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[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. 32, Washington Wizards at Miami Heat; contributor: Kyle Weidie from his standing desk (Why, yes, this is quite late ... thank you for understanding).]
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Smug LeBron. |
Here to provide the DC Council Opening Statements for Washington’s 20th game of the season against the Heat in Miami is TAI’s Kyle Weidie (@Truth_About_It). Usually there is a guest to these bits, but this Kyle character didn’t reach out to anyone in time. And otherwise, it’s hard to get people to care about/to be interested in/to spend their time on a franchise as bad as the Wizards. So here I am.
Jordan Crawford, Bradley Beal, Martell Webster, Chris Singleton, Emeka Okafor
Here to provide the DC Council Opening Statements for Washington’s 15th game of the season against the Miami Heat in D.C. are TAI’s Kyle Weidie (@Truth_About_It) and guest Surya Fernandez (@SuryaHeatNBA), who writes about the Heat for the SB Nation blog Hot Hot Hoops.
A.J. Price, Bradley Beal, Trevor Ariza, Chris Singleton, Emeka Okafor
(More changes to the starting crew in consideration? We will see.)
Newly Stoic Nene.
[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 66 contributors: Rashad Mobley (@Rashad20) from behind the television screen and Adam McGinnis (@AdamMcGinnis) and Kyle Weidie (@Truth_About_It) from the Verizon Center.]
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This post is certainly a couple days late and definitely several dollars short amidst the pixels urgently begging for your attention as soon as it happens. But words last forever and video preserves them further. This is what Randy Wittman, Erik Spoelstra, Shane Battier, Chris Bosh, LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Mo Evans and Nick Young said after they played on Friday, Feb. 10, 2012 in a 106-89 Miami Heat win over the Washington Wizards.
x “My challenge is always finding a way to be aggressive.”
x “Every team plays hard against us, they bring their ‘A’ game against us. We understand that.”
x “We’re always a day late and a dollar short.”
x “I think that’s what the fans came to see. They love to see their favorite players do amazing things, and they got a chance to see that on both sides … Hopefully everyone that came to the game, paid their hard-earned dollars for their ticket, and got their money worth tonight.”
x “I’m the best 3-point shooter in the world.”
[answers below video]
[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 26 contributors: Rashad Mobley (@rashad20) from the television screen with on John Converse Townsend (@JohnCTownsend), and Kyle Weidie (@Truth_About_It) from the Verizon Center.]
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First, JaVale McGee blocks.
We (I/you/us/them) have found cause to critique JaVale McGee to a high degree this season. It’s just when you combine immense talent and potential with a seeming unwillingness to learn and/or an inability to grow in basketball IQ, the way of the world is done an injustice without an honest assessment.
So, when McGee finally does “put it together,” also known as when he stops doing stupid things (like JaVale’s dribbles), you’ll appreciate how much he’s grown even more. All of this could be a bunch of bull to make myself feel better about my criticism. It also could be an “it is what it is” situation*.
The Wizards want JaVale McGee on that line, they need him on that line. They need him to get better because in totality, his improvement this season has been a slight disappointment. But rebuilding time is time afforded to go through these frustrations. So it’s all good … as long as McGee kicks butt this summer.
He’s done a lot better lately. One day he could be consistently amazing to watch. Oh the day dreams. Although, his mere five rebounds in 36 minutes against the Miami Heat on Wednesday night stands out from the 15.3 boards he averaged in the previous four games (on the road against the LA Clippers, Denver Nuggets, Golden State Warriors and Utah Jazz). The quality of the opponent should be considered, but McGee still made his presence felt against the Heat, in the form of sweet, sweet blocks.
The Washington Wizards’ stout, sprightly owner Ted Leonsis today offered his take on The Trade.
“My responsibility is to help craft a team that is a winner and is built to last. We have to make an environment that is great for our fans and for our players and for our partners. […] I have been unabashed in noting that we have to rebuild around our core of young players. We will suffer though a lot of pain but we will be stronger for it. The rebuild will take along [sic] time for us to get to where we want to be – an elite team. Building a truly special team has lots of risk – in any fashion imaginable.”
[UPDATE: Or not ... seems like the President won't be in attendance now, and Arenas has likely been traded to Orlando for Rashad Lewis. "Great."]
The Miami Heat make their way down to D.C. from New York to play the Wizards tonight. I imagine the atmosphere will be slightly different from Madison Square Garden, in terms of expressed fan affection for the home team. Surely many will be showing up more so to boo LeBron James, the energy from which, however, could certainly lead to more cheers for the Wizards. Then again, I will be curious to see how many adoring screams there are for LeBron and Dwyane Wade reigning down from the rafters. Seems like there will be plenty in this city of transient sports fans.
Actually, I imagine the scene at the Phone Booth will be crazier than MSG. Ted Leonsis has already warned that “lots of dignitaries and VIPS” will be in the building, and that means President Obama, as evidently the Secret Service has been making security preparations at the Verizon Center this morning. Oh, and with all the trade rumors swirling, it could be Gilbert Arenas’ last game in a Wizards uniform. Right now, according to the Washington Post’s Michael Lee, he’s still expected to suit up for Washington this evening.
To describe the buzz of emotion that will be going on in the Verizon Center as a circus doesn’t really do it justice — it certainly takes all the attention away from Josh Howard’s potential season debut, in the least. But to get a bearing on the incoming team that will actually be playing basketball against the Wizards, I turned to ESPN TrueHoop’s Kevin Arnovitz, who has been embedded covering Miami for ESPN.com’s Heat Index. And away we go…
[Juwan Howard gets roasted by several Andray Blatche head shakes.]
Monday night’s matchup between the Miami Heat and the Washington Wizards could have easily been dubbed the “something-has-to-give” game. The Heat front-court (Chris Bosh, Joel Anthony, Zydrunas Illgauskas, the now-injured Udonis Haslem, the recently-added Erick Dampier, and to a much less extent, Juwan Howard) have developed a reputation of being soft, and with good reason.
Emeka Okafor went for 26 points and 13 rebounds; Amir Johnson, who has been a major disappointment this year despite the 5-year, $34 million contract, went for 14 points; Zach Randolph had 21 points and 13 rebounds; Tyson Chandler had 14 points and 17 rebounds; and first prize in the “I-torched-the-Heat” contest went to Paul Millsap, who had 46 points and 19 rebounds in an overtime loss. The point here is that dealing with semi-skilled to skilled big men is clearly not the strength of Miami.
On the flip side, the Washington Wizards are not exactly known for the play of their big men. Andray Blatche is the only big averaging in double figures (16.6 points and 8.1 rebounds per game), although JaVale McGee is close (9.8 points and 8.7 rebounds per game). Sixty-percent of the Wizards’ scoring comes from John Wall (18 points per game), Gilbert Arenas (18 points per game), the red-hot Nick Young (12 points per game), and Kirk Hinrich (10.9 per game). When you throw in the fact that McGee came into the first match-up against Miami with a bad back, which meant more time for Hilton Armstrong (two points and three rebounds per game) and Kevin Seraphin (averaging two points and two rebounds in the five games he’s appeared in), it figured to be challenging game.
In the first quarter, Blatche played as if he was hell-bent on taking advantage of the scouting report. Fifteen seconds into the game, he hit a short jumper over Illgauskas, and even though he missed his next couple of shots, he did not stop attacking. All of the patented moves that Blatche attempts with varying degrees of success (the behind-the-back move, the up and under, the hard drives off the dribble) were on display, and they seemed to be working. Chris Bosh, Joel Anthony and Juwan Howard all tried to contain Blatche, but to no avail. He had 10 points and two rebounds after one quarter of play.
When: Tues., May 21 - 7:30 pm
Where: Lou's City Bar - Columbia Heights, D.C.
Across The ESPN TrueHoop Network