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The New Jersey Nets had a road record of 3-16 going into last night’s game against Washington, and although that is not quite as bad as the 0-17 road record the Wizards are sporting, it still is not something to be proud of at all. Avery Johnson might not have been able to coach his team to a successful road record, but prior to the game, he laid out a blueprint on how it could be done:
Each game brings countless stories, instances and things to digest. The Wizards’ 97-77 win over the New Jersey Nets on Friday night was no exception. Surely you’ll hear about the team learning from a battle between buffalo and lions shown to them by Flip Saunders, or about Rashard Lewis’ compete game (16 points on 5-11 shooting, 3-6 from three, 13 rebounds, six assists, three steals, a block and zero turnovers), or about Nick Young tying his career high five assists, or John Wall’s nine assists to zero turnovers, or JaVale McGee’s five blocks in the first half (six on the night), or the Wizards’ jovial pre-game routine and loose attitude in the midst of losing. Anything of the sort, in multitudes. But I’m here to talk about our friend Andray Blatche.
It’s a simple game … or at least it can be. And for all the transgressions we may point out about Blatche, and deservedly so, sometimes you got to point out the good things he does. And maybe we should get extra excited about Blatche doing the simple, little things. These are the small victories with him … something to believe in (even though, let’s be honest, at this point there’s no reason not to believe that the feeling could be fleeting). Nonetheless, through roller coaster haircuts and radio air-clearings with Mike Wise, let’s take a look at couple photos I took during the Wizards-Nets game that highlight something rather simple from Mr. Blatche.
Blatche certainly seems to be setting a good screen here … he doesn’t have a reputation of always doing so, at least according to Gilbert Arenas’ departing critique of the Wizards’ big men. But then again, who can believe what Arenas says?
Sebastian Pruiti, founder and editor of NBAPlaybook.com and NetsAreScorching.com, has had the opportunity to watch Yi Jianlian for the past two seasons and in a conversation with Truth About It, said:
Yi is an incredibly inconsistent player. There are days where he looks like he finally solved the puzzle and will turn into a pretty solid offensive player and then the next game he will go 2-15 from the field. Something he has always been ripped for was [his] lack of aggression, and last year he tried really hard to dispel those thoughts…maybe too hard. Most times he made the catch he wouldn’t even look for the shot and he’d put the ball on the floor, but teams started to pick up on it. If he can find a happy medium he might do pretty well offensively.
On the defensive end though, he is absolutely lost. That is part of the reason I think the Nets traded him besides the cap relief. I don’t think he would have got much minutes this upcoming year, just because Avery wouldn’t allow his terrible defense to hurt the Nets.
That isn’t exactly a ringing endorsement of the 22 (or is it 24?) year old stretch four. To sort out any misconceptions and better determine Yi’s worth, it’s time for another installment of CHECK MY STATS, unofficially sponsored by Synergy Sports Technology. Read more »
{flickr/Buou}
Mere minutes after the introductory press conference of 2010 draft picks Trevor Booker and Hamady N’Diaye ended, rumors began to surface that Ernie Grunfeld had another trade up his sleeve to absorb the Wizards’ cap space while gaining misspent potential in the process.
The team has officially announced that they will acquire 2007 sixth overall draft pick Yi Jianlian from the New Jersey Nets in exchange for Quinton Ross. New Jersey will also send Washington “cash considerations,” estimated to be $3 million.
Ross recently exercised a player option that will pay him $1,146,337 next season. Jianlian is set to make $4,050,499 in 2010-11 with a qualifying offer of $5,403,366 for 2011-12.
Give Andray Blatche credit. On Sunday evening he achieved a career-high eight assists in just the first quarter. Blatche’s passing to start the game against New Jersey set an example for his teammates and established a tone of ball movement for the entire night. Andray finished with 13 assists and his team had 28 total on 38 made field-goals en route to beating the Nets 109-99.
As you can imagine, Blatche being the post player that he is, one who often leads the Wizards in scoring and shots (20 points on 5-18 FGs on the night) and one who can rebound when he applies himself, probably came pretty close to achieving his first career triple-double.
It wasn’t to be, he finished one rebound short.
Some quotes and pictures from before today’s Wizards game versus the New Jersey Nets …
“Dray, his scoring production in the fourth quarter isn’t what it is in the first three quarters because teams lock in more.”
“Early in the game Dray’s definitely a lot more ready to take cuts, work a little bit harder … late in the games, he gets pushed out a little bit.”
I could have taken a number of quotes from the above video of locker room interviews after Saturday night’s loss to the Jazz and turned it into the title of a post.
“Obviously it’s not any fun, you know it’s frustrating.” -Mike Miller
“Well obviously you have fun playing basketball, but you play to win.” -Mike Miller again
“We all have jobs, you know. My job is to play my game and to do my job.” -Andray Blatche
“I don’t feel like the freedom is there to … if I get physical, I don’t get to be able to be physical back, offensively at least.” -JaVale McGee
{flickr/Bari D}
The last time the Wizards faced the Nets in New Jersey, Earl Boykins hit a game winner with 0.4 seconds left. The first time these two teams meet this season was the Wizards’ home opener in D.C., an old-fashioned blow out. Different times back then.
So, the Wiz are 2-0 against New Jersey this year, but haven’t faced them since the team was blown up … nor have these two teams faced since Michael Wilbon supposedly said that New Jersey would go undefeated against this current Wizards team (at the time, Josh Howard was still healthy — see the comments section of this post). Ok, so that has yet to be determined, but I will go on record saying that Wilbon is full of hot air regardless.
But in anticipation of today’s game in the Garden State (6 pm est start time), I exchanged a brief Q&A with Mark Ginocchio of the fellow TrueHoop Network blog, Nets Are Scorching.
After a horrible start, the Wizards, a rather dysfunctional team themselves, came back to beat the New Jersey Nets, the worst team in the NBA. Good for them. For the 81-79 win, Flip Saunders need the 5’5″ Earl Boykins, a mid-November pick-up, to hit a jumper with 0.4 seconds left. Jarvis Hayes, a former Washington Wizard, badly missed a shot at the buzzer for the Nets.
The secondary storyline to the Earl of Last-Second Heroics is the fact that not one of the Wizards’ starters, Randy Foye, Mike Miller, Caron Butler, Antawn Jamison and Brendan Haywood, scored in double figures, something that hasn’t happened to an NBA team so far this season and perhaps beyond.
The starters combined to shoot 15-42 from the field and not one of them finished with a positive plus/minus (-14, -1, -7, -11 and -5 respectively in the previously given order).
Other the other hand, the reserves, Boykins, DeShawn Stevenson, Nick Young, Andray Blatche and Fabricio Oberto, were responsible for 43 of the Wizards’ 81 points. Boykins (15), Young (10) and Blatche (14) were the double-figure scorers for Washington and each reserve finished with a positive plus/minus (+17, +4, +7, +13 and +7 respectively in the previously given order).
There’s so much out there on the web … to filter through it all, I provide the best web cuts from the Wizards-Nets game:
Andray Blatche was feeling good tonight, and for good reason. After the game he got dressed in a snazy suit and tie, accented by giant diamond studs and to top it off, a pair of dark shades. He playfully strutted through the locker room and joked that he didn’t feel like doing an interview, then bust into a laugh and sat down and said, “Alright, let me get for real. What’s up, y’all?”
Across The ESPN TrueHoop Network