Washington Wizards vs. Portland Trail Blazers: Regular Season Game 67 Open Thread
by Mike Prada on Mar 19, 2010 6:13 PM EDT
in Game Threads
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PrintWashington Wizards at Portland Trail Blazers, Mar 19, 2010 10:00 PM EDT
The Essentials:
Wizards (21-45) vs. Blazers (41-28)
10 p.m.
Rose Garden
TV: CSN
Radio: 106.7 The Fan
Notable Blazers numbers this season
11th in expected winning percentage (.612)
30th in pace (87.8 possessions per game)
6th in offensive efficiency/offensive rating (111 points/100 possessions)
17th in defensive efficiency/defensive rating (107.4 points allowed/100 possessions)
Pre-game links
Blazers Edge, SB Nation's Blazers blog
Rip City Project
Bust A Bucket
Portland Roundball Society
Blazers Edge's game preview
Portland Roundball Society pins for Gilbert Arenas
Michael Lee on Shaun Livingston, Andray Blatche
| Tonight's Projected Starters | ||
|---|---|---|
| Wizards | vs. | Blazers |
| Shaun Livingston | PG | Andre Miller |
| Mike Miller | SG | Brandon Roy |
| Al Thornton | SF | Nicolas Batum |
| Andray Blatche | PF | LaMarcus Aldridge |
| JaVale McGee | C | |
Michael Lee reports that Andray Blatche will play despite a sore ankle and that Earl Boykins did not make the trip because he's sick. I mean literally sick, not "he makes fans sick, so he's staying behind" sick.
The Wizards beat the Blazers back on Martin Luther King Jr. day, but much has changed since then. Obviously, we know what's changed here, but a lot has changed with Portland too. Brandon Roy is back, and while he's not 100 percent healthy, he's clearly still one of the best guards in basketball. He's learned to play off the ball more, so his skills are starting to blend with Andre Miller's. Nicolas Batum is also back, and he's emerged as a legitimate scorer in addition to being a fantastic defender. Marcus Camby is now on board at center, and LaMarcus Aldridge has picked up his play. There's a reason Portland's playing really well lately, and it has something to do with getting pieces back and maintaining continuity.
This is going to be an interesting test for Andray Blatche. His game is very similar to Aldridge's, except Aldridge has more of an ability to deal with double teams and get the shot he wants. I think Blatche can be better than Aldridge eventually, but he's got to prove it in games like these. I wonder whether Portland will play him straight up or send double teams his way.
For those of you watching Maryland, feel free to stop by Testudo Times. They're replaying the Wizards' game on Comcast at 4 p.m. tomorrow.
GO WIZARDS!
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Always fun to come to the opposing site and read their point of view.
Thanks!
Looking forward to seeing how Blatche and Aldridge are similar, as I haven’t had a chance to watch much East Coast basketball, much less Wizard’s basketball. Rebuilding isn’t easy, as Blazer fans in the recent past have known, but it is fun to get to know your future as it learns and gets experience. Hope to see you guys doing well again soon.
Wearing the black band for Jarrett Jack, Ime Udoka, Fred Jones, Sergio Rodriguez, Channing Frye, Luke Schenscher, Shavlik Randolph, James Jones, Josh McRoberts, Steven Hill, Jarron Collins, Michael Ruffin, Steve Blake and Travis Outlaw. Sacrificed to the unmerciful god of progress.
Blazer fan here
Think you might want to wait until Blatche is operating as the 2nd option on offense before you start saying he can be better than LA. He is already a better rebounder but Aldridge has an amazing offensive skillset (unfortunately he doesn’t use it all the time). From what I’ve seen Blatche is far more of a defensive liability than LA as well. Will be interesting to see how they match up.
Aldridge has an amazing offensive skillset (unfortunately he doesn’t use it all the time).
Well there you go. If he doesn’t use it, it hurts his value as a player.
You know you'll get devoured by Cheaney, Wallace, and Juwan Howard.
He's operating as a first option now
And averaging about 25ppg. He’s also a pretty solid defender. Seems like fair speculation to me.
Well after reading
the lead-in to the game at Blazersedge, all I can say is that Dave(the author) lost all credibility as soon as he stated no one on the Wiz should be better than a seventh man. He should have just admitted up front his lack of knowledge concering the Wiz instead of the drivel he wrote. Some pretty classless responses by some of the readers there too.
by Mike Uhrich on Mar 19, 2010 11:33 PM EDT up reply actions
what the hell?
how did i miss andre miller dropping 52 this year?
"how ironic - you came here with a mouse in a bottle, now YOU are the mouse in the bottle" - B.M. Smith
by little stevie colter on Mar 19, 2010 8:13 PM EDT reply actions
He's always been underrated
A tough guy to figure out though, since his game is so different.
You know you'll get devoured by Cheaney, Wallace, and Juwan Howard.
yeah i've always appreciated his game
all the way back to his days as a Ute – but never thought he had that kind of a scoring outburst in him.
"how ironic - you came here with a mouse in a bottle, now YOU are the mouse in the bottle" - B.M. Smith
by little stevie colter on Mar 19, 2010 8:39 PM EDT up reply actions
Yeesh, that was a soft shot by Favors
You know you'll get devoured by Cheaney, Wallace, and Juwan Howard.
I turned the game on at the start of the 2nd
I haven’t seen anything out of Favors.
by Palace of Good Play's Golden Toilet on Mar 19, 2010 8:53 PM EDT up reply actions
Offensively that is
I like his defense.
by Palace of Good Play's Golden Toilet on Mar 19, 2010 9:05 PM EDT up reply actions
Oops, this should go in the NCAA thread
My bad folks.
You know you'll get devoured by Cheaney, Wallace, and Juwan Howard.
Yeah - Favors had a poor game
with only 12 points and 9 rebounds….. I didn’t see the game (I recorded it, and I’ll watch it later), but it sounds like you didn’t see a representative game (when I say representative, I mean like one of the last 8-9 games, vs the first part of the year)…..
Bullets Forever - where "Dagger ! " happens......
Congrats to Shaun Livingston
Wiz signed him for the rest of the year….
Question: does that give them “Bird” rights?
Bullets Forever - where "Dagger ! " happens......
No
The Wiz wouldn’t get Bird rights until he was with them 3 years(2 for Early Bird), but this will count as his first season with them towards that.
by Mike Uhrich on Mar 19, 2010 10:32 PM EDT up reply actions
Late whistle there
I thought Livingston played good defense on Roy there….
Bullets Forever - where "Dagger ! " happens......
so did the Portland commentators
major props from them
"Guess you guys aren't ready for that yet... but trust me, you're gonna love it." ~Marty McFly
nice move by Blatche
"Guess you guys aren't ready for that yet... but trust me, you're gonna love it." ~Marty McFly
Wow, our shortest starter is 6'7"
Is that a record?
good defensive possession by Gee
It’s sort of amazing that our best option to defend Roy is a guy we called up from the D-League less than two weeks ago
"Guess you guys aren't ready for that yet... but trust me, you're gonna love it." ~Marty McFly
Was that a Mike Miller 3 pointer?
Haven’t seen oine in a while…
I was thinking the same thing
"Guess you guys aren't ready for that yet... but trust me, you're gonna love it." ~Marty McFly
Boy - Portland got a real steal picking up Bayless for essentially nothing...
shows what you can do when you have some Cap room….
He’s never going to be a starting PG, but he’ll be a good spark plug off the bench
Bullets Forever - where "Dagger ! " happens......
Gee looked a little raw on that last offensive possession
didn’t know what to do posting up
"Guess you guys aren't ready for that yet... but trust me, you're gonna love it." ~Marty McFly
Wizards driving the lane....
putting up shots inside…..
but only drawing 4 fouls resulting in Free Throws…..
So, what the Referees are telling us is that ALL those strips inside are ALL BALL – and that Portland has many more than the 4 blocks they are credited with…….
Meanwhile Portland is 13-16 from the line…..
Bullets Forever - where "Dagger ! " happens......
Yeah the refs have been calling it veeeery loosely on our drives
Maybe it’s because our offense can look so fractured and they expect turnovers to happen…
"Guess you guys aren't ready for that yet... but trust me, you're gonna love it." ~Marty McFly
So - washington scores 12 points in the 2nd Quarter
and only 30 for the entire half….. and they’re only behind by 12?
Bullets Forever - where "Dagger ! " happens......
Yep
as Wizards fans, we have to take our enjoyment anywhere we can get it…..
Bullets Forever - where "Dagger ! " happens......
Wow- somehow we're only down by nine
This must be a really frustrating game offensively for Blazers fans
"Guess you guys aren't ready for that yet... but trust me, you're gonna love it." ~Marty McFly
Yeah - they're all over there bitching and moaning
at BlazersEdge
Bullets Forever - where "Dagger ! " happens......
Dray needs to get better with double teams, true
But if nobody else is moving to get open, it’s not all on him. The other guys need to recognize it too and make his job a little easier. It looks like they’re just standing and watching.
why was nothing called there?
"Guess you guys aren't ready for that yet... but trust me, you're gonna love it." ~Marty McFly
offensive or defensive
"Guess you guys aren't ready for that yet... but trust me, you're gonna love it." ~Marty McFly
Maybe this is more a commentary on the season
than Livingston, but he looks awesome.
by Palace of Good Play's Golden Toilet on Mar 19, 2010 11:39 PM EDT reply actions
It would be kinda funny
If it weren’t our team
"Guess you guys aren't ready for that yet... but trust me, you're gonna love it." ~Marty McFly
First team to 70 wins
by Palace of Good Play's Golden Toilet on Mar 19, 2010 11:52 PM EDT reply actions
Talk about Offensively challenged........
These two teams have only scored 106 points after 3 periods…..
Whoever breaks 70 wins this game…..
Bullets Forever - where "Dagger ! " happens......
Blatche trying to take over
and failing miserably.
by Palace of Good Play's Golden Toilet on Mar 20, 2010 12:01 AM EDT reply actions
Blatche is a second option
Not necessarily a knock on him, but he just isn’t a primary scorer
"Guess you guys aren't ready for that yet... but trust me, you're gonna love it." ~Marty McFly
Pretty egregious.
"Guess you guys aren't ready for that yet... but trust me, you're gonna love it." ~Marty McFly
NEVER would have thought it
"Guess you guys aren't ready for that yet... but trust me, you're gonna love it." ~Marty McFly
whaaaaaaaaa?!
Where has Foye been for the last 30 games or so?
"Guess you guys aren't ready for that yet... but trust me, you're gonna love it." ~Marty McFly
Well - we know he can hit the open shot off a screen
He’s been hitting that shot all year….. It’s just the no other teams have been playing the pick-and-roll so poorly as the Blazers…..
Bullets Forever - where "Dagger ! " happens......
Good weakside block for Portland
"Guess you guys aren't ready for that yet... but trust me, you're gonna love it." ~Marty McFly
Terrible game from Blatche
Ping pong ball crowd will be happy.
by Palace of Good Play's Golden Toilet on Mar 20, 2010 12:32 AM EDT reply actions
Another perfect game...
Wiz play hard…. get some more experience for the young guys…. get to evaluate Livingston, Gee, Foye, Miller, Singleton, etc… see if we want to bring them back next year… and get some more ping pong balls for the Lottery drawing.
Bullets Forever - where "Dagger ! " happens......
at this point
they might as well keep losing. i had fun watching them win but it didnt last long and in the long run more ping pong balls is probably better.
The only way those last two calls make sense
is if Stern has instructed the refs to make sure we lose in order to give us more pongs….
…but, also, really, how can ESPN show the replays of the end of the game without going, “…and Andre was raped (”ahem") wow, he missed that layup with a chance to take the lead with seconds left…" and then, “Roy takes the last second shot and travels (”ahem") I mean, great shot by Roy to win the game."
The NBA where traveling game winners happen!!!!
If this game wasn’t a referee gift wrapped win then pigs are flying right now. WOW!!!
by Unxpekted on Mar 20, 2010 12:43 AM EDT via mobile reply actions
I'm growing weary
Of these games where the Wiz kids fight hard all game just to lose it when it matters most. It’s clear that the one thing needed more than a ‘real’ Center (sorry Mcgee), is a closer. Gilbert?
More points period.
74 points wont win you any games. And im with you on Mcgee…Maybe if he stops jumping everywhere and strengthens his core/base he can be a more jumpy Marcus Camby.
Outrageous
That last Roy shot was the most obvious travel of the year.
The NBA is a league where you will not have a call go against you at home at the close of the game. Ever. He could have taken 5 more steps and dunked the ball and they still wouldn’t have called it.
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