By Dan Rowinski
‘Flip Saunders’
courtesy of ‘Keith Allison’
Don’t blink.
Ah, you blinked, didn’t you?
You missed it then.
What did you miss?
Any semblance of the Wizards being competitive against the Spurs at Verizon Center on Saturday night. San Antonio rolled through Washington and trounced the Wizards like a line of ants across the highway with a 118-94 victory.
It was not even that close.
By Dan Rowinski
‘Introducing Gilbert Arenas’
courtesy of ‘afagen’
It came down to a grind.
The Wizards do not grind well.
Dwight Howard had 22 points and 15 rebounds, Jameer Nelson had 11 assists against one turnover and weary Magic blew away the Wizards at Verizon Center 110-92.
It was the first game that Gilbert Arenas, traded for Rashard Lewis in December, played the team he had been with for seven years. He got a mixed ovation when he first entered the game late in the first quarter and, ironically, was the epitome of the grind that the Magic used to carry the win. Arenas played 24:38 and had 10 points, six assists and six rebounds and when it was time to play defense handled himself beyond his coach’s expectations.
By Dan Rowinski
‘John Wall and Nick Young’
courtesy of ‘Keith Allison’
For those of you who were busy watching football all day, the Wizards played a game at Verizon Center Saturday night.
And they won.
Washington defeated Toronto 98-95 behind Nick Young who caught fire to the tune of 18 third-period points and were able to hang on at the end for their 11th victory of the season.
It was a better effort for the Wizards than what has been seen out of the team for stretches this season. It was not one of those games that required them to dig in with a lot of heart to pull it out nor did they have to overcome any mountain of adversity. It was just a win, a solid game where they kept themselves in it when they Raptors delivered their blows and execute well enough to come out on top. In the end it was a normal style win for an NBA basketball team.
That is not something the Wizards are used to.
By Dan Rowinski
‘Nick Young’
courtesy of ‘Keith Allison’
The Wizards looked good in the first quarter.
That was about it.
The Bulls blew in to Verizon Center on Wednesday and stole the wand from the Wizards en route to a 87-80 victory behind solid performances from Carlos Boozer who had 30 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists. Derrick Rose was also able to do some damage to the Wizards backcourt to the tune of 25 points, five rebounds and five assists.
“You can see what great instincts he has to score 30 points, every night he knows how to find seams around the basket. The way he is rebounding the ball is a testament to his ability,” Bulls head coach Tom Thibodeau said.
By Dan Rowinski
‘Kirk Hinrich’
courtesy of ‘Keith Allison’
Drama of the magnitude seen on Saturday at Verizon Center does not often happen when the Wizards are involved.
First, Gilbert Arenas, the enigmatic scorer and chaotic former face of the franchise (hello John Wall) gets traded to Orlando. Then the feel-good story of beating LeBron James, Dwayne Wade and the Heat after the histrionics of the afternoon gets snapped away in the final seconds as Washington blows a five-point lead with 18.4 seconds left to lose to Miami 95-94.
What it boils down to is that the young Wizards really have no idea how to close out a game.
And the Heat do.
“Get down the stretch and we did just about everything that you have to do wrong to lose a game and they did everything right,” head coach Flip Saunders said.
That just about sums it up.
Washington was in tenuous control over Miami for much of the game. The game was a see-saw that the Heat were never able to quite balance in their favor until the final seconds. The Wizards would go up by six or eight only to have Miami climb back to tie it before Washington would do it again. It looked like Washington had finally gotten the better of the Heat in the fourth period, jumping out to an 80-72 lead, a margin they would hold more or less until the final two minutes or so.
Then, as it so often is in the NBA, the drama started.
By Patrick Pho
‘Lake Show!’
courtesy of ‘Jason Rosenberg’
Last night a streak was broken in basketball. Unfortunately I’m not talking about the Wizards’ current losing streak. Their sixth loss in a row (13th on the road) ended an eight-game losing streak for the New Jersey Nets. The 97-89 loss did have one silver lining: another great game for backup guard Nick Young. Young scored 22 points in the losing effort and now has back-to-back games of 20 points. Young is having a strong season as an offensive spark off the bench and in a conversation with Laker’s forward Ron Artest I talked to him about Young’s improvement while he spoke about his recent meeting with President Obama. I also got a chance to get a quote from Young about his play in a game where his team is often behind.
Watch the video after the cut.