The ugliest thing in Philly since Rocky V

by Jake Whitacre on Dec 2, 2007 4:23 AM EST in Recaps

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TAI Live Blog Best quote within: "VALUE THE DAMN BALL." Couldn't have said it better.

Highest plus/minus: Nick Young (11).
Lowest plus/minus: Antonio Daniels (-15).

If defense was all about looking at the guy with the ball, the Wizards would be the best in the league.
(Photo by Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE via Getty Images)

You know those games where you think your team will win and then they struggle all game? Then out of nowhere they find themselves with a chance to win and you think they'll escape with a W and they get oh so close before losing, inevitably leaving you feeling twenty times worse than if they'd just lost comfortably? This was one of those games. (Other examples include this, this, and this. As a Wizards fan, I take no delight in the first one. As a Virginia resident, I take some delight in the second one. To quote sierradave "Schadenfreude... It's what's for dinner.") Even though there's not a lot of good that came out of this game, there were some positives...kind of.

Good News: Nick Young looked good! 6 of 9 shooting including a sweet alley-oop dunk that got all 57 fans at the Wachovia Center on their feet.
Bad News: Yeah, but is he really the guy you want taking the last shot over Caron Butler? It was a clean look, but do you really need to take a three when you're down by one?

Good News: Antawn Jamison had a double double with 16 points and 11 boards.
Bad News: It would really be a triple-double if you counted his 15 missed field goals.

Good News: That was a nifty pass by Caron!
Bad News: No arguing that one.

Good News: Brendan Haywood owned the paint with those 5 blocks!
Bad News: Yeah, no. Samuel Dalembert (Samuel Dalembert!) went off for 19 points and 11 boards against Haywood. If that was Brendan owning the paint, I'd hate to see him when he's leasing.

Good News: You couldn't ask for much more out of Stevenson: 10 points, 7 assists, and 4 rebounds.
Bad News: Sure I could. First among them being, if you're going to shoot 14 shots could you at least make 6? Please?

Good News: Andre Iguodala only scored 8 points and he missed his last 16 shots.
Bad News: ...and we still lost. I'm sorry, when the only player who's a legitimate scoring threat is held to 8 points, you have to win that game. No excuses.

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Comments

dry spell

A 4th quarter stretch with 8 consecutive futile possessions killed the 'zards. They had a similar stretch last night against Toronto (7 consecutive possessions) but the Raptors weren't able to capitalize. That's where we miss Gilbert most, I think. During those dry stretches he's able to stop the bleeding with either a jumper or a drive and a foul.

by hotplate on Dec 2, 2007 10:03 AM EST reply actions

yup.

wiz went scoreless for 5 minutes during that stretch. just before that stretch, the worst sequence of the night happened:

Songaila Layup Shot: Missed 7:02
Butler Layup Shot: Missed 7:00

both of those were WIDE OPEN layups, especially the butler one.

most people probably already know that philly tied a franchise record by going 0-16 (or 0-14) from three point range. yet the wiz still lost. very bad loss.

jamison had a bad night. good news is that he seemed really disappointed by it. good news is also that they bounced back quickly against toronto.

by DarrellWalkerFan on Dec 3, 2007 3:19 PM EST reply actions