Pollin': Strong Start?
by Jake Whitacre on Aug 11, 2009 3:05 PM EDT
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PrintIt's a lock-safe guarantee that at some point that someone, somewhere will say that it's important for the Wizards to get off to good start to the season if they want to make a strong playoff push. Getting off to a bad start doesn't necessarily equate to a bad season. Let's not forget that the 2007-08 Wizards wound up with the 5th seed despite starting the season by losing their first five games (and surviving a nine game skid mid-season).
But still, getting off to a hot start is a lot nicer than digging yourself into a hole to start off the season. Last year, the Lakers were last team in the league to suffer a loss and they ended the year as the last team to record a victory. Likewise, the Celtics were the last undefeated team in the NBA and they went on to take home the title in June. Typically the best team in the league wastes no time in asserting their dominance.
In recent years, the Wiz have struggled to make noise early in the season. The last team to finish better than .500 in the first 10 games of the season were the 2004-05 Wizards. Can the Wizards snap that trend and come out of the gates hot this season? Here's their first 10 games this season:
- @ Dallas
- @ Atlanta
- New Jersey
- @ Cleveland
- Miami
- @ Indiana
- Phoenix
- @ Miami
- Detroit
- Cleveland
There's an even split of home and road games during this five game stretch. Seven of Washington's ten opponents were in the playoffs last season and four of those playoff match-ups are on the road. It's not the easiest start to a season that anyone's ever seen, but you can't avoid playing tough teams forever. At least this gives us as fans a chance to get a good idea of what the team is made of very early on in the season.
This week, your job is to take a look at the schedule for the first ten games of the season and determine how many you think the Wizards can win. It should be a pretty good barometer of everyone's confidence level in the roster this season. Vote away!
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prediction...
my predictions for the first 10 games are…
* @ Dallas – lose
* @ Atlanta – win
* New Jersey – win
* @ Cleveland – lose
* Miami – win
* @ Indiana – win
* Phoenix – win
* @ Miami – lose
* Detroit – win
* Cleveland – win
My guess is
Loss
Loss
Win
Loss
Win
Win
Win
Loss
Win
Loss
You know you'll get devoured by Cheaney, Wallace, and Juwan Howard.
but..
but do you really think we would lose to cleveland both away and at home?
Okay, maybe they beat Cleveland at home
ANYTHING IS POSSIBLLLLEEEEE!!!!!!!
You know you'll get devoured by Cheaney, Wallace, and Juwan Howard.
You're right, we could easily beat them
The previous comment was just an excuse to invoke Kevin Garnett. I was in a good mood today. It’s certainly possible we beat them once.
I still say 5-5 because even if we beat Cleveland, we’ll lose to someone we should beat.
You know you'll get devoured by Cheaney, Wallace, and Juwan Howard.
My thinking exactly
I voted 5-5 because I think we’ll pull off 1 surprising win and two surprising losses in the first 10 games. This is the Wizards we’re talking about, after all…
Almost.. :)
I thought they’d win one of the Clev games, so that’s why I chose 6.
And of course, 6 is the most popular pick. These little polls will either prove to be statistically significant or just plain significant of how distorted our judgments are because we have Bullets F[or]ever.
I'm torn
Have the Wizards gotten off to slow starts in the recent past due to the coaching during training camp, or the players? We’ll see. For now, I’m willing to guess that it was a mixture of bad preparation by the coaches and over-confidence by the players. Hopefully Flip can change the coaching part. Is it even possible that the players could be over-confident after going 19-63? With this group, anything’s possible, but hopefully that isn’t.
Starting on the road
Don’t the Wizards have some ridiculous streak of starting the road, which is somehow second to an even more ridiculous streak belonging to the Bucks, I think?
We opened at home last year
But it was the first in a long time
Oh yeah
Guess I remembered the graphic but forgot the point.
I remember that graphic too
I think it’s been something like 17 years or something since the Bucks started the season at home.
Bullets Forever: A blog dedicated to the Washington Wizards with analysis, commentary, and more YouTube videos than your eyes can handle.
by Jake Whitacre on Aug 11, 2009 7:16 PM EDT up reply actions
Win 6-
lose one to Cleveland, Miami, Dallas and Detroit.
I see
5 should-wins there for our current squad, and 5 games no team should expect to win (see Mike’s predictions for which ones I’m talking about).
I’d be satisfied with 5, happy with 6, and I’ll only be worried if they don’t get more than 3 in this tough stretch.
My take
They will start off strong…..
7-3 after 10 games
13-7 after 20 games
26-14 after 40 games
Tue, Oct 27 L @Dallas
Fri, Oct 30 W @Atlanta
Sat, Oct 31 W New Jersey 2nd night of a back-to-back
Tue, Nov 03 L @Cleveland
Wed, Nov 04 W Miami 2nd night of a back-to-back
Fri, Nov 06 W @Indiana
Sun, Nov 08 W Phoenix Sunday afternoon game (1pm start)
Tue, Nov 10 L @Miami
Sat, Nov 14 W Detroit
Wed, Nov 18 W Cleveland
Fri, Nov 20 W @Oklahoma City
Sat, Nov 21 L @San Antonio 2nd night of a back-to-back on the Road
Tue, Nov 24 W Philadelphia
Fri, Nov 27 W @Miami
Sat, Nov 28 W Charlotte 2nd night of a back-to-back
Tue, Dec 01 L @Toronto
Wed, Dec 02 W Milwaukee 2nd night of a back-to-back
Fri, Dec 04 W Toronto 3rd Game in 4 days
Sun, Dec 06 L @Detroit
Thu, Dec 10 L Boston
Sat, Dec 12 W Indiana
Mon, Dec 14 W @L.A. Clippers
Wed, Dec 16 W @Sacramento
Fri, Dec 18 W @Golden State
Sat, Dec 19 L @Phoenix 2nd night of a back-to-back on the Road (3rd game in 4 days)
Tue, Dec 22 W Philadelphia
Wed, Dec 23 W @Milwaukee 2nd night of a back-to-back
Sat, Dec 26 W @Minnesota
Mon, Dec 28 W @Memphis
Tue, Dec 29 W Oklahoma City 2nd night of a back-to-back
Sat, Jan 02 W San Antonio
Tue, Jan 05 W @Philadelphia
Wed, Jan 06 L @Cleveland 2nd night of a back-to-back
Fri, Jan 08 L Orlando
Sun, Jan 10 L New Orleans
Tue, Jan 12 W Detroit
Wed, Jan 13 L @Atlanta 2nd night of a back-to-back
Fri, Jan 15 L @Chicago
Sat, Jan 16 W Sacramento 2nd night of a back-to-back
Mon, Jan 18 L Portland
Bullets Forever - where "Dagger ! " happens......
I am certainly with you on the first 10
Win the first two on the road (beating Dallas on the road will be like when they beat Memphis on the road to start the season in 2004-05) and split with Miami and Cleveland. I am worried about Indiana because it’s between the Heat and Suns home games. 7-3 and then getting carried away will be difficult to avoid! 26-14 means that I will have to be hosed down on a regular basis.
"Would you like to shoot me now or wait till you get home." --- Daffy Duck
by George Templeton on Aug 12, 2009 11:01 AM EDT up reply actions
I think the 2nd night of a back-to-back are especially important when trying to “predict” wins and losses…. and although I had the Wizards winning a majority in the first 20 games…. I think they’ll start to lose a lot more of those games in the second 20 games, and the rest of the year…..
I personally don’t think they’ll win a 2nd game of a back-to-back all year, when it’s the 3rd game in a 4 game stretch …. Unless the other team is on a similar schedule – It’s just too difficult to keep the energy high for that long a stretch of consecutive games.
Bullets Forever - where "Dagger ! " happens......
I’d love to see stats on winning pct on game 2 of back to backs vs after a day of rest. I looked around but couldn’t find it.
by MR on Aug 12, 2009 5:26 PM EDT up reply actions
It is SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Important that we have a good start
7-3 BABY!
* @ Dallas – WIN
* @ Atlanta – LOSS
* New Jersey – WIN
* @ Cleveland – WIN
* Miami – LOSS
* @ Indiana – WIN
* Phoenix – WIN
* @ Miami – WIN
* Detroit – WIN
* Cleveland – LOSS
Representing DC with Wizards & Stuff - Truth About It.net and Bullets Forever.
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