‘Nick Young’
courtesy of ‘Keith Allison’

Last time the Wizards took on the Bobcats they were outplayed in a 93-85 loss. Tonight the Wizards had their revenge in a 108-75 blowout.

In the second game of the post-Arenas era, Nick Young continues to score points in his new starting role. He took shots from all over the field and went 8-13 for 21 points.

Kurt Hinrich also looked great tonight as he weaved through the Charlotte defense. With 11 assists and 18 points he knew when to facilitate and when to take the shot. I asked Kurt about an expanded role with this new team and he replied, “I’ve been playing a lot of minutes, I feel comfortable playing as a point guard and the guys have just been doing a good job moving the ball.”

The Charlotte defense just wasn’t there as the Wizards had lots of great looks in the field and shot 52.1% as a team. The Bobcats on the other hand allowed an astonishing 32 points from 29 turnovers. Compare that to 14 turnovers (16 points) from the Wizards and that’s pretty much the key to the Wizards’ victory.

“As we’ve been going through the season we’ve been working on our defense more and more,” Wizards center JaVale McGee told me in the locker room.

The Bobcats were also without Gerald Wallace, who missed his third game with a left ankle sprain. His average 16.7 ppg and 8.10 rpg were sorely missed. The Wizards also played without John Wall, who sat out a fourth straight game with a bruised right knee. However without Wall, Nick Young has kept scoring, leading to questions if this was Nick’s team (even temporarily).

“I’m not going to say that, I’m not going to say that,” Young told the media,  “This is Kurt’s team and Josh’s… I’m just trying to help them out.”

After breaking a losing streak of seven games, it’s refreshing to see a team more lost than the Wizards. The Bobcats just looked like they didn’t want to play and the Wizards’ took the intensity from last Saturday’s loss to Miami and brought the offense.

Other notes

• Kwame Brown (the basketball player, not the councilman) was welcomed with a chorus of boos with every trip to the foul line. I cannot wait to see what happens on February 4th when the Magic come into town.
• Lester Hudson returns to the team to help with point guard depth, he was signed today at the expense of Alonzo Gee (who was waived) and played for 17 minutes scoring 8 points.
• Rashard Lewis was introduced tonight to the media but was inactive for the game.