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Haven't gotten a chance to see tonight's game yet, so I can't really say a whole lot yet on the game, but it was nice to see JaVale get some minutes tonight.

Also, after a quick check of the boxscore I see that the Thunder beat the Bulls by 11 tonight, which means that OKC has only one less win than the Wizards.

about 3 years ago Jakesbshot_tiny Jake Whitacre 21 comments 0 recs  | 

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no surprise

Oklahoma is a talented club and the addition of kristic should pay dividends.

rockin' the crab dribble since 2009

by hibachi on Jan 11, 2009 12:13 AM EST reply actions  

Plus

they have an interim coach who seems to actually know what he’s doing.

by Jon L on Jan 11, 2009 12:33 AM EST reply actions  

JaVale's Minutes

Just under 19 minutes for the kid.

Hope Tapscott will feature him more, but I understand why he is on the bench most of the time. Still, have to give it to the man, under 19 minutes and 0 fouls.

Washington really should have won last night, and by keeping McGee on the bench, I think they missed out on some baskets:

-G.v.P

by GvP on Jan 11, 2009 5:15 AM EST reply actions  

and...

Oops. More here, for those who missed the game.

And, I hope to see more of him and Blatche together. I love Jamison, but he throws off the rotation sometimes.

-G.v.P

by GvP on Jan 11, 2009 5:18 AM EST reply actions  

Observations

McGee put up 9 pts and 4 rbds in the first half, he didn’t play well in the third quarter and after that sat almost all of the fourth quarter

Juan Dixon had straight zeros across his stat sheet except for one turnover in 4:22 in the first half.

Songaila forced Tapscotts hand in the first three quarters by getting his second foul in the first quarter, his third foul in the second quarter and his fourth at the start of the third. This helped the young guys get some minutes. In fact, Dixon’s poor play, Songaila’s fouls and Etans DNP combined to give the young guys 130 mins compared to an avg under Tapscott of 79.4 mpg.

The Wizards shot 70% up til late in the first half.

In the first half, McGee had an open shot at the free throw line, and instead lobbed it over a Bobcat into the hands of Songaila for an easy lay-in. Apparently he’s heeding Taps instructions to feel free to shoot but not be a gunner.

The Wizards young guys got 130 minutes of playing time last night, a

by morethesamewiz on Jan 11, 2009 9:40 AM EST reply actions  

To cap it off

Nick Young took the final shot of the game, and it was a good look

by morethesamewiz on Jan 11, 2009 9:41 AM EST reply actions  

Love the picture

I wonder if National Airport had to give him clearance for take-off?

Bullets Forever - where "Dagger ! " happens......

by Rook6980 on Jan 11, 2009 10:37 AM EST reply actions  

When you're that big

you tend to give yourself clearance.

by Jon L on Jan 11, 2009 12:01 PM EST up reply actions  

JaVale

would it kill Tapscott to run at least one non-alley oop play for him? In the third quarter, he ran around and did not attempt a shot, and none of his teammates even looked for him.

http://hoopsaddict.com/

by rashad20 on Jan 11, 2009 1:52 PM EST reply actions  

Javale too

Yeah – right now, I’m continuing to watch every Wizards – and who am I kidding – I’ll continue watching all year despite how bad they get, or how much worse the record becomes.

But, all-in-all this is a boring team. Butler has stopped going to the basket hard. Jamison has reverted to that little jump/hook/push shot from the right baseline, or jump shots. Mike James pounds the dribble incessantly. Blatche gets 5 or 6 baskets a game, mostly on finger rolls and jumpers. Songaila’s game could put an insomniac to sleep.

The most exciting thing this batch of “veterans” brings is maybe Etan’s “crazy elbows”; or the occasional back door cut (but even those are becoming few and far between). This team even seems to have forgotten how to fast break.

The only passion and fire I see is from the occasional Nick Young driving dunk…. the VERY rare Pecherov sightings (he really does bring a boyish energy to the court)…. or the few rare minutes that JaVale McGee is in the game.

When JaVale is in the game, I suddenly wake up; watching intently on the TV screen for something that has been rare this year from the Wizards – a WOW play. His athletic oop dunks; incredible blocks, driving dunks, and silky smooth moves around the basket bring oohs and ahhs from the crowd, and fist pumps from me watching at home.

When he’s in the game, there’s a reason to pay attention; a reason to root for the team; a reason to be a Wizards fan.

Bullets Forever - where "Dagger ! " happens......

by Rook6980 on Jan 11, 2009 4:39 PM EST reply actions  

correction: right now, I’m continuing to watch every Wizards game

Bullets Forever - where "Dagger ! " happens......

by Rook6980 on Jan 11, 2009 4:39 PM EST up reply actions  

I agree

with basically everything you just wrote. It’s just more exciting with the young guys in the game just to see what they’ll do next, how they’ll react in certain situations, and, hopefully, if they can grow each game.

by Matt K. on Jan 11, 2009 4:46 PM EST up reply actions  

POD for McGee

JaVale’s from the shoetops, roundhouse dunk was the Haier play of the day.

Bullets Forever - where "Dagger ! " happens......

by Rook6980 on Jan 11, 2009 5:19 PM EST reply actions  

and THAT'S what I'm talkin bout

Bullets Forever - where "Dagger ! " happens......

by Rook6980 on Jan 11, 2009 5:20 PM EST up reply actions  

Just finished watching the game

Jumpshots, jumpshots, jumpshots… we settled for too many of them, allowed them WAY too many open looks.

When the offense was working the ball was being moved around and we were getting easy baskets. When the offense wasn’t working we had isolated dribble penetration or contested jumpshots.

Without Arenas we’re really missing an alpha dog out there on the court and that puts a lot more pressure on the offensive system to create shots. The biggest deficiency I noticed in it is that the offense doesn’t work well on dribble penetration. There wasn’t proper spacing and movement by the other players when James or Crittenton went into the lane.

The other thing that stood out was that the younger players bring a lot more energy out there. That causes more exciting plays but also more mistakes. Seemed that Tapscott was okay with that in the first half but in the second opted for more stability which allowed Charlotte to creep back in. That and our complete lack of ability to rotate around on defense and contest shots. Still, we were a jumpshot falling away from winning this game.

by danielfarrell on Jan 11, 2009 10:16 PM EST reply actions  

We did fine on offense

It was a slow-paced game, and we shot 12 more free throws than them. My Four Factors script is busted, but I bet our offensive efficiency and ft/fg ratio were both well above our league average.

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

by Mike Prada on Jan 11, 2009 10:23 PM EST up reply actions  

Well...

We did great in the first half… but the offense didn’t create the same easy shots in the second half.

by danielfarrell on Jan 11, 2009 10:41 PM EST up reply actions  

Fair enough

It started going downhill late in the third, I suppose.

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

by Mike Prada on Jan 11, 2009 11:32 PM EST up reply actions  

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