Knicks take down longhanded Wizards 122-117

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Post Recap
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Wizards Insider
Quote of the night from CelticsBlog: "Seeing a lot of points scored has its entertainment value.  But there are some games when the utter lack of defense being played by certain NBA teams just makes you shake your head.  This was one of them."

Highest Plus/Minus: Dominic McGuire (+13 in 19:12)
Lowest Plus/Minus: Caron Butler (-10 in 31:43)
Best Five Man Unit: Nick Young, DeShawn Stevenson, Caron Butler, Antawn Jamison, Darius Songaila (+11 in the 3rd Quarter)
Worst Five Man Unit: Dee Brown, DeShawn Stevenson, Caron Butler, Antawn Jamison, Etan Thomas (-14 in the 1st Quarter)

Believe it or not, last night was not the first time in NBA history that Antawn Jamison and Quentin Richardson were the top two scorers in an NBA game.  The game happened in 2000 when the Clippers backed by an 18 point, 8 rebound performance from Q-Rich topped Antawn Jamison and the Warriors 106-83.

Now, I didn't get a chance to see that game, but I'm going to go out on a limb and assume that it wasn't a very fun game to watch.  Aside from the fact that it was a 23 point blowout, the fact that such notable players as Bob Sura, Chris Mills, Jeff McInnis, Derek Strong, and Michael Olowokandi were starters in that game makes me think that it wasn't a game that the NBA wouldn't want to point to when they talk about the best that the league has to offer.

I don't think anyone will be clamoring to see last night's game on ESPN Classic anytime soon, either.  Wizards fans certainly won't want to relive this one, but I think there are 23 seconds that need to be seen again to really understand how awful last night was.

That's Quentin Richardson hitting six 3 pointers...in the first quarter of last night's game.  That's more than he had hit in any game this season.  His 18 points in that quarter were more than he's scored in all but one game this season.  Firday night agaisnt the Bucks, New York as a team only hit seven treys all game.

It's time like this where I think we could all heed the advice of Oscar Rogers on how to deal with these tough times:

1. Identify the problem.
2. FIX IT!
3. Identify another problem.
   
4. FIX IT!
5. Repeat as necessary until it's all FIXED!
   

Other observations from last night.

• If DeShawn was a lost cause against the Rockets on Friday (3-12 shooting), then he was a vanished cause on Saturday night (4-14 shooting, 2-10 from beyond the arc, still played over 37 minutes for some reason).  Yet, despite his abysmal shooting and shot selection, he has 15 assists in the last two games.
• In the last 5 days, 32 year old Antawn Jamison has played over 162 minutes of NBA basketball.  Someone get that man some oxygen.
• Like Mr.I, I'm not enamored with the throwbacks, but at least they're better than these bad boys.
• The early returns on JaVale McGee as a starter are mixed.  McGee has helped the team start off the game better and Etan seems to be playing better coming off the bench, but JaVale is not completely comfortable as a starter yet.  I think his start last night (2 fouls in the first 4 minutes) reinforces that.  I think it's still the right move, but as the splits show, he's still going through a bit of an adjustment period as he gets used to being a starter.

• I just looked over the team's stats for the season and I realized that we don't have any players averaging more than 4 assists per game.  The thing is, I don't even think that's a sign of selfishness as much as it is just a sign of how inept the Wizards are right now.
  
• Hopefully Dominic's performance last night (4 points and 8 rebounds in just under 20 minutes) will get some more playing time.  On a team that struggles with defense and rebounding as much as the Wizards do, Dominic's skills can come in handy.  With that said, whenever he's in the game at least two of our best 3 scorers (Caron, Antawn, and Nick) should be in the game with him to compensate for his lack of offense.