Open Thread: Regular Season Game 59

by Jake Whitacre on Mar 1, 2008 11:45 PM EST in Game Threads

The essentials:
Hornets (39-18) at Wizards (28-30)
6 p.m.
Verizon Center
CSN

This Year:
February 25: Wizards 95, Hornets 92

Notable Hornets numbers this season:
6th in expected winning percentage (.685)
25th in pace factor (88.5 possessions per game)
9th in offensive efficiency/offensive rating (112.4)
7th in defensive efficiency/defensive rating (106.3)

Key links (drop any other in the comments)
Hornets 24/7
At the Hive
Hornets Hype
Big Easy Buzz

Starting Lineups:
Hornets
PG: Chris Paul
SG: Morris Peterson
SF: Peja Stojakovic
PF: David West
C: Tyson Chandler

Wizards
PG: Antonio Daniels
SG: DeShawn Stevenson
SF: Antawn Jamison
PF: Darius Songaila
C: Brendan Haywood

Tonight's Lines
Wizards at Hornets: Hornets by 6.
Over/Under on Total Scoring:195 points.

Well, I'm pretty sure everyone remembers what happened on Monday so there's no point in rehashing stuff that's still fresh in everyone's mind. Part of me thinks the Hornets are going to come out looking for some serious revenge tonight, but then again I've thought that before and been proven wrong so I'm not really sure what to expect here. On one hand, I don't see Stevenson repeating his 33 point performance and I doubt Peja is only going to shoot 4-16 tonight. On the other hand, I don't see Jamison being held to 10 points while Mo Pete goes for 18.

It'll be interesting to see how the minutes are distributed the Songaila as a starter experiment works tonight. Blatche really struggled when he started on Monday but if he can bring the same energy that he brought against Chicago on Friday, I don't think he'll have the same problem. It's also going to be interesting to see how Eddie uses McGuire tonight after D-Mac really limited CP3 in the second half of the first match-up.

This is an open thread, so let us know if you want some leg room:

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Picks

Wizards
Under

Hopefully everyone knows that commercial isn't real since as we all know Ricky Craven never led a race in the 90's.

Bullets Forever: Your place for the very latest in Wizards news and PhD-level analysis.

by Jake Whitacre on Mar 2, 2008 12:47 PM EST reply actions

Picks

Hornets, Under.

This is an interesting game - I really don't know which way to go, but without Caron I gotta go with the Hornets. I'm hoping that the youngins come out to play tonight.

The Washington Wizards: providing career scoring nights for unknown opposing bench players since 2004.

by mamemimo on Mar 2, 2008 1:04 PM EST reply actions

Picks-

NOH, under.

by ooba on Mar 2, 2008 2:06 PM EST reply actions

Picks

Wiz, over

by Aldo on Mar 2, 2008 2:25 PM EST reply actions

picks

hornets, over

by sierradave on Mar 2, 2008 2:50 PM EST reply actions

wow

Great job by Wiz. Really closed out in the 4th and turned it into a little bit of a blowout. Closing out is something this team has struggled with before. I think we can add New Orleans to a growing list of good teams that the Wizards own.

by Aldo on Mar 2, 2008 8:21 PM EST reply actions

pwned!!!

2 wins against New Orleans
2 wins against Dallas
2 wins against Boston

2 losses against Philly
Predicting how this squad is going to perform is like trying to solve trig problems with pen and paper.

by sierradave on Mar 2, 2008 8:26 PM EST reply actions

I believe I now have a new sig

Predicting how this squad is going to perform is like trying to solve trig problems with pen and paper. -sierradave.

by Mike Prada on Mar 2, 2008 8:42 PM EST up reply actions

You Forgot A Couple of Series

2 wins against Toronto
2 losses against Indy
2 losses against New York
2 losses against New Jersey

We can look at this two ways.

Glass Half Full:

Every team losses at least a couple of games per season to teams below .500, so it is not surprising that the Wizards have given away more than a few of these games due to the plethera of injuries they have suffered to many of their best players. Yet despite their misfortunes, the Wizards have managed to hold things together and have even made up for many of their let-downs by beating good teams, such as Boston, Dallas, Toronto, and New Orleans. After everything the Wizards have been through this season, to only be one game below .500 at this point is remarkable and should be a source of pride for the organization.

Glass Half Empty:

The Wizards simply squandered opportunities to beat the teams they were supposed to beat earlier this season, and that has put this team in a hole that they have yet to climb out of. Despite sweeping the Mavericks and Hornets, and despite taking two out of three against the Celtics and Raptors, the Wizards are still worse off than they would be if they simply beat teams they faced that were below .500.

Assume the following:

The two wins against the Hornets makes up for the two losses against the 76ers.

The two wins against the Mavericks makes up for the two losses against the Knicks.

The two wins against Boston makes up for the two losses against the Pacers.

The two wins against the Raptors makes up for the two losses against the Nets.

The win against the Cavaliers earlier this season makes up for the loss against the Hawks.

The win against the Trail Blazers makes up for the loss against the Bulls.

That still leaves the Wizards with the losses against the Bucks and Grizzlies. Had the Wizards simply beaten those two teams when they played, they would be two games over .500 right now.

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

by cuppettcj on Mar 3, 2008 12:33 PM EST up reply actions

it's been a weird year for sure

wiz are all over the place this season.

i like the glass half full vantage point because with the much improved defense, the wiz this year look more like a team that could potentially win a playoff season against a top tier team (if they had their full arsenal). in previous years, you could pretty much chalk it up that the wiz would get swept out of the playoffs by a good team. this year, i think the wiz might stand a chance against just about anyone (well, other than the rockets - they seem to own the wiz).

i think that is definitely something to be excited about.

by DarrellWalkerFan on Mar 3, 2008 3:07 PM EST up reply actions