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Wiz Kids fall short
It was an interesting night for the Wizards. They were expected to play this home stretch well and hopes were high they could go on a run with the newest additions. Those hopes came crashing down as Pau Gasols little brother had 10 of the Grizzlies first 12 points in the first quarter. The primary cause for concern early on was finding a player to keep Gasol in check. JaVale McGee was assigned this duty and it became painfully clear he could not keep up with the opposing big man. It wasn't a function of brawn and brute versus JaVale's lanky frame but one of a finesse player who knew how to exploit a less technical player. Lets be honest neither one of the Gasols' are known for their brute force in the paint but it was enough to over come the Wizards lack of a quality big man. I miss Brendan.
The Wizards offense was another issue this game as neither Randy Foye or Mike Miller were able to find their strokes. Foye, who has been the defacto starting point guard, kept the ball moving like a hot potato but on more than several straight series the solid movement led to a missed shot. Miller who is currently the leagues best 3 point shooter was quiet and played the role of distributor. He was active but gave up multiple shots trying to create for his teammates which led to several turn overs. Tying too hard? Some might say so. The sparse audience at times could be heard yelling at Miller to shoot knowing his pass first attitude. Sometimes you have to just have to take the reigns. Selflessness is a quality trait you want on your team but when there are struggles abound I think someone needs to authorize the use of deadly force.
Miller isn't the leagues best sniper by accident. The game also brought to town a new comer under the guise of a 10 day contract named Mike Harris. He arrived the night before and came in to provide relief of injury sidelined Josh Howard who is cursing his ACL in his knee as we speak. Harris comes from the D League and is known as a solid player who averages 26 points. His time was limited to the last 24 seconds of the 1st and the last few minutes of the 4th but after shaking off the jitters he seemed to be comfortable running the floor. Time will tell if he can last longer than the 10 days he has been put into service for. The game was standard issue Wizards basketball with several punctuations of cheers and excitement but it seemed the team was tired, trying a bit too hard and still nose deep in a Chemistry 101 book that plagues teams that find themselves in rebuilding mode. The loss of Josh Howard just days after his arrival is another blow to the grand scheme Ernie Grunfeld has been busy formulating but as the team has done previous I am sure they will find a way to turn glitter into gold
- Matt NaqviWizards Extreme
Nick Youngs Facial
WIZARDS HEAD COACH FLIP SAUNDERS
On Andray Blatche: “Andray is going through the learning process right now. I talked to Andray and told him that he has to learn how to make the easy play out, hit our guys and trust his teammates to make plays. It’s the first time in five years that he has had someone trying to trap him with the ball. When you have never gone through that it can be a shock to start with but he’ll continue to get better as he does it.”
On trusting your teammates: “I told the guys that when you’ve been a guy that has been carrying the team at times you start to think you need to do it all the time. That’s when we start to get into problems, especially in committing turnovers, trying to make the home run plays. I told the guys we need to just trust your teammates and the system and let it all develop.”
On Memphis: “What happens sometimes when you aren’t making your shots is that you start to lose some energy. One of Memphis’ strengths is they have guys that get out and like to run.”
On our effort level: “I think overall our effort level was good. Memphis is a great rebounding team and we battled on the boards and led for most of the game until we went through that stretch to start the fourth quarter. I thought it was a good solid effort though.”
On Al Thornton: “I thought Al (Thornton) played well tonight. He gave great energy. I felt that overall he was our best rebounder on the floor tonight. I thought early on he did a good job on Rudy Gay.”
WIZARDS FORWARD AL THORNTON On the game: “We played tough. They scored easy. We tried to make it tough on them but they got to the basket at will for layups and dunks. I thought we came out and played hard and played with intensity. We made some mental mistakes on defense. You can’t let a team like that get to the rim at will and get layups. They were able to get easy layups and get out in transition.”
On having five games in eight days catch up to them: “You could say that a little bit but that’s no excuse. Every other team is playing like this. We can’t use that as an excuse. We have to grind it out.”
On guarding Rudy Gay: “I think I did well. I tried to make him make tough shots and he just made all of them. At the end of the day Rudy (Gay) is going to take enough shots to get his. He’s up there in terms of scoring the ball.”
WIZARDS FORWARD ANDRAY BLATCHE On the game: “We just were off today. We didn’t have it as much; I didn’t get some key rebounds and if I did things would have been different. We are still growing, they had a lot of second chance shots and if they didn’t have a lot of those shots it would have been a whole different game. We are still working hard and playing together, we just made a couple of mistakes.”
On his play: “In the first quarter I came out and I was getting things in but they made some adjustments in the second half and stopped sending guys in. As a player I had to realize what was going on and try and get other people off.”
GRIZZLIES HEAD COACH LIONEL HOLLINS On tonight’s game: “The first half was not that pretty but we bounced back as a team. In the fourth quarter I thought that the bench did a great job. O.J. (Mayo) got hot and carried them. They defended and rebounded which extended the lead and we were able to come away with a win.”
On the bench: “For the last few games I think that changing the rotation has helped us. We guard the basket a little bit better and we get offensive rebounds and finish. We have been playing a little more confident. I have been searching for the right combination to come off the bench and I think that tonight we found the right combination.”
On Marc Gasol: “He ran the team. He didn’t do too much. He just did what we asked him to do. He shot when he had the shot and he passed when he had to pass. He did his best.”
GRIZZLIES FORWARD ZACH RANDOLPH On the bench: “Our bench has been playing great. Sam (Young) and Marcus (Williams)…so that’s what we need to win. We need everybody. I think we have guys that can definitely help us…Jamaal (Tinsley), Marcus (Williams), Hasheem (Thabeet) can all help us. We just have to find the right combination. Find who’s going to produce in the minutes he gets.”
On the team: “We have to keep working. Last night was a big game and it hurt us, but we bounced back today and played hard against a good, scrappy young team, and these are the types of games we have to win.”
GRIZZLIES GUARD MARCUS WILLIAMS On the team: “We started slow in the first half, then in the beginning of the fourth quarter O.J. (Mayo) got hot and he picked us up, then Coach (Lionel Hollins) put the starters back in and they finished it up.”
On his role: “I think that Sam (Young), Haddadi and I know that we’re going to play and that we’ve got to play valuable minutes. We know we have to play hard. We know we have to bring something to the table in order for us to compete at the end of the game.”
GRIZZLIES FORWARD RUDY GAY On the fourth quarter: “We picked our intensity up. O.J. (Mayo) gave us a good lift and he pushed us into what we needed to do and we played like we were supposed to at that point.”
On making an effort to hit the offensive glass: “We had to. (James) Singleton was killing us on the offensive glass and it was helping them win so we had to do the same thing on the other end. We did that and in the end became opportunists.”
GRIZZLIES GUARD O.J. MAYO On the fourth quarter: “My teammates and my coach did a great job of getting me juiced up a little bit, and somewhere deep inside I found the energy to get it going a little bit.”
On hitting the offensive glass: “(Andray) Blatche, (JaVale) McGee, and (Fabricio) Oberto did a tremendous job in the first half. (James) Singleton too. Coach (Lionel Hollins) chewed us out about it at half time and let us know that no one feels sorry for us having back-to-back games and that we needed to find a way to get this win tonight.”
On tonight’s game: “It’s a new Wizards team. Mike Miller and (Randy) Foye are playing really solid, and bringing in (Quinton) Ross and (James) Singleton, you really just didn’t know what to expect, and it was a little difficult for us in the first half. We felt we had to come out with a concerted effort in the second half to come out with a lot of energy and do what we do well like rebound, run and just play well together.”
On JaVale McGee: “Another one of our peers. McGee is a great young player. I think you’ll see him match up against Marc (Gasol) for years.”
Mike Harris post game answering random questions?
Mike Harris at shoot around
New man crush, James Singleton
7 Day Dray
Flip Saunders post game
On Josh Howard: “We miss him as another option. What usually happens is that when you lose a player everyone steps into different roles. We liked Al (Thornton) off the bench because he gave us great pop, now he now has to be used in a starting situation. The guys are just adjusting to new roles.”
