Guards Wanted: Thunder 88, Wizards 83

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Welcome to Loud City

Highest Plus/Minus: Nick Young (+4)
Lowest Plus/Minus: Juan Dixon (-9)
Best Five Man Unit: Javaris Crittenton, Nick Young, Dominic McGuire, Darius Songaila, Andray Blatche (+5 in the 4th Quarter)
Worst Five Man Unit: Javaris Crittenton, Nick Young, Dominic McGuire, Antawn Jamison, Darius Songaila (-6 in the 4th Quarter)

Four Factors

Photo of the Game

(Photo by Layne Murdoch/NBAE via Getty Images)

Game Thread Comment of the Game: "No HMO." by TruthAboutIt in regards to what the team's slogan should be next season.

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the guards for the Washington Wizards and their statlines from last night:

• Mike James: 6 points (3-10 shooting), 2 assists, 2 turnovers, 1 rebound in just under 30 minutes.
• Javaris Crittenton: 4 points (1-2 shooting), 3 assists, 1 turnover, 1 rebound in just over 23 minutes.
• Juan Dixon: 0 points (0-0 shooting), 1 assist, 1 turnover, 0 rebounds in just under 10 minutes.
• Nick Young: 8 points (3-13 shooting), 0 assists, 2 turnovers, 2 rebounds in just under 19 minutes.

18 points on 6-25 shooting with 6 assists, 6 turnovers and 4 rebounds?  Someone must have summoned the spirit of 2002-03 Ricky Davis and divided it amongst the Wizards' back court last night.

(Yes, I left off Dominic McGuire since he's really more of a forward that's just playing out of position with Butler out and posting his stats would hurt my argument.)

Anyways, the only reason the Wizards were able to keep the game as close as it was last night is because:

1. Antawn Jamison, Darius Songaila, Andray Blatche, and Dominic McGuire all had games ranging from spectacular to solid last night.
2. The 16-45 Thunder were without two of their best players in Kevin Durant and Jeff Green.

Eliminate one or both of those two elements and we're talking about an old-fashioned beatdown last night.  The sad thing is that this was supposed to be the easiest game on this Midwestern road-trip.  If the Wiz can't find a way to get something out of their guards quickly, Dallas and San Antonio are going to turn the Texas two-step into a full-fledged stomping.