Bullets Forever: An SB Nation Community

Navigation: Jump to content areas:



Around SBN: BREAKING: Resolution on the Greene Punctuation Saga Bar-right-arrows



Open thread: Regular season Game 3



The essentials:
Magic (1-1) at Wizards (0-2)
7 p.m.
Verizon Center
Comcast Sports Net

Last year:
November 6: Magic 106, Wizards 103.
December 29: Wizards 112, Magic 111.
January 19: Wizards 114, Magic 93.
April 17: Magic 95, Wizards 89.

Notable Magic numbers (all are 2006/07):
12th in expected winning percentage (.514).
25th in pace factor (88.5 possessions per game).
22nd in offensive efficiency/offensive rating (106.3).
7th in defensive efficiency/defensive rating (105.9).

Key links
Third Quarter Collapse.
Believing in Magic
Third Quarter Collapse blog preview.
Believing in Magic blog preview.
20 Second Timeout trashes Gilbert Arenas, probably unnecessarily
Competition discussion: Orlando

Starting lineups:
Magic
PG: Jameer Nelson.
SG: Keith Bogans.
SF: Hedo Turkoglu.
PF: Rashard Lewis.
C: Dwight Howard.

Wizards
PG: Gilbert Arenas.
SG: DeShawn Stevenson.
SF: Caron Butler.
PF: Antawn Jamison.
C: Brendan Haywood.

Tonight's lines:
Magic at Wizards: Wizards by 2.5.
Over/Under on Big 3 scoring: 64.5 points.

I'm hoping the magic elixir of homecourt advantage will made a major difference tonight, as it did at the beginning of last season when this team got off to a slow start.  Orlando is the opponent, and it's a big game, because the Magic are one of the team's chief division rivals this season.

Orlando is coming off a 112-96 loss to Detroit last night, two nights after blowing out the Bucks 102-83 in their season opener at home.  Rashard Lewis, their prizes offseason signing, had one good game and one bad game, while Keith Bogans, the apparent starting shooting guard, was actually very good yesterday.

The important thing with Orlando is that you have to drive to the basket against them.  They were 29th in the league in most free throws surrendered per shot attempt, and had they not committed so many fouls, their already strong defense would have been even better.  Jacking up 20-footers obviously won't fly against anyone, but it's especially bad against Orlando.

If there's a game for Jamison and Butler to break out, it's tonight, when they go up against Lewis and Turkoglu defensively.  I'm expecting something good from Gilbert too, because Jameer Nelson is too small to guard him.

On the other end, it'll be interesting to see how the Wiz match up with Lewis.  It seems like the perfect game for Andray Blatche to play, but then again, so did yesterday.  I'm confident Haywood can do well against Dwight Howard defensively, but when he's out, we're in trouble.  Haywood also has to keep Howard off the glass, which he did do well against Garnett yesterday.

Alright, enough talk.  This is an open game thread, so when Otis Smith signs a custodian to a 5 year, 100 million dollar contract, react here.

GO WIZARDS!

0 recs | Comment 16 comments

Read Related

Story-email Email | Print |

Comments

Display:

Picks
Wizards
Over
Adonal Foyle is a fine custodian.
Bullets Forever: Your place for the very latest in Wizards news and PhD-level analysis.

by JakeTheSnake on Nov 3, 2007 5:28 PM EDT   0 recs

Hey man
Don't give Otis any ideas.

At least he didn't give Brian Cardinal the mid-level exception... but that's not saying much.

by Ben Q Rock on Nov 3, 2007 5:52 PM EDT   0 recs

Wizards, Under
I'm acting like the first two games never happened.

by Aldo on Nov 3, 2007 6:35 PM EDT   0 recs

Since when
Is this a high-turnover team?
You know you'll get devoured by Cheaney, Wallace, and Juwan Howard.

by Pradamaster on Nov 3, 2007 7:20 PM EDT   0 recs

Hedo Turkoglu
Was just exposed to the power of Taser.
You know you'll get devoured by Cheaney, Wallace, and Juwan Howard.

by Pradamaster on Nov 3, 2007 7:44 PM EDT   0 recs

My only quibble
Is what happened to Andray Blatche?  Did he kidnap Eddie Jordan's kid or something?
You know you'll get devoured by Cheaney, Wallace, and Juwan Howard.

by Pradamaster on Nov 3, 2007 7:52 PM EDT   0 recs

I agree
I defended Jordan not playing Blatche more in the first game.  But I won't this time.

by Aldo on Nov 3, 2007 8:34 PM EDT to parent up   0 recs

Odd lineup in there
Daniels, Mason, Butler, Blatche, Songaila.  Let's see how it works.
You know you'll get devoured by Cheaney, Wallace, and Juwan Howard.

by Pradamaster on Nov 3, 2007 8:53 PM EDT   0 recs

And finally!
Eddie took three quarters to put Blatche on Lewis.  It's about time.
You know you'll get devoured by Cheaney, Wallace, and Juwan Howard.

by Pradamaster on Nov 3, 2007 8:54 PM EDT to parent up   0 recs

Whoa, this is even wierder
Haywood replaces Butler?  What?  

Now Songaila is playing small forward.  This had better work.

You know you'll get devoured by Cheaney, Wallace, and Juwan Howard.

by Pradamaster on Nov 3, 2007 8:57 PM EDT   0 recs

I just heard
Glenn Consor say Darius Songaila was this team's best perimeter defender.

This comments section isn't going to be pretty after this one.

You know you'll get devoured by Cheaney, Wallace, and Juwan Howard.

by Pradamaster on Nov 3, 2007 9:19 PM EDT   0 recs

so how much room for error does eddie have?
Seems like all this talk about defense has them forgetting how to push the ball & pass the ball. Another slow start to a season.

Gilbert deferred to others, which worked for awhile. Brendan's play is inspired.

How patient will Ernie be?

--cmr

by thebigc1982 on Nov 3, 2007 9:25 PM EDT   0 recs

What was up with Gil tonight?
I mean, what was that dude?  Where were you tonight?
You know you'll get devoured by Cheaney, Wallace, and Juwan Howard.

by Pradamaster on Nov 3, 2007 9:27 PM EDT to parent up   0 recs

82 points again
Gonna have to really improve the D if we can't score more than 82.

by hotplate on Nov 3, 2007 9:31 PM EDT   0 recs

blatche!
Put him in!  Hes being real passive on offense, but you can feel his presence on the boards and defensively.  How many years are we gonna get burned by pfs because jamison is not physical!  I just want to see blatche.

Lets put everything in perspective though, its only the 3rd game.  We started poorly last season and turned it around, for awhile at least.  Lets wait a couple more months before we proclaim the sky falling.

by Wooz on Nov 4, 2007 1:11 AM EDT   0 recs

Comments For This Post Are Closed


User Tools

Welcome to the SB Nation blog about Washington Wizards.

FanPosts

Community blog posts and discussion.

Recent FanPosts

Nick-young-dunks-nice_small
Wizards on NBA TV right now.
Big_small
Wizards Assistant Mike O'Koren Once Wooed by Frank Sinatra
Big_small
Reggie Miller, the almost Washington Bullet
Unseld_small
Gilbert in the New York Times
Nick_nolte_small
In an Ideal World
Nick_nolte_small
Lets go tonight boys
Small
My Intro - Summer League Wrap-Up to come soon!
Small
Give the Kid (McGee) a break!
Unseld_small
Gil "touching the ball" already
Small
The Tradeables

Post_icon New FanPost All FanPosts Carrot-mini


Head honchos

Gheorghe_small Pradamaster

Gmulogo2_small JakeTheSnake

Big_small Truth About It

ad

Site Meter