Wizards' comeback falls just short against Mavericks (UPDATED WITH POSTGAME STUFF)
by Mike Prada on Jan 20, 2010 9:29 PM EST
in Recaps
Email
PrintGreat effort. Bad last play.
Oh well.
UPDATE: Wow, very interesting postgame tonight.
Flip Saunders gave a terse, two-minute press conference, in which he ultimately walked out as a reporter was asking him a question. When asked of the last play, Saunders simply said "That wasn't the play we were supposed to run." I asked him what was the play, and he simply repeated himself.
The "play," of course, was Caron Butler catching the ball at the top of the key, dribbling left and getting swallowed up by Shawn Marion as Mike Miller stood open in the corner.
Randy Foye reiterated what Saunders said.
"It was an option play. We ran that play against Chicago that got us two shots, but it wasn't the play that was supposed to be run."
What was Butler's take on the play?
“The last play was drawn up either to get myself the ball up top or get somebody coming to the corner. Obviously, I wanted the ball. I kind of had my mind made up what I was going to do with it already. This time, it was good defense.”
Later, Butler was asked what he'd do differently on the play.
“Try to drive it. Stay right. I ended up going back left and got stuck, but just go to the basket and try to put the game in the hands of the referees, get some contact.”
Kyle asked Brendan Haywood about the play, and Haywood said something to the effect of "I don't want to throw anyone under the bus." When I asked him about his impressions of the play, he simply said "I was on the weakside," then shrugged.
To review: Flip Saunders said the play wasn't the one that was supposed to be run. Randy Foye elaborated a bit and said they ran a different play, one they used in Chicago to get Caron a shot once. Caron then described, presumably, the incorrect play perfectly, since there was an open man (Mike Miller) in the corner.
As Kyle tweeted, someone, most likely Tuff Juice, will probably be getting killed in the papers tomorrow.
84 comments
|
0 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
WTF Minutes to Stevenson… Stevenson plays excellent defense, he should have more minutes. That makes no sense you just cant give those minutes to Boykins.
Someone who dribbles all third quarter puts us in a deficit. Play selfish. Does NOTHING for ball movement. Ignores the hot MIke Miller.
I have counted 12 plus games where when Boykins is in the game we get in deficits and cant catch up. All those games lost by 1-4 points. Guess what Boykins deficits. Do the math. Watch the games. It has to stop.
Stevenson has nothing absolutly nothing to do with why we lost
I'm not sure how Boykins 11 points in 17 minutes -
on 50% shooting with 3 assists cost the Wiz the game…..
I think it had more to do with Jamison going 2-10 and Caron playing “hero” basketball at the end.
Bullets Forever - where "Dagger ! " happens......
Stevenson brings nothing to this team
He is under 6’ 6" with absolutely no offense. This is unacceptable in the NBA. I am not saying I am a big fan of the undersized PG but to me Stevenson is a non-entity when he is on the court.
It's not a Stevenson vs Boykins issue
It’s a Stevenson vs Young issue, and that’s a no-brainer. I really don’t understand Flip’s thinking on this.
neither are
helping much. Stevenson is a liability on the offensive end, while Boykins is a liability with the clock running down. He can’t get his shot whenever he wants, so he shouldn’t have the ball in his hand at crunchtime.
I dont care man its been -100 for Boykins all season. You have to watch games not just read a stat. if you watched the game its clear Boykins was selfish, did nothing for ball movement, and caused a deficit. i watched it in front of my eyes when he was in we were down by like 6 or something just like every single game since this curse of a player came.
During the time boykins was in the game
The Wizards outscored Dallas by 1….. Hence his +1 for the game……
Bullets Forever - where "Dagger ! " happens......
I think you have some "boykins hate" glasses on.....
Bullets Forever - where "Dagger ! " happens......
I agree with Unxpekted
All EB does is destroy our offense and he is a huge defensive liability. He might have had a positive +/- tonight but that stat is misleading anyways. There is a reason why he wasn’t in the NBA last year.
by Oldbuckwilder on Jan 20, 2010 11:53 PM EST up reply actions
Fair enough
But someone has to be the back-up point guard. At this point, it’s either Boykins or Mike James. Take your pick.
Wait, you forgot Crittendon!
I haven’t heard that he’s been officially suspended…shouldn’t he be healed by now? It would be hilarious if he were playing while Gilbert is banished.
Another thing that stood out
Dallas with 27 assists…. 27….on 39 made field goals (almost 70% of their baskets were assisted) – THAT’s moving the ball.
Washington had only 15…
Bullets Forever - where "Dagger ! " happens......
It was beautiful to watch to
"I say he does have to shoot me now! So shoot me now!" --- Daffy Duck
by George Templeton on Jan 20, 2010 9:41 PM EST up reply actions
A Wizards win would've capped a fantastic sports day
Villa advancing to the League Cup final, VCU thumping the Tribe, Georgetown stopping Pitt’s 31-game home winning streak, North Carolina getting waxed at home again
"I say he does have to shoot me now! So shoot me now!" --- Daffy Duck
by George Templeton on Jan 20, 2010 9:41 PM EST reply actions
actually
I was worried that a win would be fools gold. Hell, I’m worried that the LOSS was fools gold. Ernie has been clinging to this “When we get healthy” mantra for 3 years now. I hope he doesn’t start with the “we’re playing better now, no need to shake things up.”
5-10 shooting (50%, including 1-2 three pointers)… and I can only think of ONE play, at the end of the 3rd quarter when he tried to force a shot …. and that was at the end of the quarter, with time running out… Bad play, but it was only ONE play.
The rest of the time, he was perfectly adequate as a back-up Point to Foye.
Bullets Forever - where "Dagger ! " happens......
What was his shot percentage. There was 3 segments where Miller was completely open and he ended up dribbling and shooting misses without even trying to pass to anyone
If Boykins was 1 then why were we down by 4 points when he was at pointguard and the game was nearly tied when Foye came in
it had little to do with foye
haywood came up with big plays. the hustle rebound before time out was called, the block on nowitzki, and even the charge at the end of the game. does boykins ball stopping style frustrate me? absolutely. but you cannot blame this loss on him. alot of it came down to jamisons ineffectiveness and 2 big turnovers.
Blatche's dumb foul at the end of the 3rd to give
Dirk 2 FT’s ended up having a big impact ..
Blatche had othat bad play but overall had a very good game
He hustled back to block shots, dived to the floor, and overall played very nice defense on Dirk, and he hit some big shots when the offense was struggling. In fact, the crowd gave him a standing ovation when he left.
Incidentally, I feel that Saunders taking him out for Jamison was probably the reason why we lost (besides Butler), because Jamison just didn’t have it. Before blatche left we were up by one with about 6:40 left and on a roll. After he came Dirk immediately hit a shot over him, in he had two big turnovers (like fadizom2435 mentioned), missed a shot, and had dampier go over his back to get a rebound that was subsequently put in by a Mav.
Yes, Jamison has bee great lately, but he just didn’t have it yesterday and they should have stayed with blatche.
blatche was a foul machine. not disagreeing, just noting.
by MR on Jan 21, 2010 1:12 PM EST up reply actions
Can't you please respond to comments instead of posting new ones?
It’s really annoying to keep scrolling down and seeing more Boykins comments.
at least they r competing now
but this wasnt good for jamisons trade value tonight if we r trying to trade him to mavs…with cuban right there
At least fun to watch
cuban will pick up haywood. He has played well all year and was great tonight
if we trade haywood to dallas
i would love to get bobawse ( i know thats not how its spelled just sayin it how it sounds)
ha yeah, i knew his name i just couldn't think of how to spell it
but he would be nice to have
by FNFWizardsFan on Jan 20, 2010 10:58 PM EST up reply actions
That Last Play Pissed Me Off
And now that I’m learning that Caron broke the called play to be a hero I’m even more pissed off. If you’re going to break the play, Tuff Juice, you better damn well convert! Not throw up some lazy, off-balance weak stuff. This is yet another example of Caron playing selfish, “I’m going to get mine” basketball this season at the expense of the team.
The trade deadline can’t come soon enough for me. I’ve had it with the selfish, shitty play from our so-called star players.
"It's OK for the Bullets to trade baskets, as long as they can score on their end." -- Words of wisdom from Phil Chenier
I only hope
that now that Caron is going to toe the line a bit more given the flack that he’s going to cop for this loss.
Wizards played well...
i went to the game tonite. the team played solid defense. except for one or two botched possessions at the end, they should have won the game. Yeah, it looked like Butler drove left..and into the defense. He might’ve been better off taking the three. But overall, I enjoyed the game, and they played one of the toughest teams in the West to a draw. The Wizards have played well in this stretch of 3-4 games. Butler, in particular, is playing much better. Im starting to think that we keep this current team together… and wait for Arenas to return. yes, i know its a pipe dream, but…
In 38 games this season
Caron has 11 more turnovers than he has assists.
Just FYI
Butler played great and botched the last play.
Overall a great game. If not for him there is no chance at a game winning shot.
If he passed to Miller in the corner
Dagger… Miller might be our best player.* Depending on what happens next year, I’d love to resign him to a MLE type contract. Albeit he probably wont want to play here.
*Ok, Jamison. But seriously, I would take Miller over Butler.
When I saw where the players were setting up and saw how the play was developing I figured that Miller was an option in that corner, but Butler clearly wanted to take the shot himself no matter what.
Makes you miss Gilbert a little bit. At least he could always get a clean shot off at the buzzer.
by MR on Jan 21, 2010 9:52 AM EST up reply actions
Arenas did the same thing
He almost always intentionally limited himself to one option (which is incredibly foolish).
He just has the talent to get away with it sometimes.
I still don't understand
why butler went left instead of right, kinda seemed like he was shooting himself in the foot going in that direction. he needs to get a better read on the defense before pulling weak stuff like that
He Needs to Run the Play That's Called
Period. Right, left, who gives a shit? Don’t improvise. Run the play. Get the ball to the wide open player. It’s not that hard if you just do what you’re told.
"It's OK for the Bullets to trade baskets, as long as they can score on their end." -- Words of wisdom from Phil Chenier
Winners find ways to win....
That was clearly a VERY bad and selfish decision by Butler at the end.
Yes, It does matter that he played a big role in keeping the Wizzies in the game, but it matters a darn sight more that in the final moment he failed to pass the ball to an open teammate, and then disingenuously tried to tell reporters that what he did was an option within the play Flip designed. No wonder Flip was waxed!
Butler is playing like a man who wants to wear a new uniform, and although I do generally like him as a player, I think he should be traded… provided we get some genuine value in return. I could see trading him to his hometown Bucks with Nick Young in a package for Warrick, Delfino and a #1 pick. Delfino at least understands the concept of team and Warrick is a good finisher.
IMO also the Boykins bashing is besides the point as far as this game is concerned. The numbers pretty much speak for themselves.
And we should be spending a lot more time celebrating the work of Randy Foye… If the Foye we have seen since Gilbert’s enforced idlement is the player we got for our #5 pick, then we may someday be writing some revisionist history about EG’s trade with Minnesota. Foye is certainly not be close to the player that Gilbert once was, but he may be at least as good if not better than the Gilbert that is and will be.
From Now On
Flip ought to bench Butler for the last minute of every game, until he’s traded.
"It's OK for the Bullets to trade baskets, as long as they can score on their end." -- Words of wisdom from Phil Chenier
Well, Flip -- what are you going to do?
What are the repercussions of Caron breaking that last play? You’ve already shown that if a young player does something wrong, there are repercussions. Does a different standard apply here? Will Caron just get a talking to? The team is watching….
(CJ just beat me to it.)
I seriously doubt that Butler is the only player to ever break a called play
Was it a selfish decision if that’s what happend? Definitely. But he’s hit game-winners before, and he was trying to do that again here. I’m not trying to defend Butler so much as just say that something like this is par for the course for this team. For the most part, they don’t play like a team.
Butler is not that much of a star and this team is definitely not in the position ...
For him to be breaking plays.
It was selfish.
I mean, he said he already had his mind made up. What kind of B.S. is that?
I’m just saying.
Representing DC with Wizards & Stuff - Truth About It.net and Bullets Forever.
by Kyle Weidie on Jan 21, 2010 11:03 AM EST up reply actions 1 recs
Gilbert used to do the same stuff though
I’m pretty sure the big shot against the Bulls was also a broken play.
Not defending him, just saying that stuff happens.
You know you'll get devoured by Cheaney, Wallace, and Juwan Howard.
Gil was a star. Caron Butler is not at that level.
Maybe he can be best supporting actor …. or something.
Representing DC with Wizards & Stuff - Truth About It.net and Bullets Forever.
by Kyle Weidie on Jan 21, 2010 11:14 AM EST up reply actions
I don't disagree
Just saying, maybe Caron felt ok breaking plays because Gilbert used to do it all the time.
You know you'll get devoured by Cheaney, Wallace, and Juwan Howard.
I think it's more that Butler thinks he's Kobe.
He thinks he is a much better player than he is. Actually, the more accurate way to say it is that he thinks he is one kind of player (an incredible one-on-one scorer) when he actually is another kind of player (a meat and potatoes, hustling banger). See Eddie Johnson’s recent piece on hoopshype.com where he says some of the same things, and labels Butler his #2 disappointing player of the season.
http://blogs.hoopshype.com/blogs/johnson/2010/01/16/the-top-10-disappointments/
I think you're right
Again, I’m not disputing this, just trying to get a sense of what Butler was thinking.
You know you'll get devoured by Cheaney, Wallace, and Juwan Howard.
Weird that Eddie talks about CB's conditioning
CB’s in better shape than ever I think.
You know you'll get devoured by Cheaney, Wallace, and Juwan Howard.
How much is overflow from the "veteran" centric Jordan years?
For 5 years, the two veteran Forwards were counted on to win games….. take the big shots….
Eddie Jordan didn’t run plays at the end of games – he ran iso’s…. HE isolated Butler… or he isolated Jamison….
Last night, Butler reverted to an isolation play- and I wonder how much of that is ingrained in Buter’s and Jamison’s game now…..
Disgruntled has an excellent question…. Flip, what ARE you going to do? When JaVale McGee was in the wrong place earlier in the year, and threw up a wild shot from the top of the key (instead of being down low for a alley oop)… Flip benched him… and for a long, long time.
When Nick Young blows a defensive assignment – he gets benched……
What will Flip do to a player that intentionally breaks an end-of-game play to go one-on-one…?
Bullets Forever - where "Dagger ! " happens......
stuck
You can “teach the young guys a lesson” because they are young and even if you think you might want to trade them, their value won’t be hurt much by having been singled out for discipline. Every play Butler makes/breaks like that hurts his value, but punishing him for it amounts to putting a neon sign over it. I think what he did merits some form of benching, but I’d rather see the team in a position to trade him for something of value, at this point.
Hopefully some other GM will consider that bringing him to a new team and giving him a new, clear role will fix things. Maybe that’s true. But, right now, he really appears to view himself as a would-be alpha player on a team where he is not one of the three best/most important players.
explosiveness
Whether it is conditioning-related or not, he does seem to lack something both going to the rim and taking contested attempts this year. Did anyone, except maybe Caron himself, think he could get that shot off cleanly once he went into Marion?
Most depressing sight of the season so far, for me, was Miller still waiting with his hands out for Butler’s kick out, even after Butler had lost the ball.
Which NBA god has Miller cursed?
He plays great ball, is a wonderful player yet always seems stuck on a shitty team. I’ve grown to love the guy. I hope before his career ends he gets a ring. He could be a rotation guy on a championship level squad. Yeah, that sucked because if Miller got the ball there, the game was over for the Mav’s.
explosiveness
Butler abused Marion all night. Marion looked like AJ out there. I think Butler looked extremely explosive.
That’s why Butler wanted to take him on that last play.
by MR on Jan 21, 2010 1:10 PM EST up reply actions
I gotcha ... yea, makes sense
…. that Caron has an overinflated self-value. Maybe making the All-Star team was the worst that could have happened to him.
Representing DC with Wizards & Stuff - Truth About It.net and Bullets Forever.
I still think
that its time to see what Nick Young has FOR REAL. Enough of this roller coaster stuff with him. If he had done what Butler did, he wouldn’t see daylight for 5 games. Like I’ve said before, I think Young is the best player we have at creating for himself. And THAT’S what you need in expiring shot clock/game time situations. I say give Young the same rope that Butler has, and see how he does. If he can’t cut it, then get rid of him.
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
Recommended FanPosts
Recent FanPosts
In Association With
Ball Don't Lie - NBA - Yahoo! Sport
- Behind the Box Score, where the Lakers absolutely melted down the stretch
- Shaving a picture of Matt Bonner in his head could net a young Spurs fan an in-school suspension
- Greg Oden wants to play for the Miami Heat
- LeBron James and Kobe Bryant on Forbes World’s Most Powerful Celebrities list
- Evan Turner loves getting his butt kicked
