I don't have much time now because I've got holiday (the Jewish one) stuff to attend, but a couple quick thoughts on the win last night.
The good news is that the Wizards have FINALLY beaten Miami. That 16 game losing streak has taken its tole on the team's morale. Caron Butler had a monster game, nearly getting a triple double against his former team. However, the bad news is pretty much everything else.
Namely, here's what went wrong.
- The Wizards defense made James Posey look like Reggie Miller out there. 7 of 11 threes from an average shooter like Posey shows once again the Wizards' inability to defend the perimeter. The Wizards simply cannot defend this horribly off the ball against good teams and expect to win.
- Offensive rebounds: Miami had 18 of them, even with Shaq out. It wasn't even that one player continually killed them on the offensive glass, although with Alonzo Mourning, it seemed that way. Mourning and Udonis Haslem each had 4 offensive boards and Posey had 3. As much as I advocate for Brendan Haywood, this is where the loss of Etan Thomas hurts. He's a solid defensive rebounder, even if the rest of his defensive skills are overstated.
- Great effort from the Big 3, bad effort from everyone else. Butler, Arenas, and Jamison combined for 79 of the 106 points for the team. Jarvis Hayes reverted back to his overanxious self, launching 10 shots and making only three of them. Brendan Haywood had a decent game, but other than that, the Wizards got nothing out of DeShawn Stevenson and Antonio Daniels. That hurts the Big 3 against better teams.
Ultimately, the win was nice, but it doesn't prove anything. The Wizards have won 7 of their last 9 and are gaining on Orlando, but only the Dallas win was truely impressive. They really have to pick up their play if they expect to do well on this upcoming 4 game road trip against the Lakers, Nuggets, Kings, and Suns.