Flip Saunders didn’t care about Tuesday night’s win over the Philadelphia 76ers. Well, not like he didn’t care, care. If you ask him, I’m sure he’ll tell you that he was damn glad to have a ‘W’ notched in the record book. The win wasn’t even one of those ‘whew, that was a close one, glad we came out on top’ victories of relief for the coach.
No, the Wizards’ 105-98 win over Eddie Jordan’s Sixers was more like a ‘Dammit, I’m still pissed that I had to sub all five of my starters out en masse with eight minutes left in the third quarter just to motivate this frickin’ 8-17 team’ type of night for Saunders.
After the game, I asked Saunders about that magic moment when he subbed Earl Boykins, Nick Young, Dominic McGuire, Andray Blatche and Fabricio Oberto all at once for Gilbert Arenas, Randy Foye, Caron Butler, Antawn Jamison and Brendan Haywood after watching his starters commit three turnovers and three fouls on their way to getting outscored 12-5 four minutes into the second half.
5:24:36 PM: Heading to the Verizon Center with the hope that the Wizards will display some serious effort tonight. It’s going to be an adventure.
6:17:13 PM: Mike James is on the cover of the Wizards’ Game Time magazine/handout tonight. Wonder if it’s the last time we’ll see him in a Wiz uniform.
6:18:04 PM: Randy Foye will start tonight for the Wizards, Lou Williams will come off the bench for the 76ers.
6:20:29 PM: Tonight’s Wizards-76ers officials: #33 Sean Corbin, #39 Kevin Fehr, and #66, former Washington Bullet, Haywoode Workman.
6:24:36 PM: Like Flip has done, Eddie Jordan said he thought about giving up shoot-around 2 help his team, but values it too much as a teaching tool.
It was easy to deduce that a certain jovial nature had returned to the Wizards’ clubhouse, one that had the DC Sports Bog’s Dan Steinberg display a sense of giddiness as he exited the locker room after Tuesday’s win against Philadelphia.
Of course, this mostly started with the release of the team’s biggest character, Gilbert Arenas, which was thus reflected upon the team’s biggest smiley goofball, Nick Young.
The latest theme involved Young being placed in a box, on a shelf, to just gather dust. Now, who exactly placed Young in said box could be debated. It would be easy to assume that it was completely at the behest of the coaches. But given the amount and nature of chances Nick has been given this season, it’s better to conclude that he placed himself in the box. The coaches simply sealed him up with a minimal amount of tape.
Wizards fans now hope that Tuesday’s game wasn’t just Nick taking a peak out of the box and that he will jump out feet first. If he keeps playing disciplined defense like he did against Philly, and limits unnecessary dribbles, there’s no reason to believe why Young can’t mature as a third year player and build on his most recent effort.
I got a text message from a good friend during Tuesday’s Wizards-Sixers game: “#4 is playing his a** off” — The message really came with the asterisks, he doesn’t like to cuss.
The text made me take pause. I clearly noticed Antawn Jamison’s hustle swag, but it took the words for me to fully digest the amount of playing emotion coming from the team leader. The game meant something to Jamison, and his passion dwarfed that of his teammates by far.
The dedication of The Gentleman Jamison helped overcome the fact that his team almost gave the game away, which fueled by the carelessness of Gilbert Arenas.
With 5:30 left in the game, after a Sam Dalembert bucket, Arenas tried to make a casual pass up the court to Earl Boykins … with Jrue Holiday RIGHT in the passing lane. Holiday got the easy steal, brought the ball up the court and hit a three in Arenas’ face. Five quick Philly points, 98-92 Wizards.
One minute later, Gilbert tried to drive the lane in heavy traffic. Holiday stripped him of the ball; a clean play contrary to Steve Buckhantz’s proclamation that Arenas got “clobbered.” Guess who was allowed to get a rebound tip bucket on the Sixers’ fast break … Jrue Holiday. 98-94 Wizards.
{video: Arenas & Jamison on the Wizards’ struggles and facing Eddie Jordan and the Sixers}
As you are aware, team owner Abe Pollin passed away today, which certainly sets a different tone on reporting about the game. Sad that the man had to die amidst his team’s 3-9 record and perceived bickering among the players. A ton of people spoke about Mr. Pollin before the game (including Wes Unseld, Phil Chenier, Eddie Jordan, Ernie Grunfeld, and obviously the players). I’ll have more on Mr. Pollin’s passing later.
DeShawn Stevenson described the feeling around the locker room as a state of shock, but the mood is still to go out, play to win, and play with respect.
Andray Blatche dedicated this game and the rest of the season to Mr. Pollin. “Whatever is holding us back, we gotta get over it for him,” he said.
The previous storyline of tonight’s game was the return of old coach Eddie Jordan, exactly a year to the day that Jordan was fired after handing out Thanksgiving turkeys to the needy at a team sponsored event.
Tonight, at a team sponsored event after the game, the currently injured Mike Miller is scheduled to hand out turkeys in conjunction with the Wizards Care community organization.
Spoke with DeShawn about Jordan before the game. He said their relationship was cool because Eddie gave him an opportunity to start. Stevenson said he had no problem even though some of his teammates do.
Andray Blatche, on the other hand, said, “Eddie Jordan is not in his mindset right now,” but did express that he’d probably work a bit harder with his old coach in the house.
Michael Lee of the WaPost has more on Jordan’s return via Wizards Insider and via Wizards Outlet, Mike Jones of the WaTimes reports on Jordan’s surprise at the Wizards’ struggles.
Overall, I was impressed by the Wizards’ performance in Philadelphia on Tuesday night (aside from the ending), especially in response to Flip Saunders openly calling the team out on a disappointing performance in Atlanta on Monday. But …
The Wizards need to improve on defense, right? From watching Tuesday’s game, I was able to make some observations on focus and technique in areas where some individuals can stand to improve. I’ve illustrated these observation in screen shots below.
Caron Butler’s on Defensive Focus
Caron wants to be a better defender? Well, there are some simple things he could be doing that he’s not doing. Let’s illustrate … Read more »
Last night’s 90-89 win against the Sixers in Philly got a bit goofy toward the end. After the game, Flip Saunders said, “That’s what they call a learning experience,” which sort of means, ‘We better not pull any of that B.S. during a regular season game.’
What exactly did Flip see? Well, let’s start with JaVale McGee.
One thing JaVale McGee CAN’T do is finger-roll
I almost knew it was going to happen when I saw McGee snag a loose ball with a tie game, around 16 seconds left, and an open court with only one man to beat.
Tied with both Philadelphia and Toronto to achieve 39 wins, and finish seventh through ninth in the East (the averages actually break out to PHI – 39.4, WAS – 39.1, TOR – 39.0), the ESPN panel believes that the Wizards will be fighting just to make the playoffs.
Sports Illustrated’s Chris Mannix and The Wages of Wins Journal both seem to think the Wiz will be significantly better than sub-40 wins, but everyone is entitled to their opinion. Maybe some of the ESPN experts think the Wizards’ defense won’t be up to par, or that their frontcourt is too thin and they desperately need an upgrade. Of course, when Mike Prada of Bullets Forever wrote the two previously linked pieces, he had improving the team to compete for a championship in mind, not so they can solidify a playoff position. Still, both defense and frontcourt are valid areas of concern.
You’d think that it’d get to the point where when Phil Chenier discusses ‘Keys to the Game’, he’d just say, “don’t lose” — but I guess that’d be lazy. Tonight’s key: Mike James…yes, an NBA vagabond is our freaking key to the game.
8:43: Caron turnover trying to pass to Jamison….that was just a horrible angle…..basketball instinct diminishing.
7:32: I don’t understand how the Wizards can appear to be pointing and communicating, yet completely turn their back on Igoudala who gets a lob from Miller and dunks. 10-7 Sixers.
I’m seeing some progress, especially out of Andray Blatche. But without a W in the books, the frustration continues to mount regardless of trying hard.
What really baffles me is the inability to score down the stretch….the inability for the stars, Antawn Jamison and Caron Butler, to will the team to a win by taking matters into their own hands and dropping the ball in the bucket.
As you may have read, and some of this is also covered in the web hits below, no one has a huge problem another Wizard taking an open shot when opposing defenses focus on Butler and Jamison…..it just shouldn’t become a habit.
