Some Wizards are still on a break

Wizards Lose To the Pacers at Home 113-96

The Wizards came out of the All Star Break fresh from the Slam Dunk performance of high flyerJaVale McGee and MVP of the Rookie/Sophmore game, John Wall. As they were in Los Angeles enjoying their festivities, the rest of the team was resting during the All Star Game.  It looks like they left there game there. 



Nick Young, who is the Wizards most improved player, had a horrible shooting game.  He could not get anything going on the offensive end.  He ended up with 16 points with 4 of 15 shooting. Just a bad shooting game for Nick who said after the game that last Sunday was the last time he picked up a basketball.  That's a long time with out playing basketball.  I know for me personally, If I don't play for more than a week, then I struggle with my shot.  



Every Time the ball was in the air it felt like nobody wanted to grab a rebound and they were just watching.  

Another frustrating game at home as they looked like they were not sync at all.  Not one time did this home crowd get behind them until the 4th quarter when Josh McRoberts missed 2 free throws to give this crowd something to cheer about as they all got Free Chick Fillet.

Speaking of Josh McRoberts, it seems like him and John Wall don't like each other because this was the 2nd straight game they played and had words for each other.  Not even sure if anybody caught that. 

With that said.

Al Thornton said it best on twitter after the game:

When the Wizards played the Boston Celtics, the Wiz Kids stepped up to the plate and showed what they were capable of.  It's sad that we can't see that kind of effort every night.  As I dwell over the fact that local superstar, Carmelo is joining the New York Knicks, I wonder what the Wizards can get to come and help because they sure as hell need it. 



There is nothing more I can write that hasn't been said and until next time, hopefully I have more to say that is more positive. 

Next up, Philly...

Here Is the Recap Courtesy of CSNWashington.com

 

 


POST GAME QUOTES (Courtesy of the Wizards PR Staff)

WIZARDS HEAD COACH FLIP SAUNDERS

On when the Wizards started struggling:

“There are signals early, not just when it happens…from the beginning I had concerns, (they were) outrunning us every time up and down the floor.  When you’re not shooting the ball well and things are running the way they were…they had 21 points in the first half, and that hurt us.  In the second half they pretty much established it, we fought our way back, but it hurt a little bit not having a back up.  I just thought their bigs were so much more aggressive than we were, at both ends, and that really set the tone.”

 

On missing players:

“We were trying to find guys.  We were giving guys opportunity.  We just didn’t have anyone who jumped up there to take advantage of the opportunities that were there and presented to them.  We have a situation where we have a couple guys, and we’re monitoring those guys’ minutes.  You’re also trying to watch how they’re playing and sometimes that makes it tough over the course of the game for some of the other guys.”

 

On the Pacers:

“They’ve been phenomenal lately.  They come off the bench with high energy guys.”

 

WIZARDS GUARD NICK YOUNG

On the game:

“They just came out a lot more aggressively than we did tonight. It’s sad to say they were killing us on the boards and overworked us. It hurts to see this happening especially after the all-star break but we just have to look past it and move on to the next game”

 

WIZARDS GUARD JOHN WALL

On the game:

“We really need to learn from the first half of the season and move on for the better. Especially what we work hard on in practice needs to be shown on the court during game time. They did a good job working us tonight and we just weren’t able to fight them off.”

 

WIZARDS FORWARD ANDRAY BLATCHE

On moving on from the game:

“We’ve got another one tomorrow.  Hopefully guys will bounce back from this loss and play with some emotion.”

 

On potential game changes:

“Flip is our coach.  He is a great coach.  He’s got a great background behind him.  Whatever changes he thinks needs to be done he needs to do it.  He’s our coach and we have to fight behind what he does and whatever changes we do have guys can’t mope and complain about it.  Just continue to roll with the punches.”

 

WIZARDS FORWARD JOSH HOWARD

On his impact returning to the team:

“Overall it’s just a team effort, it’s not about me and I’ve always said that from day one.  I’m just trying to get these young guys going the right way.  It’s a work in progress but the guys are going to continue to work hard and that’s all we can do.”

 

PACERS HEAD COACH FRANK VOGEL

On the game:

“I’m really proud of our guys.  It doesn’t matter who you’re playing, when you build up a 26-point lead on the road, and hold it throughout the game, that’s an impressive victory.  Forty-five free-throw attempts falls in line with our new offensive approach of attacking the basket.  Roy Hibbert was great in the low post as well as defensively with four blocks.  Our bench was superb as usual; it was just a great win.”

 

On settling for jump shots:

“I don’t think we settled for that many jumpers.  We want to take open jump shots, we have great shooters on this team – if they give us open jump shots we’ll take them.  We want to attack the basket too, and we did that.”

 

On the Pacers:

“We have great depth.  There’s a lot of talk around the NBA about the ‘super teams’ that teams are building.  We don’t have any of those ‘super stars’ but we have 15 guys that can play and our depth is going to win us a lot of games.”

 

On winning the game after the break:

“Anytime you beat anyone on the road it’s a huge win.  When you’re in a playoff chase, the guys know the importance of every game.”

 

PACERS CENTER ROY HIBBERT

On the second unit:

“I’ll tell you this, the second unit [also known as] the goon squad, as they call themselves, they really got us over the edge.  The bench did a real good job of getting stops and getting out running.  That eased it up for us to go out there and do what we had to do.  Tyler [Hansbrough] played well.  AJ [Price] played well.  Paul [George] came on strong in the second half.  Dahntay [Jones] is always solid.  Everybody is on board.”

 

On the new physical style of play:

“We get down and gritty.  We play hard.  We’ve been getting the rebounds, block shots, step up and protect the paint.  No more of this run down the court in the first three seconds and jack up threes.  That’s for the birds right there.  We’re out here trying to win games now.”

 

On the game:

“They smacked us around the last time we played here.  We knew it was going to be a tough game, especially coming after the break with a couple days off.  We played hard.  We played together.  We’re going to run things around and we’re going to go strong.”

 

PACERS FORWARD DANNY GRANGER

On his team’s bench play:

“They came in and they got the game back in for us. Then (the Wizards) made a run in the fourth but the bench held the lead and finished the game off for us.  I think it was a great effort by everyone.”

 

On how he is enjoying the new offensive style under Coach Frank Vogel:

“It is fun to play. The style we have played has really helped us play to our strengths a little more and it’s a lot of fun.”

 

On the team’s philosophy going into the end of the season:

“We can’t give up games that we are supposed to win.  We are really trying to move up to the 7^th or 6^th seed.  We can do it.  It’s just a matter of putting a lot of wins together.”

 

PACERS FORWARD TYLER HANSBROUGH

On his thoughts about Coach Frank Vogel:

“He’s come in and he’s really told us what we want to do and what to expect; and so we have kind of embraced that and tried to do his thing, and that’s rebounding -- smash mouth basketball.”