Dallas Mavericks 123, Washington Wizards 118

by Mike Prada on Oct 9, 2009 9:38 PM EDT in Recaps

Quick thoughts:

Gilbert Arenas played essentially the equivalent of two full quarters. In the first quarter, he refused to shoot or make plays. In the third quarter, all he did was basically made plays. Six for six for 12 points in the third is pretty damn good. He did have three turnovers, but it's nice to know he still has that burst. That's probably the most important thing to take away from tonight. Hopefully, he eventually puts it all together and becomes a hybrid of the first-quarter Gilbert and the third-quarter Gilbert.
Caron Butler looked great on offense early on, but gambled a ton on defense. Still, he showed a lot of aggressiveness going to the basket, which is important.
Antawn Jamison was Antawn Jamison.
The only other guy that I thought played well tonight was Nick Young. Yes, he's still getting flattened on screens off the ball, and yes, he had some Nick-on-five moments in the first half. But after his first stint, he played very under control on the offensive end, getting his shot off in rhythm and without too many dribbles. I also thought that, once he was matched up on the ball, he did a pretty good job of moving his feet
Otherwise, yikes. Andray Blatche looked particularly listless, forgetting to box out and zipping three or four passes past his intended target out of bounds.
The defense looked pretty pitiful all night. The Wizards couldn't stop dribble penetration, gambled for steals, and once again struggled on the glass. Shawn Marion also got way too many transition looks to get 26 points on 11-15 shooting. Caron Butler, the lockdown defender, will likely need some more fine tuning
The Wizards went to a matchup zone for a bit in the fourth quarter, and while it confused the Mavericks initially, they eventually figured it out. The Wizards also couldn't rebound off it, which tends to happen when you play a zone. Of course, the low basketball IQ of Blatche and JaVale McGee might have had something to do with that.
Brendan Haywood was held out of the game after hurting his ankle in the first half. I doubt it's serious, but I'll find out.
Mike James played and looked like Mike James.
JaVale McGee took way too many shots today. There was one moment where he pulled a Dream Shake move on Erick Dampier from 20 feet away and somehow made the shot, but Sam Cassell was screaming at him coming off the court in the ensuing timeout.

In the end, Kyle put it best here.

Somebody get the Wizards some LA Looks ...or whatever ... cause they need to gel, fast.

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Am I the only person who thought Randy Foye looked horrible?

I had high hopes for him coming into this season, basically hoping that he’d be our Delonte West, but he’s just looked bad out there. He’s tough and I respect that, but he seems unable to create good shots for himself and he gets tunnel vision once he puts the ball on the floor.

Mike Miller looked great, though. The threes didn’t fall for him, but I LOVE his hustle and energy. Fab looked pretty good, too. I hope they make me forget the days when any time I’d see a white dude on the floor I knew to expect someone to take an 18 footer or get posterized.

by pantslessyoda1 on Oct 9, 2009 11:45 PM EDT reply actions

Here are a few thoughts....

Not sure why folks are so down on Blatche. The dude is hustling, he’s in shape and his 17/9 (2 steals too) in 26 minutes is an awfully solid line. Yeah he’s still forcing those passes but can we PLEASE keep in mind he’s still 23 years old. His game IS coming together. He looks like he’s going to be a much improved player this year and by the time he’s 24-25? Look out.

Foye was disappointing to me, but it’s not that I think he’s not a good player. I think it’s quite clear that while he can handle the ball, he’s not a point guard and is not comfortable playing that position. I’d like to see him play off the ball with Arenas but that leaves us with Mike James/Jarvaris Crittenton at backup PG. With NY looking much improved also, Foye may be trade bait.

Miller looks like a great fit. Fab will be a good fit when he gets in shape. I would like to never see Mike James play in a Wizards uniform again. Javale still does not understand shot selection or how to play the game, but damn is he talented. Is it possible that Stevenson’s release is getting uglier?

Looks like Dom and Deshawn are the spot minute guys. Miller/Young/Blatche/Foye are going to get the minutes.

by JonathanJoseph on Oct 10, 2009 12:25 AM EDT reply actions

I agree with all of this

I was at the game tonight, and I thought Blatche looked pretty good overall. Those turnovers were ugly, though.

The biggest points of frustration were a) the replacement refs calling a foul every time the Wizards grabbed a rebound and totally sucking all the energy out of the building, and b) Javale’s Nick Young impression, which was effective enough that I fear he’ll keep at it with the spin moves and fade-aways.

The biggest cause for optimism, I think, was the play of what will quite possibly be the second unit (Foye, Young, Miller, Blatche, and in this case McGee). It wasn’t all that good tonight, really, but there were flashes. I think if Miller can get his game under better control, Foye can find a way to contribute, and either Oberto can stay healthy and fresh and/or Javale can commit to being a center,very few teams will have the bench to keep up.

I also really liked what I saw from Dom tonight. He did a little bit of everything when he was in the game.

In case it hasn’t been said enough, Mike James stunk. I think he was trying to do too much, so I don’t take it as a sign that he’s washed up, and Foye was unimpressive enough that I think he still deserves to be considered as a rotation player, but whereas Foye didn’t seem to do much of anything, James seemed to do everything poorly.

by Stanicek on Oct 10, 2009 1:23 AM EDT up reply actions

Oops

Oh, yeah, Gilbert in the 3rd quarter was the true biggest cause for optimism. That guy’s got some more 50 point games in him (knock on wood).

by Stanicek on Oct 10, 2009 1:25 AM EDT up reply actions

Definitely

He reminded me almost of Wade or Kobe in that he was able to just start dominating as soon as he asserted himself. It’s been so easy to forget that we actually do have an elite player on our team.

by pantslessyoda1 on Oct 10, 2009 9:15 AM EDT up reply actions