching of Wizards defeats makes me seem a tad insane.

The Bucks are the Bucks. They are a playoff team, in the Eastern Conference … where sixth place is equivalent to “on the outside looking in” in the West. Still, no one thought the Wizards would really win last night. But they fought hard. They sorta tried. And as expected with this still young team, they more so got in their own way of winning than the other team. Although, do give Milwaukee credit.

{1st Quarter}

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The Milwaukee Bucks game seems like it was ages ago. And when deciding which aspect of the game to break down, I was conflicted at first. Should it be what happened after Gilbert Arenas went down at the 7:12 mark in the fourth quarter, specifically, the 9-0 run that occurred in the two minutes after that?

Naw, why focus on the positive? This team will only improve if they continue to recognize and remember what went wrong. And with the Wizards, there’s usually a lot to choose from. What obviously came to mind was the 32 points scored by Michael Redd, his first 30+ point effort since January 16, 2009.

If I posed to question to you, ‘Who was responsible for letting Redd have his way on the offensive end, including him getting to the free-throw line so much, where he went 15-15?,’ you would probably say, ‘Randy Foye.’ And I would say, ‘You are a correct, astute observer of the Wizards, sir.’

Everyone is certainly happy that Foye has recently arisen from the depths or irrelevancy … probably not enough for Ernie Grunfeld to retain him after the season … but there’s a lot of season left and victories in the small battles are worth feeling good about. Still, Foye is a poor perimeter defender, and the Wizards have a plethora of inefficient perimeter defenders.

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The Wizards beat the Bucks 109-97 on Wednesday night. Here’s some of what happened in 12 frames.

Pretty nice scene, huh? Well, not as nice … last night’s game was on CSN+ in D.C., not CSN HD. Heart-warming nonetheless. After the game I tweeted that beating the Bucks 109-97 was the first ‘feel good’ win for the Wizards in a long time. Mike Prada of Bullets Forever called it the best win of the year.

And the scene above captures it all. Gilbert Arenas goes down after an errant Bucks knee to his leg, not to mention losing a tooth, Earl Boykins comes in to save the day, and the two leave the court arm-and-arm and all smiles. Arenas started it with 13 points, three rebounds and seven assists, to only a single turnover, in the first quarter, and Boykins finished it with 12 of his 15 points in the final period.

It looked pretty bad when Gil went down. But after seeing him hold his thigh, and the replay, it was clear there wasn’t a reason to fear for his knee. Although, those thigh bruises do hurt. The Wizards have two days off, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Arenas sat out of Saturday’s game in Minnesota. It all depends on how deep the bruise is. He was noticeably limping right after it happened, and those things only stiffen and get worse.

So with that win, the Wizards, and their fans, will have a holiday that’s just a little bit better. But what would be this team’s ultimate Christmas (or holiday, or whatever you celebrate) wish?

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I experienced a “first” on Wednesday night.

In the Wizards locker room before the game, I noticed a stack of duPont Registry magazines under one of the huge flat screen televisions. If you aren’t familiar with the duPont Registry, it’s a publication full of fancy/luxury cars, etc. that only really, really rich people can afford. One of my friends had a duPont Registry once, but it was just for lookin’, not for buyin’.

So … Wednesday night was the first time I was in the vicinity of the magazine while also being in a room full of dudes who could purchase something from it.

So I have that going for me.

After Wednesday’s win over Milwaukee, I was all ready to write about Earl Boykins, as was everyone else in the world (and I kinda did … below), but life/work got in the way of a more formal game write-up. It happens.

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Gilbert Arenas’ frustration with what he perceives to be a lack of calls in his favor seemed to culminate on Tuesday night in Toronto. Late in the first quarter, he was given a technical foul by referee Greg Willard for arguing a non-call.

On a drive to the basket, Arenas left his feet for a shot and initiated contact with Toronto’s Amir Johnson. Johnson had his arms straight up, but his body did come into contact with Arenas to the extent that Phil Chenier, Wizards television color-analyst, said he was “incensed” because a foul was not called.

When the whistle wasn’t blown, Arenas circled past the ref on the baseline, clapped his hands together and yelled, “Come on!” This did not warrant a tech. But when Arenas clapped his hands a second time, looking back at the ref and saying something else while running down court, a line was drawn. Willard wouldn’t let Gil continue any further and blew the whistle, adjusting his hands in a perpendicular fashion.

Arenas continued to make impassioned pleas to anyone who would listen. Not as impassioned as Scott Skiles when he was given two technicals and an ejection Wednesday night in the Verizon Center, but it was an issue that continued to be on Arenas’ mind nonetheless, including during the game against the Bucks.

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I watched most of the Wizards game before heading out for the night. They simply didn’t entice me to stay with their lack of energy, effort, and patience/ball movement on offense. So, watching the rest of the game on Sunday, I pick the game blog up here:

5:00 left in the 3rd, the Wizards are down 13 on the road….do they have what it takes?

Well, to start off, Songaila is scrapping, in the paint on the floor, in the midst of a fray of humanity, and comes away with the ball for an assist from his back to Caron Butler for a dunk. 72-61 Bucks.

4:16: Wiz get another turnover….Butler jets down the court, goes straight under the rim, puts Charlie Bell on his back and becomes a very easy target for a pass from Mike James. 73-63 Bucks.

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Some will tell you that Michael Redd killed the Wizards with his All-Star play, especially that huge three he hit to put the Bucks up 93-89 with 1:20 left (Dominic McGuire got caught on a screen and Andray Blatche didn’t help like he was supposed to).

Some will tell you that Andrew Bogut was a heavy-weight in the paint with 18 points and 10 boards (sure he was trouble, but at times, the Wizards guards focused on him too much, losing sight of perimeter assignments).

I will tell you that the #1 problem in my book was one which has consistently plagued the Wizards’ defensive efforts for years: backcourt defense. During crucial moments of the game, it seemed that either Luke Ridnour or Ramon Sessions were getting their way against the likes of Javaris Crittenton and Mike James.

The ball handling duo for the Bucks combined for 14 assists and only 2 turnovers (both on Ridnour, who had 10 of the assists). The quick offensive movement they spawned was contagious to their teammates…..and it was the poor down-the-stretch defense of the Wizards which helped thwart any easy chances to be had on offense.

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Against the Milwaukee Bucks, Andray Blatche brought the ball up the court in transition and passed it to absolutely no one……save for some dude on Milwaukee’s bench. If you want to see video of said incident, click away.

As the Wizards headed into a timeout, Caron Butler gave Blatche a “look” as if to say….”Really?….. REAlly?“

Some contested that Butler was just turning his head. Some say that it’s hard to tell what Butler is doing with the crappy quality of YouTube. How best boil this down? A screen shot. Sure, it’s silly and perhaps pointless to do so, but I’ve got nothing better to do while watching football on a Sunday.

In any case, the evidence speaks for itself…..that is a stink-face right in the direction of one Andray Blatche.

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Ok….I’m not one to throw in the towel, but I couldn’t help feeling as I watched the Wizards-Bucks game that a win would be a bonus, and not anything to expect. I don’t want to get into deep analysis on the game three loss, so here are some bulleted observations:

• Andray Blatche is getting his fair share of chances and is not taking advantage of them.

• He severely lacks blocking-out fundamentals — Somebody teach him….PLEASE!! Tony Massenburg? Wes Unseld?
• Blatche is trying to do too much — I’m not sure what needs to happen for Andray to let the game come to him.

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