Open Thread: Regular Season Game 63 vs. Dallas Mavericks
by Jake Whitacre on Mar 7, 2009 11:08 AM EST
in Game Threads
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PrintWashington Wizards at Dallas Mavericks, Mar 7, 2009 8:30 PM EST
The Essentials:
Wizards (14-48) at Mavericks (37-25)
8:30 p.m.
American Airlines Arena
CSN
This year:
December 21: Mavericks 97, Wizards 86
Notable Mavericks numbers this season:
12th in expected winning percentage (.547)
15th in pace factor (91.7 possessions per game)
9th in offensive efficiency/offensive rating (109.1)
14th in defensive efficiency/defensive rating (107.6)
Key Links: (drop any others in the comments)
Mavs Moneyball
The Two Man Game (Mavericks)
Game Day Dallas
The Other Side: Mavericks
| Tonight's Projected Starters | ||
|---|---|---|
| Wizards | vs. | Mavericks |
| Player filling in for injured starter |
PG | Jason Kidd |
| Player filling in for injured starter | SG | Antoine Wright |
| Player filling in for injured starter | SF | Josh Howard |
| The Last Man Standing |
PF | Dirk Nowitzki |
| Player filling in for injured starter | C | Erick Dampier |
Haven't had a chance to see last night's game yet, but I get the feeling that I'll need to break out the antacids when I do. Losing by 22 to the Spurs isn't all that shocking, but losing to them by 22 while Tim Duncan only scores 5 points is a little tougher pill to swallow.
Tonight, we face another team with a very good power forward that's surrounded by a cast of three point shooters and very good point guard. On top of that, the Mavericks are still smarting over a blowout loss to the Hornets on national TV on Thursday night. So not only do we get to face a more talented team that gives us match-up problems, but they're angry too. This should be fun.
One thing to keep track of tonight is the play of Jose Juan Barea. His alma mater, Northeastern, is playing their CAA tournament game at the same time as tonight as the Wiz-Mavs game, so watch him while he's out on the court. If he struggles out there, there's a good chance that Northeastern is losing. I can't explain it, but there just seems to be a link between the performance of a university's basketball team and the performance of people who either go there or attended there at one point. I know for me, I just that I'll get very queasy this afternoon if George Mason loses to JMU. But that's neither here nor there.
This is an open thread, so if you want to break out in song, do it here.
GO WIZARDS!
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Pre-game chatter
Eddie Jordan to Sacramento?
1. on the right side here
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/dailydime?page=dime-090307-08
1. on the right side here
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/dailydime?page=dime-090228-0301
Interesting note: the Wizards owe EJ 4 million next season, but there is a contract offset contained in that agreement, so for instance if EJ gets 2 million from Sacramento next season, the Wizards would only owe him 2 million (4 million-2million)
by morethesamewiz on Mar 7, 2009 5:06 PM PST reply reply actions actions 0 recs
Pryme, where are you watching this?
Its blacked out on League Pass
by morethesamewiz on Mar 7, 2009 8:43 PM EST up reply actions
Lets see...we are on the second night of a two-game stretch
against the Mavericks. I’ll feel safe if we are up 40 at halftime.
This game is just...beautiful
Blatche and McGee are killing it. Everyone seems focused and crisp and HOLY CRAP BLATCHE HIT A THREE
Everyone was praying that Hopla would improve Taser's shooting,
but who’s responsible for his improved passing?
Dirk's basically unguardable, especially for Dom
But Kidd shouldn’t really be a huge problem. Aside from not being that incredible anymore, he’s not one of the ultra-quick guards that usually burn us.
by pantslessyoda1 on Mar 7, 2009 9:42 PM EST up reply actions
To follow up
I think Terry is the one who’ll hurt us the most (after Dirk, of course)
by pantslessyoda1 on Mar 7, 2009 9:44 PM EST up reply actions
pig latin
“I’d have him come off the bench”
by pantslessyoda1 on Mar 7, 2009 10:09 PM EST up reply actions
pig latin
1. take first letter of word, add to end
2. add “ay” behind letter
3. if word starts with vowel, just do step #2
Still, looking at it, I spelled one word wrong
yeah
I knew that statement would, hmm, get a reaction. Personally, I see Butler as a swingman and would rather see him come off the bench and be that rather than struggle playing the starting SG.
I'd rather just see him play small forward
If any of our stars should be brought off the bench, it should Jamison due to his defensive shortcomings.
Also, I think Butler’s not an ideal fit for the 2, but he’s far from bad.
by pantslessyoda1 on Mar 7, 2009 10:17 PM EST up reply actions
I'd go for that
but knowing Jamison’s issues with Golden State he’s adamant about playing the PF. Being in Dallas showed that he’s willing to come off the bench, but then again, Dirk was starting. Bottom line: Blatche or Songalia (stop laughing) have to perform well enough to justify moving Jamison to the bench.
you can.
But Butler is not a shooting guard, by any stretch. He’s a forward. And if Jamison refuses to come off of the bench or play SF, than Butler must be the SF. But if Butler plays SF, then Taser has to be SG…but Taser is an even worse SG than Butler (and his rebounding numbers would go down). But if Taser comes off the bench, the team suffers defensively. So maybe Jamison should either come off the bench or play SF, but he doesn’t want to…and ’round and ’round we go. Point is: this lineup is sacrificing offensive flow for the facade of defensive intensity.
Agreed
We can’t just allow ourselves to be held hostage by egos, though. If players don’t want to do what it takes to win, they should be shipped out.
That said, Jamison was in his prime with the Mavs, plus he knew that he’d be signing a new contract eventually. Now that he’s reaching the end of his career, and especially if he can play for a contender, I think he’ll be willing to do whatever it takes to win.
by pantslessyoda1 on Mar 7, 2009 10:41 PM EST up reply actions
my lineup (based on current roster)
Songalia, Jamison, Taser, Young and James…OR Songalia, Jamison, Butler, Young and James. We have at least two actual SGs (NY and Dixon) who aren’t getting consistent minutes. One of them should be starting.
And in the former lineup, you have a veteran in Butler playing with McGee, Blatche, Dixon and Critt. Considering our options, that sounds solid to me.
funny how Critt has the "out of control" label
and yet Mike James attempts more plays like this
by pantslessyoda1 on Mar 7, 2009 10:10 PM EST up reply actions
No reason that an alley-oop shouldn't have followed that steal
Id think that if Eddie Jordan taught him one thing, it would be how to cut to the basket.
by pantslessyoda1 on Mar 7, 2009 10:13 PM EST up reply actions
"Wizards run the offense."
Gee, thanks Buck. Still don’t know what it is, though. And is he just saying that because they passed the ball around?
For the longest time
I thought that the Princeton was just bringing the ball up the court, handing off to a center at the top of the key, then having the center give it back to whoever brought the ball up.
by pantslessyoda1 on Mar 7, 2009 10:21 PM EST up reply actions
doing it that way was ideal
because the center was the tallest, biggest player (Princeton had alot of small players) and could see everything. But the center needed to be a good passer and a decent post-up player. Hence why it didn’t always work here.
But the stars of the Princeton are really the forwards. Having a player like Gilbert was gravy (and alot of it) because it meant we had a decoy, and (if push comes to shove) a player we could iso.
Which makes sense
But half the time it seems to just kill five seconds on the shot clock. I mean, I know it works, I’ve read the articles on it, but it’s just felt like we’ve been doing it wrong and/or half-heartedly.
by pantslessyoda1 on Mar 7, 2009 10:38 PM EST up reply actions
that's because we have
the downside to having players like Jamison and Arenas is that the team gets spoiled/dependent, and sometimes rely on them to a point where the offense suffers.
"there's still plenty of time."
New Rule: announcers can’t make this statement unless the team in question has a history of spectacular comebacks in the current season.
Not that it can’t happen, but can we please at least acknowledge that every team down by ten does not have the same probability of erasing their deficit and winning the game?
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