One more chance

by Pradamaster on May 1, 2008 6:53 PM EDT in Recaps

A couple quick thoughts on the game, because I'm heading out the door.

Talk about taking charge. That's the Caron we've all been waiting for this entire series. He took a few bad shots, but we can live with that, because he's normally so efficient.
Biggest stat of the game: Cleveland held only a 40-39 edge on the glass.
Our guards deserve a ton of credit as well. AD and Stevenson combined for 29 points tonight, and supplied all the complimentary scoring we needed.
We need more from Jamison and Haywood. This was Brendan's worst game of the series. He shot just 1-of-6 and had just five boards in 30 minutes. Jamison, meanwhile, rebounded well, but has not done anything offensively. He's trying to score in isolation too much instead of moving without the basketball. Enough trying to post up Ben Wallace. Cut into the middle and use your quickness.
I don't want to talk about Gilbert Arenas' absence. Can't we accept a win without bringing the subject up.
Waiting For Next Year has a post criticizing Mike Brown's late-game play calls. Funny how those same calls gave Cleveland the win in Game 4. Brown deserves blame for the larger Cleveland offense, but this seems a bit unfair.

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Just to clarify

Our criticism of Mike Brown at WFNY extends well beyond just this one game. We didn’t give credit to Mike Brown for the Game 4 win. In fact, I think Game 1 might be the only game in the past year that we even came close to saying something nice about Brown’s coaching. The man has no clue whatsoever how to run an offense, and that trickles down to this team. Watch how often this team has 4 guys just standing around while someone dribbles around in isolation. It’s ridiculous. I don’t think its fair to pick out one single post of ours and make it sound like we’re suddenly turning on Mike Brown now that things are going bad. I myself wrote articles that place the blame for this team’s struggles on Mike Brown before the playoffs even started. Here’s one: http://www.waitingfornextyear.com/?p=761 and here’s another one in which I blame Mike Brown for the Cavs’ atrocious offense this season: http://www.waitingfornextyear.com/?p=845

by RockKing on May 1, 2008 8:29 PM EDT reply reply 0 recs

I think that's what I was trying to get at

It is a large problem that Mike Brown can’t build a top offense around the league’s most dominant player, but I didn’t really think that specifically cost the Cavs the other night. He did try to give LeBron the ball in different spots throughout the game, but it didn’t work. Mostly, I think the Cavs lost because their guards didn’t duplicate their strong Game 4 shooting performances.

I don’t think it’s bad to have him isolated at the top of the floor near the end of the game specifically. The Bulls used to do that with MJ, and it made them unstoppable. In the middle of the game, yes, it hurts, but at the end of the game, it petrified me as a Wizards fan to see him with the ball like that.

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

by Pradamaster on May 2, 2008 10:43 AM EDT up reply reply 0 recs

I follow what you're saying

I think the post was just a continuation of a season’s worth of frustration with the offense, though. Yes we want the ball in LeBron’s hands at the end of the game, of course, and LeBron got himself a GREAT look on that last shot that he just simply missed. But in our opinion, it shouldn’t have come down to that. With a decent offensive philosophy, I don’t think it would be unreasonable to expect the Cavs to score on one of their last 5 possessions.

by RockKing on May 2, 2008 10:56 AM EDT up reply reply 0 recs

Agreed

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

by Pradamaster on May 2, 2008 11:22 AM EDT up reply reply 0 recs

Cavs Offense

Yeah, I was at the 2 games in DC and noticed that Lebron only gets/takes the ball outside the 3 point line, where he either shoots, drives to the hoop, or drives and dishes. I haven’t seen him post up a single time in the series, nor seen anyone else (point guard, maybe?) initiate the offense.

by hotplate on May 1, 2008 8:38 PM EDT reply reply 0 recs

And that's a big part of the problem

No creativity. No plays designed to take advantage of LeBron’s size and athleticism by having him move without the ball and/or post-up. It’s a complete joke. Last year, it was ok because he was able to get Cleveland to play hard, especially on defense. This year, the team has tuned him out.

by RockKing on May 1, 2008 8:48 PM EDT up reply reply 0 recs

geez. tough crowd.

caron took a few bad shots, yeah, but on the whole he played UNBELIEVABLE. he essentially put the team on his back and carried it to victory. could he have played better? i suppose, yes, it’s possible. did he have good supporting play from most of his teammates? yes. but come on people, considering the situation, that was one of the all-time great performances in wiz/bullets history. where’s the love? why are we spending more time talking about darius songaila’s technical?

and why not talk about gilbert’s absence? it’s become clear that it was obviously a mistake, or a failed effort at least, to try to bring him back and incorporate him this late in the season. the fact that the wiz looked significantly better in games 3 and 5, when arenas didn’t play, pretty much solidifies this. although it’s depressing to think that gilbert’s absence likely eliminates the possibility of going deep into the playoffs this year, getting that situation settled and having caron finally look somewhat healthy again gives this team a chance to win. and, to me at least, it’s an absolute joy to see the team finally playing together and playing well, and getting a huge win on the road in cleveland, even if the ceiling has been lowered somewhat.

win or lose, i’m supremely confident that we’ll see a gritty, gutsy performance from the wiz in game 6, and it will be something that we all can be proud of. go wiz!

by DarrellWalkerFan on May 2, 2008 12:59 AM EDT reply reply 0 recs

Huh?

I basically said what you said re Caron. And the Gilbert comment was made in spirit of what you’re saying. Let’s enjoy the win, and not talk about something so negative like Gilbert’s absence.

I didn’t mean that comment in the “oh, I’m so depressed we don’t have Gilbert that I don’t want to talk about it” vein. I meant it in the “come on, we just had an incredible win, don’t taint it by focusing on Gil’s absence” vein.

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

by Pradamaster on May 2, 2008 1:31 AM EDT up reply reply 0 recs

a little frustrated, sorry, not entirely sure why

(prada, know that this isn’t directed at you. as always, you are the man and this site is awesome.)

from what i’ve seen on this site (or maybe from what i haven’t seen), i worry that the fans may be taking the greatness of that game for granted. it is only game 5, and if we don’t win the series it didn’t really get us anything other than a moral victory, but i still think it was a spectacular win – one of the greatest in bullets/wizards history actually – and i haven’t really seen any posts to that end.

i’m not exactly sure why this bothers me, but for some reason it does. i didn’t want to let the moment pass without someone trying to give it its due. sorry people, i’ll chill now.

ps – i’ll second what prada said and comment that besides CB, AD played brilliantly game 5 and he also deserves some major props.

by DarrellWalkerFan on May 2, 2008 9:12 AM EDT up reply reply 0 recs

I'll second that emotion

DWF wrote:

it is only game 5, and if we don’t win the series it didn’t really get us anything other than a moral victory, but i still think it was a spectacular win – one of the greatest in bullets/wizards history actually

I’m not as worried that people haven’t given the Wiz their due regarding Game 5, but I’ll agree entirely that it was a monumental achievement. Teams down 3-1 on the road in a Game 5 have an abysmal record. The Wiz were down 5 with less than 90 seconds to play. The will and courage it took to pull out a game under these circumstances are truly remarkable. For me, the game defined the season. Had we lost, I’d have been disappointed with the entire season. I’ll still be disappointed if we lose tonight or Sunday, but the season, for me at least, won’t have been a write-off. For me, Game 5 proved that we’re not the Cavaliers’ punks.

"Now, obviously individual production does not unilaterally equal better team production, but there's a high level of causation."

by Vanilla Gorilla on May 2, 2008 9:34 AM EDT up reply reply 0 recs

It's understandable

And I do agree with you … this was an incredible win, and I don’t think it’s been fully grasped.

My apologies for the tone. Personally, I’ve been a little testy this series, whether it’s been comments here or elsewhere. I can’t really explain why, but I think it’s out of character.

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

by Pradamaster on May 2, 2008 9:54 AM EDT up reply reply 0 recs

I think I get what you're saying DWF

To me, it’s similar to LeBron’s Game 5 against the Pistons in the ECF last year. Yeah, it was a GREAT game and an unbelievable performance. The most important game in Cavaliers history. But at the end of the day, what did it really matter? The Cavs went on to get embarrassed by the Spurs and had to watch them celebrate their championship on our floor. It sucked. And now, when I look back on LeBron’s 48 special that night, while I still take a lot of pride in it as a Cavs fan, I also feel like it was a little bit all for nothing. So while the Wizards Game 5 win was HUGE, the ultimate outcome of this series will probably eventually dictate the ultimate importance of that singular game, which makes it hard to know how to quantify it at this point in time.

by RockKing on May 2, 2008 9:57 AM EDT up reply reply 0 recs

Also

I think it’s similar for the Cavs. If the Cavs lose this series, Game 5 will go down in Cleveland lore as yet another time a Cleveland sports team choked something away. But if they win the series, it will be seen as just another bump in the road. So it’s kinda funny how hindsight works, especially when we’re in the present and don’t yet have the luxury of hindsight.

by RockKing on May 2, 2008 9:58 AM EDT up reply reply 0 recs

Wizards will need to ride Butler and Jamison to victory tonight.

by justin3007 on May 2, 2008 9:23 AM EDT reply reply 0 recs

Tonight

I see defense being the main issue tonight…I don’t think we’ll get crushed on the boards again (another weakness), so I think tonight will come down to stopping cavs 3pt shooters…Lebron will have nis normal near triple double, but I don’t think he alone beats a motivated Wiz team….

Lebron will be driving to the basket alot more tonight…I hope we keep him outta the lane…

by DynaMix on May 2, 2008 10:25 AM EDT reply reply 0 recs

Huge Game

Game 5 was a classic W but if the Wizards lose this evening, the bottom line is Cavs beat Wiz in 6, and another series win for the “King Crybaby” over the Wizards. The media and fans will not be focused on the big game 5 road win.

They only way the storyline will ever focus on Game 5 is the obvious, Wiz take care of biz tonite and pull off the miracle in Game 7.

The Wiz should come out loose this evening as all the pressure is on Letravel.

I was pissed with Haywood and Blatche last game. Haywood seemed clueless coming off the pick n roll as the screener. He either was not looking for the ball or it would go off his hands.

Blatche needs to block out, guard his man, and crash the boards. He is always out of position on both ends of the court for some reason. I do not understand it at all.

I feel Roger Mason and Deshawn bombing open 3s is going to be the difference. It is only 1230 and I am nervous already. Go WIZ

What? They don't have TV in the D-League? Don't watch me, watch TV.

by Mac G on May 2, 2008 12:27 PM EDT reply reply 0 recs

Songaila suspended

In case anyone missed it, the NBA has suspended Darius Songaila. http://dcprosportsreport.com/?p=246

by Spence @ DC Pro Sports Report on May 2, 2008 12:49 PM EDT reply reply 0 recs

Unbelievable

I’m stunned. I’ve always laughed at the King James conspiracy theories until now…

Getting buckets since 2003.

by Icantfeelmyface on May 2, 2008 12:56 PM EDT up reply reply 0 recs

dammit

i thought i was getting past my anger at lebron and now i’m all riled up again. this is bs. this really hurts the wiz too b/c who do we have now besides AJ, BTH, and AB in the frontcourt?! surely pech won’t see the court. is DM going to play the 4? crap.

now i’m angry and motivated like before game 3.

oh, btw, a friend of mine got me to listen to the pro’verb track and it’s about 100 times better than i thought it would be:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UfqLZGYiKA

by DarrellWalkerFan on May 2, 2008 1:15 PM EDT up reply reply 0 recs

TOUGH LOSS BUT

Taser will shine tonite and get all sorts of accolades. The rooks just play well at home, I think with how hype we’ll be tonite will inspire him. He will be all over the boards and will even guard Lebron’s punk azz. Then, in game 7, a volatile Darius Songalia will play the game of his life and become the national story with 18 points off the bench. Wiz become 9th team to come back from 3-1 deficit.

Fuck LeBron.

'he nails an open three from the corner....just like you and me, this one was made by penetration' - Truthaboutit - Round 1 Game 5 Recap

by KDP on May 2, 2008 1:26 PM EDT up reply reply 0 recs