Wizards get blown out by Suns in Phoenix: Final wrap and helter skelter fail

by Mike Prada on Dec 20, 2009 10:19 PM EST in Recaps

It's en vogue to call out the collective basketball IQ of this team. We're a stupid bunch that takes stupid shots and doesn't play together. Etc. etc. Games like last night's illustrate why this statement is probably true.

Picture this scenario for a second.

You're playing the Phoenix Suns, who are among the fastest-paced teams in the league and love to run.
You're on the second night of a back-to-back
You just played the Golden State Warriors, the fastest-paced team in the NBA ever since the rule changes in 2004/05.
You just beat the Warriors by playing your top two guys 43 and 46 minutes, respectively. (Not to mention that your third gun played 37 minutes despite shoulder and neck pain).

It would probably make sense, considering these conditions, to slow the pace down, work the ball inside and try to prevent Phoenix from making it a track meet. That means no quick jump shots early in the shot clock and a bunch of set plays designed to get shots in good positions that facilitate good transition defense.

If you watched the game, you saw what the Wizards did. Quick jump shot after quick jump shot. A bunch of high pick and rolls for Gilbert Arenas rather than any semblance of an offensive set. Arenas and Antawn Jamison hit a few buckets early in the shot clock in the game's early stages and felt that gave the entire team free license to keep shooting quickly. Predictably, Phoenix pushed right back, and the tired Wizards couldn't keep up. (Not like they were well-equipped to keep up anyway, but still).

After the first two possessions of the game, when the Wizards milked the clock pretty well, here's how much time was left on the shot clock in the subsequent possessions:

13. 17. 11. 15. 18. 15. 11. 12. 13. 6. 15. 17. 20. 5. 12.

So the Wizards paitiently worked their half-court offense and slowed the game down ... twice. In that same stretch, the Wizards had one layup and one trip to the free-throw line. All jumpers, all early in the shot clock.

Was the effort later unacceptable, as Flip Saunders said? Of course. But that's kind of missing the real issue here. The Wizards had to know that it was going to be tough for them to raise their energy level to play a racehorse game considering they played the night before. They had to know the difficulty of playing the second night of a back-to-back. And yet, they still tried to play a racehorse game against the best racehorse team in the league. That's being stupid.

The lack of smarts led to the lack of effort. If the Wizards were smarter, they probably would have had more energy to play with more effort.

Four Factors (Bold=very good | Italics=very bad)

Team	Pace	Off Eff	eFG%	FT/FG	OREB%	TOr
Washington	100	95.0	40.9	26.1	24.5	14
Phoenix		121.0	55.4	19.4	31.7	13

Snap Reaction: At least they didn't shoot many free throws...

Lineup Details, via Popcorn Machine

Highest individual plus/minus: Dominic McGuire (-1 in 18:30)
Lowest individual plus/minus: Antawn Jamison (-23 in 28:42)
Best five-man unit: Randy Foye/Nick Young/Dominic McGuire/Andray Blatche/JaVale McGee (+4 in garbage time ... hooray!)
Worst five-man unit: Earl Boykins/Nick Young/Caron Butler/Antawn Jamison/Andray Blatche (-7 in the first quarter)

Snap Reaction: WE WON GARBAGE TIME! SCREW YOU SUNS! HAHA!!! (</sarcasm)

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Comments

Who would win?

Flip’s starters: Arenas, Stevenson, Butler, AJ, Haywood

The garbage crew: Foye, Young, Miller, Blatche, McGee

by Izman on Dec 20, 2009 10:38 PM EST reply actions

since when is miller in the "garbage crew"?

he’s hurt not benched.

i would LOVE to see this play out in reality, and watch haywood dunk on mcgee’s head play after play, and generally watch the starters blow out the second unit like phx did us the other night, over and over again, repeatedly, until people stop thinking things like this.

by DarrellWalkerFan on Dec 20, 2009 11:26 PM EST up reply actions 1 recs

Relax, Darrell. It’s only a game.

Speaking of which, the Wiz are 8-17 and 4 of those wins are attributable to the Boykins surprise factor. The starters play down to their competition.

Haywood is a free agent this year. What’s he worth? What happens when somebody beats the Wiz reserve?

by Izman on Dec 21, 2009 8:11 AM EST up reply actions

if we had any bench

we win 3 out those 6 we lost: pacers, clippers, kings. we’d be 11-14 and just looking forward to getting miller back in the fold.

and it’s funny you telling me to relax as you’ve been riding the wiz relentlessly for about a month now.

by DarrellWalkerFan on Dec 21, 2009 9:07 AM EST up reply actions

Here’s what I said before the regular season started (two months ago):

“1 – be patient. A slow start should be expected. (The previous expectations of a fast-start were probably not justified in hindsight). Do not panic (a la EJ) and overplay Arenas and Butler, etc.

2 – pick the starters and sub rotations and stick with them until AJ returns.

3 – get into Arenas’ head and decide whether he is capable of being a leader.

4 – continue to try to get improvements and consistency from McGee, Blatche and Young, and cut them various levels of slack (McGee the most, Blatche the least).

5 – assess the team’s strengths and weaknesses after 30 games to determine whether a trade is needed "

Bottom line: lots of weaknesses, including the coaching, starters and bench. What would you advocate?

by Izman on Dec 21, 2009 9:59 AM EST up reply actions

what i'd advocate

mostly i disagree with you that we’ve got that much talent stashed on our bench. i don’t see it. young’s had enough time here. he doesn’t fit. either he or caron likely needs to go. and if i wanted to keep this core and could get something good out of mcgee, that isn’t remotely over the hill, it’d take it and run with it.

most likely, EG is going to use the next 5 weeks as an evaluation period. either foye comes on and the starters synch with miller and he just needs to tweak the supporting cast, or he blows this team up at the trade deadline. either way, at this point, sitting on this roster the whole year seems like folly to me.

as someone who still believes in our starting unit, my worry is that if EG had been successful in adding a supporting cast with the 5th pick, or if he had made a secondary move to improve the supporting cast a bit ahead of time in the early part of this year, he might not be in a situation where he feels he needs to blow it up at the deadline.

by DarrellWalkerFan on Dec 21, 2009 2:49 PM EST up reply actions

Logical answer

and you are right that the bench has been stinking it up lately. The starters can improve or not. The bench can improve or not. Our only real difference is how long to wait before pulling the trigger. You have more patience than I, which is probably a good thing in sports.

by Izman on Dec 21, 2009 11:27 PM EST up reply actions

appreciate it

mostly i am just angry at our supporting cast and at ernie. sorry you caught my wrath.

by DarrellWalkerFan on Dec 22, 2009 12:10 PM EST up reply actions

Really...

The only silver lining in this turd-like cloud is that Foye got some productive minutes in… If we cannot get production out of Randy from here on out (regardless of what Miller may contribute), we will never hear the end of the consequences of passing on Brandon Jennings or even Stephen Curry to make this deal for two “established” NBAers.

I am still optimistic that we will turn this thing around over the next three-four weeks. Meanwhile the vultures are beginning to gather, especially in Cleveland, where the drumbeats for doing a deal for Antawn are once again pounding.

by khrabb on Dec 21, 2009 8:08 AM EST reply actions

For Z?

IZ’s contract expires this year. If the Wiz pull a AJ for IZ trade, that could mean the Wiz will enter the Bosh sweepstakes next year (as Haywood and James contracts would also expire).

Separately, other teams put a greater value on McGee than the Wiz, so he’s trade bait for those doubters in the Wiz org.

The Wizards have options. Do they have the motivation to pull some strings? It’s 25 games into the season.

by Izman on Dec 21, 2009 8:22 AM EST up reply actions