Will Eddie Jordan change the starting line-up? He seemed to indicate that he would not....a noble little experiment.

"Hey Nick Young...just know that I'm still starting you because I'm behind you and I've got confidence in you. Now, don't make me look like a fool."
-Me Inside EJ's Mind

1. If Tuff Juice went 2 spot, would we like him trying to hang with Joe Johnson as opposed to DeShawn Stevenson? I would say no.

2. If Mason Jr came in at the guard, do we have that much more confidence in him guarding Anthony Johnson than Nick Young? Well....maybe a little.

-- Pachulia didn't do much in his 7 minutes against us earlier this year.

But last year, he had 27-12 (not to mention 4 assists and 3 blocks) against the Wiz in one Hawks win; 9-7 in a Hawks loss; and 8-14 in another Hawks loss.

The year before, he averaged 13.25 points and 7.25 rebounds in 4 games against the Wizards.

Moral of my tale: this is much more than that cat should be getting stop this dude Brendan Todd.

It will not be a good sign for the Wiz if the Hawks are getting inside buckets tonight.

No AD and GA = no dice. close win if we get one at all

The Hawks are a young, strong, and hungry team.  They came to play and they played physical.  They literally out-muscled the Wizards.  They played like a team full of tough juice.  Credit Randy Ayers for for the Wizards hanging tough in this one.  If this were last year, and the Hawks played like they did tonight, it would have been the Hawks by 20.

The Hawks gave the Wizards offense very little room to breathe.  The Wizards kept trying to run the Princeton, but nobody was getting open.  In the end, they either settled for a contested jumper or drove to the lane (an improvement over last game).  Yet even when the Wizards drove, they were just as likely to not get the foul call as they were to get one.  The refs were, for the most part, letting the two teams play.  And if they didn't get the foul call, the Hawks were immediately grabbing the rebound and running the fast break.  No second chances for the Wiz tonight.

The Hawks, like the Bulls on Wednesday, are a team full of young, tall, and tough players who can clog the lane and get rebounds.  This seems to be the Wizards Achilles heel this season.  Definitely something the Wizards need to work on.  Other than Caron, this young Wizards squad is very short on toughness.  They have to want it more than the other team.  They have to take that punch in the mouth and still convert.  Tonight, they just took it.  The Wizards got punked tonight.

The good news is, as physical as this game was, nobody appeared to get hurt.  Chalk this one up as another learning experience and move on.  The Wizards are still clinging to a game over .500 in their 17th game without Gilbert.  All things considered, not too bad.

Sorry guys, I was out all day so I only got to hear the last few minutes of the game tonight.  Here's what I gathered from tonight:

1. Rebounds are kind of important.
   
2. Prada was dead on correct (like always), Nick was waaay better coming off the bench.