The Washington WizNUT Headline Animator
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Saturday Night Debacle.
Wow. From the second the game started, the atmosphere -- from the fans down to the coaches and players -- was completely dull. I thought I was going to fall asleep by the middle of the first quarter. The only thing that kept me awake was the hope that someone on this team would provide a spark with a dunk, a nice pass or any other type of MADE field goal. Instead, the misses kept coming for the Wizards and the Bobcat shots kept dropping in. On numerous ocassions, Boris Diaw and Tyson Chandler were given completely wide open dunks and layups because of non-existant Wizards defense. Brendan Haywood, Andray Blatche and JaVale McGee were out of place, coming out to provide help on screens just a few feet away from the hoop, but unable unwilling to get back to their man who was underneath the hoop and able to get easy buckets. Gerald Wallace and Stephen Jackson were flying for offensive rebounds while everyone on the Wiz were 5 steps behind them all game long and not fighting with them for any rebounds. They couldn't hit a shot (39%), couldn't defend and plain and simple the booing fans said it all. By the third quarter, the stadium was filled with the sound of boo's coming fom the fans, as the players trudged off the court, heads down, looking as if they wished they could just leave the court and go to sleep...which is pretty much the way they played the entire game. No one was on the same page and it was just a bunch of players with different ideas of what they wanted to do on the court. No cohesion. No chemistry. No execution. Nobody brought the will to win last night and it was a bit "embarassing" as Flip said. We are now 5-10, which isn't great but it can obviously be improved upon. We just need to get people on the same page and working toward the same goal. We can't have Antawn playing for a championship and Gil playing for stats...just a hypothetical situation...but could be a true one. It's just one bad game after two consecutive wins and it's still early in the season, so these things happen. But with the players we have, let's just make sure it doesn't happen again.
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
This One's For You, Mr. Pollin.
On the night of the death of one of Washington, D.C.'s most influential citizens, the Wizards finally showed the grit and toughness in tonight's game which their boss showed every single day of his life. Abe Pollin re-invented downtown D.C. He built the area now called Chinatown, turned it into a well-known and popluar place to be, built the Verizon Center and spent $200 million of his own money to make all of this happen. He fired the greatest player ever. He made the President of the United States move seats at a Wizards game because the president was originally in Pollin's seat. And tonight, the Wizards resembled their great owner on the court against the Philadelphia 76ers. JaVale McGee proved, for one night at least, that his lanky body has a whole lot of muscle inside of it. Fighting for loose balls, battling with Dalembert and swatting away a career-high six shots, McGee checked into the game and brought some fire and passion that the Wix have been waiting for from him. Defensively, he most certainly brought his A game and received well-deserved rounds of applause from the fans when he subbed out. And Nick Young, well, he shot. Shot some more. And then shot again. Oh, yeah, and he shot one more time, probably for good luck, until he had 20 points in his second start of the season. All the shooting that he did, a typical occurence when he has the chance, actually was impressive...for one night at least. And on the one-year anniversary of Eddie Jordan's firing from the Wizards organization, he was once again shown the exit to the stadium with an unhappy ending. But his team came so close...thanks to Arenas and his six turnovers. And his 6-14 shooting. And his three missed free throws when the team only missed four total. I know Abe paid Gil over $100 million last summer to keep him in D.C., but I think Jews all over the world are saying "Oy Vey" after seeing Arenas perform this season. His turnover set up the 76ers to shoot the final shot of the game, and it was most likely the spirit of Pollin which kept the ball out of the hoop. Philly was in the midst of a run which brought them within one point with less than a minute left in the game after the 76ers had rallied from 15 down, which would have devastated everyone inside the arena on this already solemn night. But the Wizards prevailed 108-107 behind 32 points and 14 rebounds from the REAL captain of this team, Antawn Jamison (always consistent), 14 points from Andray Blatche and a +15 player rating from the only starter NOT to score (Fabricio Oberto). The Wizards did what they have been expected to do all season...WIN. And with so much emotion inside each player wearing a Wizards jersey, the team that is not used to winning so far this season, or playing good defense, finally did both of these things and brought a bit of happiness to Washington during a sad, sad time...for one night at least.
R.I.P. Mr. Pollin.
R.I.P. Mr. Pollin.
Monday, November 23, 2009
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Eleven? .....oh, why not.
For the 11th year in a row, the Wizards have lost to the Spurs in San Antonio. I don't know why this is, but I can surely say without any objections that tonight's game was nothing short of ugly...again. Though I had to watch the game on the internet due to a television outage, I was still watching the same Wizards team who seems to be in a continuous battle with something I call "Basketball Bi-polar." On some nights they decide to play like a team without a glitch in their game (i.e. against the Mavs and Cavs) and other nights they come out the way they did tonight -- where I actually look forward to watching the Redskins lose to their opponent because they aren't good enough rather than watching the Wizards lose to themselves (i.e. Miami and Detroit), which seems to have become a habit of theirs. But, of course! Losing to yourself is much easier than losing to someone else! Turning the ball over is so simple! So is setting a moving screen (which I had never seen done so many times by one team as the Wizards have so far)! Oh, why not throw in a bunch of missed free throws while we're at it?! It's not like we need points to win basketball games or anything! There are all explainable reasons for the Wiz' troubles so far this season and can only be fixed by one solution...FOCUS. Focus on executing passes to your teammate. Focus on keeping your feet set during a screen. Focus on making every free throw. Focus makes winners! Kobe focuses on his shot every time he shoots...and he is a winner! Gilbert Arenas focuses on how many people follow him on Twitter....and he is not a winner. Tim Duncan focuses on getting rebounds and hitting his trademark bank shot...and he is a winner! JaVale McGee focuses so much on perfecting his "Salute" after he dunks that he can't find enough time to get playing time and actually dunk in a real game...and like Arenas, he is also not a winner. But how could anyone explain these injuries? Just this season alone, "Fallen Wiz" have included: Jamison, Butler, James, Crittenton, Foye, Oberto and now Mike Miller, who went down with a strained calf early in the game tonight. The team's record is now 3-9. Pretty bad, huh? Well, think of it this way: The Wizards would completely dominate the All-Injured Team if there was one. Congratulations! Maybe if they had enough healthy players playing well all game, every game then their record could look more like 9-3 instead of the reverse...
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
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