Box Score.
Game Flow.
Post recap.
Times recap.
Nugg Doctor.
Wizznutzz: 0-5 feels like home.
SVP Style: After the Magic is Gone.
NBA Source: Why the Wizards will be just fine.
Butler, Daniels make Hollinger's All-Decline team.
Highest plus/minus: Roger Mason (-2)
Lowest plus/minus: Andray Blatche (-20).
I mean, that was just disgraceful. There's really no other way of putting it. Denver made a bit of a run in the second quarter, and the Wizards just hung their heads in shame. The collapse happened in the third, but it really should have happened earlier, because Denver missed two straight alley oops late in the second quarter.
I turned this game off right after the end of the first half. Here's the sequence, as I remember it.
Allen Iverson grabs a rebound with four seconds left. He hoists a three, but it's blocked. The ball floats to Marcus Camby, while his man, Darius Songaila, simply stands and watches. Camby floats a wild shot at the backboard, but Caron Butler and Gilbert Arenas stand and watch while Kenyon Martin sneaks behind him for the follow slam dunk. Just infuriating all around, because everyone simply lost their concentration.
Each player needs to look into the mirror, because this has got to stop. Gilbert Arenas has to wonder whether he's hurting the team by playing injured, and if he isn't, he has to stop talking about his knee. Caron Butler has to wonder whether losing so much weight has hurt him defensively, especially against big small forwards like Carmelo Anthony. Antawn Jamison has to stop talking about defense and play it, instead of using that end to not try.
DeShawn Stevenson has to be more assertive, instead of just doing nothing. Andray Blatche has to actually use games like tonight as a learning experience. Brendan Haywood has to rediscover the magic of the first two games. Darius Songaila has to dedicate himself to playing better defense. Antonio Daniels has to get to the free throw line. Nick Young and Roger Mason have to stop jacking quick shots. On and on it goes.
Most importantly, Eddie Jordan has to wonder if he's made the Princeton offense too formulaic, because it doesn't make sense for a team that had one of the best turnover ratios in the league last year to be this sloppy. Ernie Grunfeld has to wonder whether not going over the luxury tax, if just for a little while, is costing them with young guys at the end of the bench. There are guys out there, perhaps we should give them a look.
Because this crap has to stop, and if it takes sweeping changes to do so, then go for it. I've never been more embarrassed to be a fan of this team, and that, honestly, is saying a lot.