[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. 82, Washington Wizards at Chicago Bulls; contributors: Kyle Weidie and Adam McGinnis from the District.]
[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. 74, Washington Wizards vs. Chicago Bulls; contributors: Dan Diamond and Adam McGinnis from the Verizon Center, and Sean Fagan up I-95 in Brooklyn, N.Y.]
Entering Wednesday night, here are the NBA’s top five teams in defensive rating–a stat that measures opponents’ points per 100 possessions. Essentially, it’s a pure way to track which teams are best at keeping opponents’ points off the board.
[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. 42, Washington Wizards vs Chicago Bulls in D.C.; contributors: Rashad Mobley and Adam McGinnis from behind the television screen.]
Here to provide the DC Council Opening Statements for Washington’s 42nd game of the season at home against the Chicago Bulls are TAI’s Rashad Mobley (@rashad20) and guest Matt McHale (@bullsbythehorns), who writes about the Bulls for the ESPN TrueHoop blog Bulls by the Horns.
Wizards Starters (10-31):
John Wall, Bradley Beal, Martell Webster, Nene, Emeka Okafor
[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. 28, Washington Wizards at Chicago Bulls; contributors: Kyle Weidie and John Converse Townsend from behind the television screen.]
Here to provide the DC Council Opening Statements for Washington’s 28th game of the season against the Bulls in Chicago are TAI’s Kyle Weidie (@Truth_About_It) and guest Braedan Ritter (@BullsbytheHorns), who writes about the Bulls for the ESPN TrueHoop blog Bulls By The Horns. Also check this By The Horns game preview where I contribute answers to the very same questions that Braedan answers below.
[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 61 contributors: Markus Allen, Arish Narayen, and Kyle Weidie (@truth_about_it).]
The Washington Wizards talk about fourth quarter full-court pressure defense against Chicago, which helped make the 10 point loss a little more interesting, to say the least…
If anything, Randy Wittman has proven that he’s no Flip Saunders, past his own claims of the two being “polar opposites.” No, it’s not about wins and losses (beating the Bobcats twice? please), at least for the rest of this season. Yes, outcome is important and positive outcomes are nice, but ask a fan about winning or losing, and the Wizards can’t win. From moral victories to lottery losses to scoreboard reward, not many can be satisfied in this current state of four victories and 17 losses.
Wittman is willing to try more new things, starting Jan Vesely at the four over Andray Blatche for example. Or, down 78-63 to the Chicago Bulls on Monday night with nearly a quarter left to play, throwing a full court press after a Chicago timeout allowing Tom Thibodeau to insert M.V.P. point guard Derrick Rose back into the game. It’s not like Saunders didn’t reach deep into his bag of gimmicks, responsiveness from his players was clearly the issue.
“I was a little hesitant to really do what we did there in the fourth quarter,” said coach Randy Wittman at the end of the night, “because… [chuckles]… we hadn’t worked on it, but I said, ‘Let’s go, guys, we got one chance here to make this a ball game.’”
Washington responded immediately — with a unit of John Wall, Jordan Crawford, Nick Young, Trevor Booker, and JaVale McGee – racing to a 15-8 run in fewer than four minutes. Thanks to the pressure, the Wizards trimmed their deficit to eight points. A Nick Young three-pointer capped the comeback, with Wittman afterward stomping his feet all over the hardwood floor to remind Young to not bask in his offense, but rather to find the shooters and pressure as necessary. Chicago answered by finally breaking Washington’s full-court defense with ease, ending the Wizards run with a Carlos Boozer dunk, holding their lead at 88-78.
[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. Game 21 contributors: Markus Allen (@mayminded), John Converse Townsend (@JohnCTownsend), and Kyle Weidie (@Truth_About_It).]
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