Blah

by Mike Prada on Apr 22, 2007 3:14 PM EDT in Recaps

Same old, same old. They hang around for a while, people question whether they can actually win, and then they fall apart in the fourth quarter.

I'll have more later, but five things jumped out at me.

1. Antawn Jamison doing nothing in the second half after Cleveland finally decided to double-team him.

2. Brendan Haywood and Andray Blatche playing no meaningful minutes in the second half, even as the Cleveland bigs dominated Etan, Songaila, and Ruffin.

3. Larry Hughes somehow hitting 9 of his 17 shots. The guy just gets up for the Wizards. The Wizards did nothing wrong on him, and he still made great shots.

4. DeShawn Stevenson disappearing once again, and Jarvis Hayes having the most inconsistent 17-point game in the history of mankind.

5. Antonio Daniels playing his heart out. He almost singlehandily kept the Wizards in the game by controlling the tempo and running the offense. He's the most important player for the Wizards, and I can't imagine how he plays any better in future games.

The pervailing message is that this loss is enouraging. I just don't see it. Cleveland's defense is just too good, and if Hughes is hitting those shots, the Cavs offense is fine.

Today pretty much confirmed what we already knew. The Wizards will keep games close, but they just don't have enough to finish things off.

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Hughes will not keep hitting those shots

It might not matter in wins or losses, but I can't see Hughes continuing to shoot over 50% from the field. He's a 40% shooter. He'll revert to form. He doesn't always get up for the Bullets. He had some crappy games against us in the playoffs last year.

The question, I think, is whether or not anyone else on the team is going to score 20 points. If they do, Bullets have a chance to win a game or two. If not, they don't. Jamison did all he could. He cannot be expected to beat double teams against a good defense.

DCSportsblog -- www.dcsportsblog.blogspot.com

by Spence on Apr 22, 2007 3:27 PM EDT reply actions

I don't see it happening either

That's the one encouraging thing I took away from this game. If not for Hughes' strange shooting streak in the third quarter, it might have been a tie game instead of a 7-9 point lead entering the fourth.

Again, that doesn't have anything to do with the offensive performance. But that is one reason to stay optimistic.

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

by Mike Prada on Apr 22, 2007 3:35 PM EDT up reply actions

today

We will not win without any effort from our big men. Etan was worthless out there, Ruffin did what he's been doing all season and played pretty good defense but is WAY to undersized to be guarding the 7'3 Ilgauskas. Haywood or even Calvin Booth for about 5-10 minutes may have been able to slow him down or at least clog up the middle a little better.

We need Blatche to play a bit more. His athleticism and rebounding ability should be able to help negate Varejao's performance and maybe pick up some offensive boards for us.

However, bottom line is that without AD and Jamison playing over 90 minutes combined, we would not have even had a shot. Those two are too old to be able to do that 3-6 more times. We need to get a third option to help take some of the pressure off of those two and Hayes isnt the answer. Maybe we can see a little more Roger Mason and a lot less Jarvis Hayes (not that mason is really much better).

by finkad01 on Apr 22, 2007 6:09 PM EDT reply actions

Agree with pretty much everything

But I don't think the Wizards have any option but to keep playing Hayes. Mason made a couple nice plays, but he also committed a couple turnovers, and when he got minutes, things started to get away.

Stevenson really needs to step up his game. I'd tell him to be more aggressive, but it seems he commits a turnover every time he goes to the rim.

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

by Mike Prada on Apr 22, 2007 7:19 PM EDT up reply actions

Worst Moment

The worst momeent for me came before the first half ended. The 'zards called time out with 7 seconds left in the half in order to set up a last second play. Jarvis Hayes gets the ball and immediately shoots a contested 3 pointer. Long rebound naturally leads to a 3 pointer by Hughes. So instead of being down by at most 4 (and maybe 1 or 2), we're down 7. Doesn't Hayes know that missing a crappy shot with 1 second left is better than missing a crappy shot with 6 seconds left? Horribly play on his part.

by hotplate on Apr 23, 2007 8:22 AM EDT reply actions