Briefing: Wizards fumble away big lead
by Jake Whitacre on Dec 15, 2009 9:55 AM EST
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PrintClips rally, hold on to beat Wizards 97-95 - Greg Beacham, Associated Press
Caron Butler scored nine of his 20 points in the final 2:43 for the Wizards, including a 3-pointer with 11.8 seconds left. Gordon’s 1-for-2 effort at the line followed before Boykins, the 5-foot-5 former Clipper, lost control of his dribble in the frontcourt with about 4 seconds left. "I just lost the ball," Boykins said. "It was that simple. I saw Brendan (Haywood) open up under the basket, I went to make a pass, and I lost the ball. It was a game where we didn’t execute at the end. Whenever you lose a one-possession game, there’s other possessions in the game that lead to that. We played good, but we didn’t play well enough to win."
Inconsistent Wizards dealt another tough loss - Mike Jones, Washington Times
When the Washington Wizards reported for training camp back in September, coach Flip Saunders claimed "Our Time" as the team motto and had T-shirts and caps made up with the slogan. The Wizards' home game operations staff even selected a song with "Our Time" as the main line. But instead of playing according to that theme, the Wizards have looked, sounded and played more like something along the lines of Katy Perry's "Hot N Cold," going on scoring runs, slipping into funks and falling behind only to come thundering back before going cold again.
Clippers 97 - Washington 95 - Another Ugly Win - Steve Perrin, Clips Nation
Why the Clippers dug a 16 point hole in the first place is quite another story. I don't consider myself a Wizards expert after watching them in one full game and bits and pieces of others, but in this game at least, their problem is pretty obvious - they have three players, while NBA rules allow you to have five. OK, I'll throw Brendan Haywood into the mix with Gilbert Arenas, Antawn Jamison and Caron Butler, but every single other player on the Wizards absolutely killed them tonight. Now, throw in the fact that of their big guns, only Jamison was particularly good (specifically, he was great) and this really should have been a relatively easy win for the Clippers. But almost nothing is easy for the Clippers - ever - and this game was no exception. Just when it felt like the Clippers should be pulling away in the second quarter, the lid on the basket sealed shut. What's particularly weird is that they must have moved that lid from one basket to the other at half time, because the third quarter started the way the second quarter ended. Over about a five minute stretch spanning the intermission, the Wizards outscored the Clippers 20-2 to take a 12 point lead.
Instant Analysis: Wizards-Clippers - Brian Jackson, CSN Washington
The Washington Wizards rarely get easy points. This season, they’ve had a tendency to settle for contested jump shots early in the shot clock. But during a four-minute stretch in the third quarter, the Wizards went on a 12-5 run with a balanced attack: passed the ball into the paint and then kicking it out to the wings. On two plays, they fed the ball inside to Haywood, who was fouled on both plays but still finished the easy dunks. As the Clippers shifted their defensive focus to the paint, the Wizards made five assisted long jumpers, including two from behind the arc. After Antawn Jamison made the final 3-pointer of the run, the Wizards led by 17 points.
Clippers Hand Wizards Fifth Straight Loss - Dave Johnson, CSN Washington
It was during this time that the Wizards seemed under control as they built a 17-point lead at 64-47 with 6:45 left in the third quarter. The team’s calm was best exemplified on a play when Arenas could have gambled on long throw up court to Butler in traffic. Instead Arenas slowed it down and then found Jamison in the lane on a bounce pass and he flipped to a cutting Brendan Haywood for a slam dunk. The calm didn’t last. The Wizards closed the third quarter more in chaos. Suddenly turnovers and bad shot selection returned for the Wizards and by the end of the quarter their lead was down to 69-67.
"When you've got your foot on a team's throat, you got to go ahead and finish them off. We were up 16, 17, we got to go ahead and turn that into 20, 21 and then coast in the fourth quarter," Haywood said. "The problem was, that third quarter, the end of the third quarter, we let them get their confidence going and that basically rolled over into the fourth quarter. It's time to stop fighting from behind and doing the right things when we have the lead."
Clippers 97, Wizards 95 - Michael Lee, Wizards Insider
After that one, all that I can say is that the Wizards are some creative guys. They really know how to script the most excruciating losses imaginable. The Wizards already delivered the Gilbert Arenas missed layup against Toronto and Arenas's missed free throws against Boston and Indiana (not to mention the referee review that rewarded Mike Dunleavy with two free throws with 0.1 seconds remaining). On Monday, the Wizards squandered a 17-point second-half lead, rallied back from an eight-point deficit with three minutes remaining, then failed to get off a potential game-tying shot as they lost 97-95 to the Los Angeles Clippers and the senior Dunleavy. At least on this night, Arenas won't have to take the blame for how the game ended. That's because he wasn't around for the finish. Arenas fouled out with 2 minutes, 51 seconds left, picking up his sixth foul when he tripped Clippers center Chris Kaman.
Clippers 97, Washington 95 - Kevin Arnovitz, ClipperBlog
Despite a number of dominating spurts by both teams, Monday’s game against the Wizards is a microcosmic win for the Clippers. They play strong half-court defense throughout most of the game, but lose the first half because they can’t control the defensive glass.
Clippers 97, Wizards 95: Another blown lead, another loss - Craig Stouffer, Pick and Roll
Huge nights again for Jamison (32 points, 11 rebounds) and Brendan Haywood (12 points, 12 rebounds) as the Wizards seem to be getting closer -- or further. Yeah, close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades, but Washington has now lost its last five by a combined 11 points, that has to be the sign of something, right? In addition, the Big Three and Haywood were superior on the floor for most of the night, but the Clippers were the ones with the go-to players.
Clipper 97, Wizards 95 - Mike Jones, Outlet
This is crazy. Seriously. Just two weeks ago, the thing carrying the Wizards was strong bench play because Jamison, Butler and Arenas weren't playing well together. Now those three are playing well and they can't get the bench players going. It's hard to get a feel for Flip Saunders' rotations and substitutions becuase many times he appears to be grasping and hoping that he finds the key. But tonight, he went to his bench too early in the third quarter, and I wasn't the only one who thought that.
Best of Twitterville
Twitter / Kevin Arnovitz
Jamison: The man knows how to find a mismatch in the halfcourt.
Twitter / Mike Jones
Maybe Brendan should go back to blogging. His defense on Kaman is terrible this game.
Twitter / Craig Stouffer
could've sworn I just saw a #wizards hockey assist. Can't remember many of them lately.
Twitter / Michael Lee
Wiz blow 17-point lead, let Clippers go ahead 71-69 then score 9 in a row. How do you explain this team?
Twitter / Truth_About_It
Wow. Earl Boykins is no longer "The Closer", he's the smallest f-ing turnover in the world. Off his own knee. Wow.
Twitter / Daniel Eichner
Earl Boykins and I are developing a serious love/hate relationship. Would still like to see him as santa's helper tho. #wizards keep losing
Twitter / Chris C-Ford
Id rather they throw up a full court shot, than not get a shot at all
Twitter / Edward
the #wizards might be the collectivley dumbest team sports iq wise I've ever seen. Shot selection in clutch moments is just inexplicable.
Twitter / wizznutzz
Wizards so weary, the sweet cause in vain. You make love, you break love, it's all the same....manic depression is a frustrating mess
Twitter / David Malitz
god, i can't believe i actually have tickets in hand to 4 wiz games over the next month. forget bobbleheads, when's valium night?
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The only positive from last night....
For the first time all season, I didn’t see Caron commit a charge, or a traveling violation!!
Very disturbing substitutions by Flip, and quite disturbing to see Butler asserting himself and playing well only when Gilbert had fouled out.
You may not have seen it
but I do believe CB committed an offensive foul. 5:33 1st quarter.
by MR on Dec 15, 2009 4:15 PM EST up reply actions
Hideous team, hideous record
But too good and too competitive to play McGee. Someone tell Flip the Big 3 is not the future and the present is down the toilet. His formula is “lose, lose”.
Think I saw him commit an offensive foul
in the second quarter. Sorry to ruin your one bright spot for the night.
Is there a good reason
why Flip will put out a completely offensively deficient lineup for long stretches in a game? What is the thought process behind this? Why is Deshawn part of his rotation? I’m baffled by how much this team stinks.
deshawn
my guess is because nick young doesn’t do what he’s asked to do.
by DarrellWalkerFan on Dec 15, 2009 11:48 AM EST up reply actions
So does he tell Deshawn to go stink it up
because that is all he does out there. Does Flip understand that confidence is huge with young players? As long as Flip keeps jerking NY around we are going to be getting these up and down performances from him.
It's a good point
A lot of this game has to be on Flip. He twice threw out lineups of Boykins-Stevenson-Jamison-McGuire-Haywood, and those were the immediate turning points of the game. Who does he think is going to score in that lineup?
Where is Randy Foye? Why did we trade for this guy? He can’t give us plus production over Stevenson or Nick Young? There are shooting guard minutes to be had.
Gilbert and Flip are not even close to being on the same page. He looked over a half dozen times at the bench in frustration because he didn’t understand what Flip was trying to tell him.
Everyone says this, but this team needs to push the pace more and take good shots when they see them. They either don’t have the personnel or the patience to go through Flip’s offensive sets.
Dont stop there
The Wizards are not a half court team team. Flip insist on making us one which was good the first 15 games or so but now we need to understand that this is not going to work for us. Look at the suns they went through there half court mistake last year and now they are back to run and gunning and WINNING. The Big three is not going to win as a half court team but I bet there arent that many teams that can out score us.
Arenas can't spearhead a running team anymore
and we play our starters way too many minutes to go up tempo. Boykins, NY, Blatche, McGee can all run but they aren’t in very much and Boykins shouldn’t ever be in IMO.
by BayAreaBullet on Dec 15, 2009 1:58 PM EST up reply actions
Not even running more
Just the general pace. It’s like Flip has told these guys that no shot should go up before 10 seconds left on the shot clock. It’s plodding, and it leads to guys just standing around, because this is not a team of good passers who move without the ball. It’s just not.
I’m not saying we should go Seven Seconds or Less, but these guys pass on way too many good open looks because it’s early in the clock. Particularly when we’ve spread the floor with three or four good three point shooters at the same time.
My analysis
I have a big analysis as to EXACTLY why were losing.
There’s two things that are the reason we are losing and I will elaborate later.
1. Boykins, yes Boykins is the number 1 reason were losing, I’ll explain later.
2. Besides our starters, minus Deshawn. Our lineup selection or roster selection, or subbing has been aweful.
Will elaborte later but from analyzing all our losses this has been the obvious formula. Not Arenas missing free throws, nit him turning it over though that hurts, not Caron refusing to be a part of ball movement.
by Unxpekted on Dec 15, 2009 12:27 PM EST via mobile reply actions
I think it's about Arenas
Sure, the free throw misses hurt. But the bigger problem is when he drives to basket. What made him a stone cold threat in past years was his ability to get to the rim, draw fouls, and make the correct pass when teams started adjusting to his attacks. Now, he’s lost that.
Earlier in the season, it seemed like the problem was that he’d lost a step. That wasn’t the problem last night. He was getting in there like the old days, and then EVERY time, he tried to make the tough pass under the basket instead of drawing contact and trying for the and-1. Problem is, those are TOUGH passes, and they often resulted in a turnover or a blocked shot.
I suppose the good news is that that’s a mental problem, whereas losing a step is a physical one. Still, this team is going to keep sucking until Gil locates his swagger.
I think its mental also
But I think there’s more to it.
I’ve heard it said in football that players on winning teams develop “winning muscle memories”. I’m sure the same could be said for losing. I think that maybe last season did more damage to the team psyche than anyone could’ve imagined.
And that brings to mind all the people calling for the wiz to throw in the towel last season…
As for Gil, its quite obvious that its mental for him, and besides from his personal injury-recovery mental block, there’s also the added pressure to ‘turn this thing around’ from last year’s 19 win effort.
In that light, how big does Haywood’s injury last year look now?
Okay time to explain my reasoning. Here is my basis for why I believe Boykins and choosing the right players in the game have been an issue and why we are losing.
Firstly, every single lost game I have watched consisted of this.
Starters getting it done, primarily Haywood, Jamison, Caron (at times), and Young (when he was playing), and lastly Arenas assisting and playing well. A few miscues. BUT when these starters play Wizards lead.
Insertion of Boykins after quarter and a bad selection of players, Dominic McGuire or Stevenson or both.
As soon as Boykins came in to the last 4-5 games, we have lost our lead. When Boykins leaves the game we have consistently been losing by a margin of 2-6 points! Dont believe me? Re-watch the games. I didnt believe it until I read someones recent comments about Boykins over-dribbling so I decided to document. I loved Boykins at Cleveland and someother games but its clear this guy is driving the team down the hole. Its one of those things where he looks great but if you watch the score board it is not reflecting. So we have a lead with the starters in, then its cut after Boykins plays his part. This may be due to his habit of “dribbling the clock”, frantically at the top of the key by the time he is ready to a make a play its either to late or a lost possession. Defensively he is not really as pesky as he was when he first came in. Who ever he is guarding is easily getting their shots off even if he is contesting them and he is a defensive liability.
So back to the game. We are:
Now at a deficit. The starters come in and have to cut the lead again! This seems to happen but then we have Boykins coming back in to the game. Again things are frantic, there is no ball movement, no setting up, and we are back at our 2nd half situation. The spark you used to see Boykins bring in the game 5-7 games ago is gone. Please re-watch the games, the spark = losing. I have seen it with my own eyes and watched it closely. There has yet to be a time in the past few games where Boykins has been in the game and good things have happened.
Boykins allows the opposing team to gain some momentum and it makes it much harder for the Starters to get back in to it.
Secondly, the selection of players during the game is Aweful. I think FO can be used positively, he always had +. We need to get back to benching Stevenson and using DM very minimally. Utilize McGee, Blatche, Young, and Foye as much as possible. It was clear to me when watching the Mavs game then that was what we would have looked like if we never lost momentum with injuries. That team that played that day looked like the Celtics or Lakers. Unselfish, ball movement, accurate and uncontested shots, good player selection, good defense and guess what NO BOYKINS. The player selection was perfect.
In our more recent wins you saw good player selection. Less Boykins, more Nick Young, McGee and Blatche.
In recent losses you have seen very minimal Foye, Nick Young, Blatche, McGee and FO. Why not use size and young energetic talent. Instead you see players who you never in your mind would imagine could help any team win a game. To me the formulas of winning have not been replicated. You see a couch still testing different groups of guys and starters. Very inconsistent. One thing is clear.
The starters + Young, Foyce, Oberto, Blatche and McGee with everyone else benched will probably = a win. Thats just how I see it.
To me its simple
FORMULA TO WIN = you saw it in games we won
FORMULA TO LOSE = you saw it in games we lost
A bit of a rant but I also am pretty hung over, I wish I spent more time on this but hopefully someone will agree.
Part of what makes me so mad is he uses that Boykins-Foye backcourt ALL the time
Thats just stupid. I’m pretty much an optimist on Foye but even I think playing him with Boykins is asinine. It means Foye will struggle offensively as he works better with the ball in his hands and it forces Foye to HAVE to guard the other teams 2. So basically you negate Foye’s offensive ability and diminish his defensive ability by forcing him to cover bigger guys. Foye has a defensive ability to cover smaller guards but that is taken away by putting him next to 5’5" boykins. Also does any guard play well next to Boykins?
Standard Boykins play: Pound the ball at the top of the key for 5-8 seconds. Then have a big man come up to set a screen. If can get by his man on the screen he shoots. If the big man steps out and prevents the drive doesn’t even think of whipping the ball to the open big man or the wing guy who can then whip it to the big man. He just dribbles back out and sets up for another iso play.
by BayAreaBullet on Dec 15, 2009 2:09 PM EST up reply actions
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