Wizards 106, Mavericks 97: HIBACHI!

For three quarters, the Wizards played possibly the best game they played in the last two years. A subpar fourth quarter made the Wizards’ performance look a lot worse than it really was.

The Wizards did two things very well. First, they really moved the ball well offensively. When the Wizards struggle offensively, it’s because there is too much one-on-one play. With Gilbert Arenas and Caron Butler, the Wizards have two fantastic one-on-one guys they can depend on when the shot clock goes down, but it’s dangerous to think they can just go one-on-one every single possession. It really wasn’t surprising to see than Antawn Jamison, a guy whose production rises when he’s in the flow of the offense, had his best game of the season last night. Dallas is a tough defensive team, especially inside, so to get all those open looks was really encouraging.

The other thing the Wizards did unbelievably well was they pounded Dallas on the glass. That really shocked me when I looked at the numbers. The Wizards outrebounded a very good Dallas rebounding team 53-39! That’s really solid, especially considering Dallas’ incredible offensive rebounding ability. Etan Thomas was an absolute monster last night with 10 points, 11 boards, and that one block on Devin Harris. That block was a play that really set the tone for the entire game. The Wizards showed tons of energy on defense and locked down on a really explosive Dallas team. Jason Terry, Josh Howard, and Devin Harris shot a combined 5 for 23. If you do that, you’ll beat Dallas.

While Arenas was huge with 38 points and 8 assists, (you listening, Michael Redd! You can score a shitload of points and be a good playmaker. It’s possible) the key to this game was Jamison. Unsilent pointed out a couple days ago that the Wizards are a completely different team when Jamison is playing well, and tonight showed it. Jamison’s the one guy that really needs to get his points in the flow of the offense. If the offense becomes too much based on one-on-one play, Jamison ends up trying to overcompensate and jacks up bad 19 foot jumpers. This also prevents him from getting inside for rebounds. When the offense is moving the ball well, Jamison is much more successful, and when Jamison is successful offensively, he’ll get in there and grab key rebounds. The play he made to seal the game at the end was a prime example of this.

However, I hate to say it again, but this game didn’t really prove all that much. The Wizards are 7-2 at home and could very easily be 9-0. We know they can play up to their potential against anyone in the Verizon Center. Now, they have to prove it and play well on the road. The offense needs to keep moving the ball well instead of stagnating and watching Arenas or Butler go 1 on 5. With road games against the Knicks and the Sixers on the docket this week, the Wizards have a great chance to finally get a road win.

In other news, Gilbert Arenas is going to be signing autographs/discussing his new shoe over at the NBA store in New York City. This wouldn’t ordinarily be newsworthy, but, apparently, Dan Steinberg, Unsilent Majority, Will Leitch, SLAM, and With Leather are all going to be there. Steinberg is calling this event a “Blogocalypse.” If anyone else is planning on being there, I’d really like to hear about it.

Also, Steinberg pops the “what if you could pretend you guys are at home when you’re on the road” question, and gets a ton of player responses. In an earlier Bog entry, Post Wizards beat writer Ivan Carter wondered aloud, "Is there a Shakespeare tragedy about an army that was great on its own soil but couldn't win on the road?" Clearly, this road thing is getting old and the players really have to find a way to break through. It better come this week with the Knicks and Sixers on the docket.

Finally, if you were at the game yesterday, let me know and send me your postgame thoughts. I’ll put them up here on the blog when I get them. E-mail me at pradam@brandeis.edu.

Postgame thoughts? Please someone be positive for now!

WIZARDS WIN!!!!!

More to come tomorrow after my final is over, but what a huge win!!!!

I got concerned at the end, for sure, but what's with the negativity right now? The Wizards just kicked the hottest team in the NBA's ass! They were up by 30 points and they held Dallas to 34 percent in the first half!! They still haven't won on the road, and it still sucked that they allowed Dallas to come back like they did, but let's be happy for once. They needed a big win tonight and they got it!

If you were at the game, it must have been sick! I really want to hear about it, so send me your recap of the game so everyone can see it. E-mail me at pradam@brandeis.edu.

More tomorrow, but for now, I can be happy studying for my final!

Open Thread: Game 17

Regular Season Game 17
Mavericks (12-4) vs. Wizards (6-10)
Verizon Center
7 PM
NBA TV and CSN

This would be a great game to have.

The Mavericks, winners of 12 in a row, come into Verizon Center tonight. I’d say a little more about this game, but I think it’s obvious how big a win would be for the Wizards. It also doesn’t help that I’m in the middle of finals week.

On another note, thanks to the commenters that pointed out that Eddie Jordan signed an extension this summer. Total oversight on my part and I can’t believe I forgot about that. It doesn’t mean he can’t get fired, but it makes it unlikely in the first year.

As a clarification, I’m not necessarily saying the Wizards need to fire Eddie Jordan RIGHT NOW. It’s still really early in the season, and the Wizards got off to a similarly bad (12-18) start last year. There’s still a lot of time to turn things around. Instead, my main point was that I’m not sure Eddie is the best guy to get the Wizards to the next level. Eddie’s a fantastic offensive mind, and it’s no coincidence that the Wizards had the top scoring trio in the past two years with different personnel (Butler replacing Hughes last year). His in-game tactics, especially his substitution patterns, can be baffling at times, but I don’t think they’ve played a major role in costing the Wizards more than one game (the Cleveland one) this year. At the end of the day, the players have really struggled with late-game execution. There’s nothing Eddie could do about the team’s inability to score against Houston late in the game, for example. However, it’s clear so far that the defense is no better than last year, and it doesn’t even seem like its getting better. I wrote in my preview that the Wizards needed to get that ranking to 15^th to have a chance at 50 wins. It hasn’t happened so far, and for that reason, the Wizards may need to get someone on the bench (assistant or head coach notwithstanding) that can teach the team the discipline needed to play good defense.

Mavericks Blogs: Mavs Moneyball, Rebel Ballin

As a reminder, if you’re going to the game tonight (especially if you're the one I had a subtle dig at in the post yesterday) send me an e-mail at pradam@brandeis.edu with an eyewitness report. I’ll post it up tomorrow in a separate entry.

Prediction: Wizards 107, Mavericks 105 (I know, but it’s been a long week and I need to have some optimism here)

If you’re online during the game, give a shout!

Wizards 87, Wizards 82: The Real Problem is Clear

With 4:45 left in the third quarter, Tracy McGrady's three pointer gave Houston a 15 point lead. The Wizards then went on a 26-12 run to pull to within one point at 72-71 with 5:43 left in the fourth quarter. This was probably the best offensive stretch the Wizards have had on this road trip. But a second glance at the play-by-play of the stretch reveals the very problem the Wizards' offense has had.

During the stretch, here are the facts.

Number of Gilbert Arenas shots during the stretch: 3
Number of Gilbert Arenas points during the stretch: 4
Number of Gilbert Arenas shots the rest of the game: 23

In those 11 minutes, Arenas shot only 3 of the Wizards 15 field goals and scored only 4 of the team's 26 points. Yet during this two game road trip, Arenas has jacked up 51 of the team's 159 shots. Nearly one third of the Wizards shots on this road trip so far have come from the hands of Gilbert Arenas. This all despite the fact that the Wizards best offensive stretch on this road trip came when Arenas was shooting the least.

The problem, therefore, is clear. If the Wizards do much better when everyone is involved in the offense, why is Arenas shooting the ball so damn much? Where is that Princeton-style rhythm offense that was so good last season? How the hell are the Wizards supposed to win games scoring only 87 and 82 points?

When most basketball pundits analyzed the Wizards' potential problems this year, chief among them was the defense. Well guess what. The defense is doing quite well. The Wizards held Dallas to 40 percent shooting last night, and they held Houston to 41 percent shooting and only 86 points tonight. DeShawn Stevenson has been really solid on the wing, and Etan Thomas and Brendan Haywood have given the Wizards some semblance of an inside presence. All should be good. But instead, all is bad.

The Wizards can't win on the road right now because Arenas is taking matters completely into his own hands. The Wizards are never going to win by going down the court and adopting the Arenas attitude, jacking up the first decent look they get. There are certainly times when Arenas' quick-scoring ability will be instrumental. Hell, he almost brought the Wizards back with that bank three in the final seconds. There is a reason why you can rarely count the Wizards out of any game.

But you can't do this for 48 minutes. If all you're doing is jacking up shots with 18 seconds left on the shot clock, no matter how good the shot is, you're incredibly easy to defend. Opponents have to expend very little energy on defense and can therefore focus on attacking a suspect Wizards offense. It's no wonder the Wizards have had three games in the 80s on the road this season.

Here's what needs to happen on offense. Antwan Jamison has his faults, for sure, but he is an extremely difficult matchup off the dribble and off the ball for any power forwards. Jamison is at his best hitting open threes or driving to the lane. Instead, Jamison is simply jacking up mid-range jumpers and missing them at an alarming rate. It's as if Arenas' disease is rubbing off on Jamison, who had previously been one of the league's most efficient scorers.

More importantly, the Wizards must get Caron Butler going. Butler is such a tough matchup off the dribble. He's strong enough to post up most threes, but has too good of a mid-range jumper to lay off him. If you get too close to him, he can take it to the hole and is among one of the best finishers in the game. Butler is also a monster on the offensive glass, and his rebounding has been awesome so far this year. There is no reason why he should not be getting 18 shots every game.

Finally, Antonio Daniels, when he's in the game, needs to be utalized offensively. He's among the best slashers and finishers out there and has become adept at the mid-range jumper. It seems like every time the Wizards make a comeback, it is a Daniels drive and three-point play that catalyzes it.

When Arenas shoots the ball 26 times a game, that means fewer shots for those 4 players. The Wizards offense functions best when Arenas is Option 1, Butler option 1A, and Jamison option 1B. When Daniels is in the game, he is usually option 3. The four of them played off each other
so well last year, so I really don't understand why suddenly it's become this bad. Arenas doesn't strike me as the kind of player who will suddenly become big-headed, making this all the more worse. Quite simply, this has baffled everyone, including me.

Oh, and one more thing. I don't think this is Eddie Jordan's fault. Sure, he's made a couple questionable substitution patterns, but it's not his fault if these guys have concentration lapses. Ivan Carter, in his latest Washington Post chat, said it best.

Didn't this guy just take this franchise, which hadn't pissed a drop in decades, to the playoffs in back-to-back seasons? Am I missing something here? Who do you want to hire? Sam Mitchell? Flip Saunders after he's fired in Detroit? Isiah Thomas? Larry Brown? Bill Fitch? Leonard Hamilton? Gene Shue? Kevin Loughery?

I agree 100 percent. There's nobody out there better at this point.

Anyway, I've aired my grievances, and I'm sure you have some, so I'll step aside for now and let you guys have the floor. Consider this an open forum for complaints thus far. I realize it's the time of year to be thankful, but I'm sure people have a lot to say.

[editor's note]: The title is actually the number of points the Wizards scored in the last two games, not the actual game score tonight. I realize it's pretty misleading, but I was trying to illustrate how bad the Wizards offense has been. It is pretty confusing though]

Open Thread: Game 10

Regular Season Game 10
Wizards (4-5) vs. Mavericks (6-4)
American Airlines Center
8:30
CSN and NBA League Pass

The Wizards embark on a crucial three game road trip against the Texas twosome of Dallas and Houston in the next two days and Memphis on Friday. Combined with the home game against Detroit on Saturday, and this 4-games-in-5-days stretch is potentially brutal. It seems odd to say it, but this may be the Wizards best chance to get a win, even if Dallas has won six games in a row.

Mavericks Blogs: Mavs Moneyball, who says the following on this game.

The Mavs will have to play a lot better than they did yesterday to beat the Wizards tonight. Not only is Washington significantly better than the Bobcats, they had the day off yesterday and Gilbert Arenas is coming off a 45 point game. If Devin Harris and Greg Buckner, who will probably have the job of guarding Agent Zero, look as tired as Anthony Johnson did last night the Mavs are in trouble. But if they win, it will be their 7th in a row and their fourth in five nights. They'll officially be back (they're back already, but I don't think it's official yet) with a win tonight.

I'm with Wes on this analysis. Dallas did not look good last night in their win over Charlotte, and now they have to travel halfway across the country to play a Wizards team that is coming off a big win and two full days of rest. The Mavericks guards looked hobbled last night with the exception of Devin Harris, and unless Dallas decides to put a big wing like Greg Bucker on Arenas, they should struggle to defend him. If there is any night that Arenas can break out of his road funk, it's tonight.

Of course, there are still two problems that remain. First, who do you put on Dirk Nowitzki. San Antonio had success a couple years ago with Bruce Bowen, but Dirk has learned to take that player down on the block and shoot over him. Antwan Jamison, as an anonymous commenter said, "could not guard a locked door," so he's probably not an option. That may leave the Wizards with no choice but to play Etan and Haywood together, which hurts the offense's output. The other option is to have Butler guard Dirk, but then Dirk will just shoot over him. It's a dilema, for sure.

The other is that Erick Dampier has been a monster recently. The Wizards pride themselves on attacking the rim, but with Dampier down there, it may be more difficult. If he has a big game, the Wizards are just going to be the same jump-shooting team they are always accused to being, and that's not going to bode well.

Still, I think Dallas will be tired and the Wizards will have enough to get a road win before getting spanked in Houston tomorrow night.

Prediction: Wizards 106, Mavericks 96

Sound off if you're watching!