Warriors' dreadful defense is cure for Wizards' offensive woes

When's the last time we've had a win like this....

A huge lead for the majority of the game, and never a real scare that the other team would win it. This was beautiful!!

As for the ping pong balls thing, the basketball gods will repay us for the way we played tonight (*crosses fingers, knocks on wood, finds a four leaf clover, not walking under a ladder, rabbit’s foot on a chain around neck*)

by SkinsWizStangs on Apr 6, 2010 9:27 PM EDT reply actions

Where did the fanpost go....

…that was entitled: " I hate Javale McGee"? Tell me again – why can’t he improve with good coaching, playing time and experience leading to confidence building?

Of course, the answer is, as long as Arenas isn’t around to dump on him and his shoes, he should improve. It’s a long learning process for centers in the NBA.

by Izman on Apr 6, 2010 9:57 PM EDT reply actions

uh

Wasn’t Maggette playing center for part of the night. I think he can improve too, but I still think we need to throw the nights when he’s matched up against a sg/sf in the post as an aberation.

by sierradave on Apr 6, 2010 10:02 PM EDT up reply actions

That'll do it

Doesn’t matter how much the other guy tries (and he probably wasn’t trying since it is the Warriors and all), if you’re eight inches taller and have Javale’s wingspan and athleticism, you’re going to score a bit. It’s going to be interesting to see Javale play Dwight Howard tomorrow; I think most of Javale’s points come off of just being so huge that there’s really no normal way to defend him unless you’re a similarly freakish athlete.

by pantslessyoda1 on Apr 6, 2010 10:43 PM EDT up reply actions

I Wrote That FanPost

It can still be found here. Unfortunately, I stayed up for the national championship game the night before, and so I crashed early last night and didn’t get to see the game yet. I’m Tivo’ing the CSN replay this morning. I’ll let you know what I think after watching.

I will point out that the early indications I’m getting by looking at the gameflow from last night don’t help vindicate McGee’s defense, which was the primary subject of my FanPost. McGee may have had good box score stats (21 points, 15 rebounds, 3 blocks, 1 assist), but his plus/minus in his 30 minutes of play was only +3. That may sound good at first, but on a night when you outscore your opponent by 18 points, it amounted to 3rd worst on the team in per minute +/-. Only D-Leaguer Cedric Jackson and James Singleton had worse +/- numbers for the Wizards. Another way to look at it is this: if JaVale McGee had played the entire game, the Wizards would have squeaked out a 5 point victory over one of the worst teams in basketball instead of blowing them out by 18.

When a player puts up great offensive stats but has one of the worst +/- per minute numbers on the team, that usually indicates that player is not playing any defense. That would be par for the course for JaVale McGee. But I’ll wait till I see the recording before I make a final judgment on JaVale’s defensive performance last night.

"It's OK for the Bullets to trade baskets, as long as they can score on their end." -- Words of wisdom from Phil Chenier

"...don't ever think it can't get any worse, because it can. There's no question, it can." -- Flip Saunders unintentionally coining the new Washington Wizards motto

by cuppettcj on Apr 7, 2010 9:10 AM EDT up reply actions

After Watching

I think JaVale’s defense was a mixed bag. There were some occasions where I saw him pick up his man during a shot attempt and make sure he had him boxed out. Other times, he successfully doubled a penetrating player and blocked that player’s shot. Those were the good things.

But of course, there were plenty of bad things to point to as well. JaVale has a nasty habit of constantly leaving his man unattended while he tries to patrol the paint. This didn’t hurt him too bad against the Warriors, but good teams pick up on this constant tendency and will swing the ball around until they hit the wide open player. This is why other teams get a lot of open shots when JaVale is on the floor. Sometimes, it’s not even JaVale’s man that gets left open, but the man that another player was guarding before being forced to leave him in order to pick up JaVale’s man, who is cutting to the basket all by himself. I saw one instance where JaVale completely lost track of his man, and that player started cutting to the basket. Andray was force to leave his man to pick up the cutter, and the player that Andray had to leave stepped back to the 3 point line. Fortunately, the Warriors didn’t take advantage of this, but it was still a defensive mistake by JaVale, and one he made a lot during the game.

Also, JaVale continues to pogo-stick all over the place on pump fakes. On one play, Steph Curry pump faked JaVale out of his jock two times in a row, before hitting the resulting wide-open jumper. I could literally see JaVale fly right off the TV screen, which was kind of embarrassing.

And of course, to reiterate what was said above, there was no one on the Warriors who was big enough to back JaVale down in the paint. So JaVale’s defensive deficiencies were not starkly exposed.

"It's OK for the Bullets to trade baskets, as long as they can score on their end." -- Words of wisdom from Phil Chenier

"...don't ever think it can't get any worse, because it can. There's no question, it can." -- Flip Saunders unintentionally coining the new Washington Wizards motto

by cuppettcj on Apr 8, 2010 10:07 AM EDT up reply actions

Interesting stat of the night

Jackson was the only guy with a negative +/-. And it was -10.

by imperialme on Apr 6, 2010 10:56 PM EDT reply actions

I think he was Livingston's sub, right?

Shaun’s was like +28, so either he was really good or Jackson was really bad. Part of it could be that he played a lot in the second half when everyone basically stopped trying.

by pantslessyoda1 on Apr 6, 2010 10:58 PM EDT up reply actions

Livingston was Grrrrrreeat!

He looked every bit of +28. He was the best player on the court by far.

by JonathanJoseph on Apr 7, 2010 12:28 AM EDT up reply actions

My vote for player of the game goes to Nick Young

Javale’s statline was better, true, but the matchups really favored him. Nick was guarded by guys who are supposed to guard shooting guards and still managed to put up 29. I loved his shot mix, too – 6 free throws and 11 of his 18 fga were threes. He’s such a good shooter that we really need to encourage him to snipe more often.

Livingston had an extremely efficient game, too, although Curry’s just not equipped to check him – 9 of 11 shooting, 8 assists, no turnovers.

by pantslessyoda1 on Apr 6, 2010 11:00 PM EDT reply actions

Awesome game. Super excited for the firing of Grunfailed and the new ownership with Ted, as well as the return of my favorite player of all time, Agent 006.

by Unxpekted on Apr 7, 2010 12:17 AM EDT reply actions

As a Kings fan

I would just like to say that those ping pong balls are overrated

by kingme on Apr 7, 2010 5:12 AM EDT reply actions

With the history of your team....

I would expect you to have a lot of experience in the matter…. We’ll bow to your greater knowledge in the matter.

Bullets Forever - where "Dagger ! " happens......

by Rook6980 on Apr 7, 2010 8:39 AM EDT up reply actions

Win the games...

The ping pong balls will take care of themselves.

Consider that if Livingston keeps playing like this, the Wizards will have rescued a gimpy one-time #4 pick off the NBA scrap heap, a coveted tall PG with great court vision at NO cost.

Consider that if Young can turn it around and play the kind of ball he has played lately on a regular basis that the Wizards will ultimately have stolen a lottery pick as the last man in Green Room at #16.

Blatche at #47 and McGee at #20 are finally showing that they were also significant catches.

Keep Singleton at $1.25 million. Make Thornton your 7th man.

Decline the option but roll the dice for 3.5 million on Josh Howard for a year if his knee comes around. This a recent former all-star who is aching to prove he still has it after a couple of physically and emotionally draining seasons.

Count on Gil to return with a vengeance. Nothing wrong with a Gil, Sean, Nick, Josh backcourt that I can see, assuming physical and mental health is maintained .

Use this year’s draft picks to maximum advantage.

And then offer a fair salary to the right free agent.

Next year could be very interesting,

I know, ever the optimist…

by khrabb on Apr 7, 2010 8:45 AM EDT reply actions 3 recs

I'm with you...

We have some interesting cards to play with in our deck. If we use them right and get everyone on the same page, we could be an interesting team next year.

by TheRealBigMike on Apr 7, 2010 10:40 AM EDT up reply actions

rec’d

by Siis on Apr 7, 2010 11:53 AM EDT up reply actions

Exactly

I’m not for tanking. Its hust the front office copping out. They have a job to do just like the players. Dont let them off the hook. Evaluate talent like you’re supposed to. Tanking can come back to bite you because there are always busts and draft position isn’t guarenteed (see last year). THERE IS ALWAYS QUALITY REGARDLESS OF POSITION IN THE DRAFT. Every team has people on payroll for that purpose. Do your job!

by qthaballa on Apr 7, 2010 12:05 PM EDT up reply actions

Ping Pong

at least the Pistons won too.

by Jheiser3 on Apr 7, 2010 9:27 AM EDT reply actions

As a stickler once pointed out to me

There are only 14 ping-pong balls no matter what

…. we don’t have more or less of them

…. what we have less of it “combinations” or “chances” that will land us the top pick (or second, or third).

Representing DC with Wizards & Stuff - Truth About It.net and Bullets Forever.
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by Kyle Weidie on Apr 7, 2010 9:40 AM EDT reply actions

If Grunfeld is fired...

when would this most likely happen? It would make sense to happen before the draft, right? Can anyone see Grunfeld drafting players and then getting axed? I would rather not have Grunfeld in charge come draft time. Also, any thoughts on who would be a good fit as our next GM?

And how does a new hire at GM affect Flip? If I recall, Ernie Grunfeld was hired after Eddie Jordan, which seemed to create some tension because Eddie wasn’t Ernie’s “guy”.

by Siis on Apr 7, 2010 2:04 PM EDT reply actions

Fire Grunfeld After the Season

And before the draft. Let the new GM decide whether or not to keep Flip. If he decides to keep him, then Flip becomes “his guy,” and there is no issue.

"It's OK for the Bullets to trade baskets, as long as they can score on their end." -- Words of wisdom from Phil Chenier

"...don't ever think it can't get any worse, because it can. There's no question, it can." -- Flip Saunders unintentionally coining the new Washington Wizards motto

by cuppettcj on Apr 7, 2010 3:07 PM EDT up reply actions