Magic Trick Wizards

On a night where expectations were low the Wizards delivered for the first half. What followed was something to behold. The 3rd quarter showcased lights out shooting from the Wizards tag team of Nick Young and one Mr Gilbert Arenas. It was most certainly a tale of 2 halves where the Wizards per their usual fell into the abyss going into the half down by double digits. Coach Flip Saunders could be seen standing on the side surveying the landscape trying to figure out how to stop the human mountain known as Dwight Howard from getting to the basket at will. He threw everything including the kitchen sink at the problem but not 1 person was able to stop him from ending the night with 32 points and 11 boards.

 

 

Saunders started rookie Alonzo Gee who was just recently signed after being waived from the Spurs. When asked about the move Coach Saunders inidcated his tenacity on defense and his running ability on the break earned him the starting nod. It was interesting to hear a Wizards coach talk about the defensive prowess of a player on this team but I digress. Gee played spotted minutes and did a good job of playing solid defense and causing turnovers

The Wizards starters overall had a quiet night with Young and Arenas being the exception but in the end that was the differnce. Andray Blatche who is usually close to 20 points a night finished with 10 points. Arena's was an unusal 1-6 from downtown but finished strong with the team high of 32 points. With a night that was filled with many lows and then many highs the Verizon Center came alive to only too see the team end the game with a missed shot for the win by Arena's. It was a good performance and just a hair short from being the like the good old days. They sit at 5-10 and could easily be 10-5 but as Saunders noted, "you are what your record." The team heads out on a road trip that see's no light at the end of the tunnel as they are winless on the road. The addiiton of Gee will defintely be showcased in hopes of a win. Heres to hoping

Quotes Courtesy Washington Wizards

WIZARDS HEAD COACH FLIP SAUNDERS

On his team’s ability to fight back from a deficit:

“Well, we competed. We had opportunities. I thought that we could have very easily hung our heads when we got in a situation and got down 12, but we fought back. We had some great individual play.”

On the Wizards inability to stop Dwight Howard in the 4^th quarter:

“We wanted to rap Howard up and not let him get layups. You know we gave him too many layups. You got to keep on sending him to the free-throw line, especially late in the game. We let him get a couple of put-backs without putting him at the line.”

On rebounding:

“What was encouraging was we outrebounded them. You know we got thrashed by 30 rebounds in game number one. We competed, we fell behind, we fought back unlike we did in Atlanta. So we moved the ball better at times. We played with a little more confidence at times. It’s disappointing we didn’t get the win because you liked to have the win for the positive reinforcement.”

On the difference in the level of play by the Wizards in the second half compared to the first:

“We made shots. In the first half Kirk didn’t make any shots, Gil was 2 for 13. In the second half they made some shots. When you make some shots you get your confidence going, it helps out your overall game.”

WIZARDS GUARD KIRK HINRICH

On what changed in the second half:

“Gilbert got hot. Nick got hot. In the first half we really just weren’t making shots. In the second half, we were.”

On Dwight Howard:

“He’s huge. He’s a presence, you can’t really say enough about it. He’s great at rebounding the ball and his offensive game is coming along in a lot of ways. It’s tough. We tried to keep him off the boards, but there are going to be times when you can’t.”

On Nick Young getting hot in the fourth quarter:

“He’s shown he’s capable of doing that. If he makes one, he thinks he’s on fire, that’s just the kind of mentality he has.”

WIZARDS GUARD NICK YOUNG

On the fourth quarter:

“I felt like I was in the zone and that I could hit every shot.”

On how he feels in his role on the team:

“I’m just going out there with confidence. My teammates believe in me, my coaches believe in me and I believe in me more than anything. I’m just going out there tonight and playing my game.”

On what it was like to be in this game until the end:

“It felt good. It seems like every big game, or TV game we always seem to get embarrassed. Tonight, we did not want to do that in front of our fans.  We felt we need to compete with the best teams in the East and in the league. We want to go out there and prove ourselves.”

On losing at the end:

“It hurts especially after how hard we worked. To lose one like that is worse than getting blown out. We were right there. We felt we had the game. We needed a big win like that to go into Miami. We have some tough games coming up.

WIZARDS GUARD GILBERT ARENAS

On the final shot of the game:

“I felt I was getting to the basket at will tonight. I decided since he was back peddling, and he thought I was going to shoot the jumpshot, I thought I would blow past him and try to get the layup. Once I saw Dwight step over, I tried to float it up a little bit and it was a little too hard. I thought it was going to go in, worst case scenario I would bank it in, and they I would come in here and say, ‘I made the bank-in.”

On Dwight Howard being in the right place at the right time:

“If Jameer does not have a good shot, he’s going to take it anyway just so that Dwight can get that rebound. I was telling JaVale sometimes you got to stay down and fake it because you are the only one who can jump as high as Dwight and get the rebound. Jameer put him in a way where he had to try and block the shot.”

On the comeback after being down by double digits in the first half:

“We were fighting in the first half but our shots weren’t’ going down. Me and Kirk were struggling.  Nick was playing and hitting his shots. We thought if we can hang in here, once we get our shots going down. They way we played, we felt like we did get it. It’s not like one of those losses like we felt in Atlanta where it is a dagger to the heart. We felt like we played hard enough to win. We have to take away this momentum and play against the Heat.”

MAGIC COACH STAN VAN GUNDY

On the Wizards’ play:

“You’ll hear coaches say this but it could not have been more true tonight, we absolutely stole a game. I thought they played with a lot more energy than we did in the second half. First half, they were all over the boards, I thought they played very, very hard, kept themselves in the game just by rebounding the ball. And then (Gilbert) Arenas and Nick Young took us apart in the second half. Their defense was good.”

On pulling out close games:

“They out-played us tonight, but on a positive note with our guys we’ve had several of these. I think the one thing we have shown is great resolve. We were down five with under three minutes to go and no panic. Our guys hang in there. We’ve had a bunch of these now and we stay the course very well. So that part I like.”

MAGIC CENTER DWIGHT HOWARD

On the game:

“I don’t think you can steal wins. I think you can just play hard until the end and that is what we did. We got stops when we needed it and we pulled through. I just want to win, it’s not about individual accolades for me, I just want us to win as a team.

On JaVale McGee:

“I thought he played great. I just think he just got into some foul trouble early on and was on the bench a lot. I have to say I love his energy though, he’s just got to keep working and he’ll get there.”

MAGIC GUARD JAMEER NELSON

On if they’re thinking about Miami:

“No, the only time we can think about any team, whether it’s Miami, Indiana or whoever the team we’re about to face, you can’t worry about those teams and worry about what’s going on in any other locker room other than your own because you can’t control that. So it would be foolish to worry about what’s going on in another team’s locker room.”

On if they stole the game:

“No. They played well. We’re going to give every team our best shot every game. No matter what their record is. The thing is, it’s the NBA. You’re going to win some games by 20, win some games by one and you’re going to lose some. Learn from it, win or lose and the good thing is learned from a win.”