My DVR knew what was happening. At some point very late in the game, it decided to stop recording the Wizards-Magic in favor of a show it’s programmed to record, It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia. In the process, the game as captured up to that point got lost in the DVR stratosphere, putting a halt to my ability to go back and further analyze the game visually.
Probably for the best though, re-watching the low-lights of a 112-83 blowout loss isn’t exactly the most productive thing in the world. In most senses, it’s a game that Flip Saunders and his team (and Wizards fans) should just forget and move on (but not without an intense film session, one would hope — after all, Washington has to face Orlando three more times this season).
But in other senses, there were some very concerning displays last night. The season’s debut of several players who have been with the team the longest represented nothing more than the status quo, which either means little progress was made by them over the summer to more closely connect to the game cerebrally, or that they just have a low capability/potential to do so in the first place. Observations on those players and their situations will surely come (and you can read some thoughts from Rashad already).
No, this post is dedicated to the only player who really played worth a damn Thursday night. When your average Joe looks at the box score, he might assume that Cartier Martin got all of his points in garbage time. No sir. One only needs to look at a huge block Martin had against Dwight Howard to know that’s not true:
The Washington Wizards held their last preseason practice at the Verizon Center on Tuesday afternoon before heading down to Orlando for Thursday’s regular season opener, a national television showcase against the Magic on TNT.
If you’re a Wizards fan, you might be losing sleep over the match-up nightmares Orlando specifically poses against Washington. Okay, never mind, you’re probably dreaming about John Wall — it’s good be distracted, for now. Plus, I imagine the coach of a rebuilding team is still slightly more concerned with how his own players follow his instructions than countering what a great team like Orlando does.
Of course, match-up-wise, we don’t know who Flip Saunders is going to start just yet, or if Gilbert Arenas will be available because of soreness in his ankle that caused him to sit out of practice on both Monday and Tuesday, which piggy-backed on a groin injury he experienced in the fifth preseason game against the Milwaukee Bucks that caused him to miss the last two games on the slate.
“From what happened before, you’ll know our starters 10 minutes before the game. That’s our new policy,” the coach quipped on Tuesday. ‘Before’ being when Arenas lied about soreness in his knee.
But the three-guard lineup isn’t necessarily the concern in this instance — it’s how Andray Blatche and JaVale McGee will be able to match-up with the inside/outside combination of Rashad Lewis and Dwight Howard. Blatche, who already floats away from the basket too much on offense (for a team that will be desperate for paint scoring), might find himself playing even more away from the basket in keeping track of Lewis on defense.
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.
We’ve seen Shaun Livingston throw down some surprising dunks since he joined the Wizards. I’m not even sure the double-clutch two-hander he threw down against Pau Gasol and the Lakers (posted below) is his best one. No matter how much I now know he is okay, I still cringe every time I see him slip at the end … because of the whole injury thing. I thought Livingston’s dunk against the Jazz was better (also below).
But did you see that shot Livingston hit over Dwight Howard? To put it simply, it was sweet … some Dwyane Wade/Michael Jordan (but taller and skinnier) type stuff. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to become too familiar with Shaun’s game before his devastating knee injury, but I’m glad I’ve got a chance to see his skills as a Wizard since.
Let’s pause for a second to check out that shot over Dwight Howard: [another angle and more after the jump]
Quotes, notes, observations and pictures from the Wizards’ 121-94 loss to Orlando.
Seconds away from tip-off, there looked to be a surprisingly crappy crowd in Orlando … oh wait, they’re playing the Wizards on a Wednesday night. Also, Stan Van Gundy got a pre-game ‘t-shirt nap’ in front of reporters.
{1st Quarter}
From the start, Andray Blatche looked lethargic, just jogged to spots on offense and defense. Oh, wait, maybe I should be more optimistic. Okay, we’ll say he was “pacing himself.”
9:50 >>Fabricio Oberto and Dwight Howard get a little testy when jostling for position in transition … Oberto was called for a foul, but you can tell Howard was babyishly making extra curricular contact. Steve Buckhantz pointed out the “testy” nature of Orlando. Fabrico proceeded to bait Howard into an offensive foul on the very next play.
We’ve seen the dunking prowess of the lengthy JaVale McGee …
But did you know that last year, in only 75 games and 1,143 minutes, McGee dunked more than an entire NBA Team?
JaVale McGee … 80
San Antonio Spurs … 73
42% of McGee’s FGs were dunks.
His 80 dunks were good enough for 29th in the NBA and 5th among rookies, after: Brook Lopez, Greg Oden, Jason Thompson, and Marreese Speights.
He finished 8th in the league in ‘Minutes Per Dunk’ – 14.65 – after: Shaquille O’Neal, Ryan Hollins, DeAndre Jordan, Pops Mensah-Bonsu, Greg Oden, Dwight Howard, and Andrew Bynum.
JaVale, amongst playing a Transformer and Wolverine, has a staring role in his own movie short. What exactly it’s about is left for the viewer to interpret.
Everyone is talking about Courtney Lee’s missed ‘layup’ that would have won the game for Orlando. Some even compared it to Nick Anderson missing four late free-throws in game one of the 1995 NBA Finals, also played on June 7th [via Slam].
Mentioning Nick Anderson sounds very “woe is us” from Orlando. Thing is, true fans aren’t making the association, rather some professional MSMers. These hacks need to be called out:
Uh … no, a-hole. If you’ve played basketball before, you know how difficult Lee’s shot was — to time his jump, catch the pass, be concerned about an oncoming Pau Gasol, while slowing down uncontrollable momentum to lay the ball softly off the glass … exactly.
