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[The Rundown: Setting the scene, rating the starters, assessing the bench, providing the analysis, and catching anything that you may have missed... (As the crew at TAI works to hone their post-game coverage.)]
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[Editor's note: You've seen TAI diagram plays before, but now were going to do it more often as a game-to-game feature ... the best implemented play on a given night, at least in our opinion. -Kyle]
{photo: A. McGinnis, TAI}
After winning a jump ball halfway through the second quarter, the Wizards swung the ball around the top of the three-point line to set up a pick and roll on the other side of the floor.
The Washington Wizards’ 2010-11 preseason schedule was announced on Wednesday afternoon.
Wall and the Wiz will start in Dallas on October 5th with a visit to Caron Butler, Brendan Haywood, DeShawn Stevenson and the rest of the Mavericks. The team will then go to Cleveland for a game against the Cavaliers on October 7th … seems fitting to stop by the old rivalry stomping grounds and the site where Antawn Jamison injured his shoulder in last year’s preseason. The Gentleman Jamison is still a member of the Cavaliers by the way … and that’s still weird.
Then it’s on to Chicago for a game against the Bulls on the 8th, back to D.C. for a match against the Atlanta Hawks on the 12th (a Tuesday for those who like to plan ahead), a matchup against the Milwaukee Bucks will also come at the Verizon on the following Thursday, Wall will make his NBA debut at Madison Square Garden against the New York Knicks on the 17th, and the Wizards will round out their preseason slate in a game against the Detroit Pistons in Toledo, Ohio on October 19th. What’s with all the Ohio appearances?
The Wizards will open the 2010-11 NBA season in Orlando against the Magic on October 28th; the remainder of the regular season schedule will be announced next Tuesday.
Time and patience are the lessons to take from the first Wizards preseason game. They didn’t look bad on their way to a 101-92 win over Memphis, but they didn’t look particularly good either. But did anyone expect this team with so many newcomers, including a coach, to gel right away? Nope.
On the offensive end, where the Wizards are assumed to be amongst the NBA’s upper echelon, they appeared out of sync at times. Bad spacing and jumping to pass sloppiness reared their heads in spurts, but nothing disconcerting, and mostly occurring when the second unit guys were on the court.
After the game, Brendan Haywood gave the offense a C+, in terms of translating the instruction of training camp to a real game. Haywood said they weren’t smooth and were in the wrong place a lot of times, but that’s understandable because many guys on the team were in the Princeton for five years and they have a long way to go before mastering Flip’s offense.
Across The ESPN TrueHoop Network