WE Wrap Up Report: Nuggets Knock Out Wizards

Wizards Get Crushed By The Denver Nuggets

Wizards 109, Nuggets 120

Andray Blatche went on the radio and off about how the fans turned their backs on him.  Even went to say that Gilbert warned him about it and was next to be booed out of this town.  Check out the full trasnscript over at BulletsForever.com.  Blatche should have never went that far but it is what it is.  Dray had a good game stats wise as he ended up with 25 points, 9 rebounds, and 4 assist. Flip did say that he was 'proud' of Andray for his game against the Nuggets.

Andray Blatche had a good offensive game but his defense needed help along with his boy JaVale McGee.  I love McGee but his back should never turn to the basket.  Now mind you, only one of getting better is working at it but don't get the ball in the post against a man shorter than you and then he over powers you, while you throw up a dumb shot.  I love McGee but lets be real, you can't expect McGee to dominate the post game.  He's still very raw as we can all see. Plus McGee gets in foul trouble really early which hurts the rotation and flow of the starting 5.  Flip said that the 4's (power forward) have hurt the Wizards.

Mustafa Shakur has made a name for himself in my honest opinion. He has to get used to the NBA game as he does make some mental mistakes on defense but hell, so does the rest of this team and they have 4, 5, 6 years of experience.  Mustafa is a good backup point guard that is hungry. I talked to him after the game and he was just talking about how he is loving the city and wants to stay if given the chance.  If he continues to play like this, he will earn himself a nice little contract.

This team has run its course. There is nothing more you can see out of this team except for a road win. Other then that, you know what to expect from this team and it has to make some moves by the trade deadline.  I don't care if it means trading away a player we don't expect or a player that doesn't play at all. They need a change of scenery.

I'm sorry If this isn't detailed or have all these quotes. It's pointless, because the losing is getting boring. People are losing interest. Fans are not coming to games like they used to. The culture change must happen soon.  The owner of the Wizards, Ted Leonsis, has it rough right now but it may get worse before it can gets better. I am always positive when I write these wrap ups, but this is hard to come by now. 

Time and patience is what the city of Washington needs. It's really hard because watching a product like this, it's crap.  Ok, so it's Denver, but you know what, the Wizards beat the Utah Jazz and the Boston Celtics at home recently. What does that mean? How about, stop teasing us Wizards.

What's next? A gruesome 4 games on the road that includes Memphis Grizzlies (their only hope), Oklahoma City Thunder, Dallas Mavericks, and the New Orleans Hornets. What does that mean? Possibly, 0-25? NBA Record? We'll soon find out. Chances are not looking good at all. 

Please Wiz Kids, end this pain.

 

Pictures Courtesy of Joe G. of WizardsExtreme.com (click on link for the rest of the pictures)

 

Wizards/Nuggets Box Score

STARTERS	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	OREB	DREB	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PF	+/-	PTS
Kenyon Martin, PF	25	2-2	0-0	0-0	0	3	3	1	1	1	1	2	+12	4
Carmelo Anthony, SF	35	8-20	1-3	6-7	0	7	7	4	0	0	4	0	+11	23
Nene, C	27	8-9	0-0	5-7	2	7	9	1	0	1	2	2	+11	21
Chauncey Billups, PG	29	4-11	2-4	5-5	1	3	4	6	1	0	0	3	+20	15
Arron Afflalo, SG	39	6-14	2-5	4-4	1	2	3	4	0	0	1	3	+8	18
BENCH	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	OREB	DREB	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PF	+/-	PTS
Al Harrington, PF	27	7-12	6-8	1-2	1	4	5	2	2	0	1	4	-1	21
Melvin Ely, C	18	0-0	0-0	1-2	1	1	2	1	0	0	3	4	0	1
Gary Forbes, F	13	0-3	0-1	0-0	0	3	3	2	0	0	1	1	-4	0
Ty Lawson, PG	28	6-10	1-2	4-5	1	2	3	2	2	0	2	2	-2	17
Anthony Carter, PG	DNP COACH'S DECISION
Shelden Williams, PF	DNP COACH'S DECISION
J.R. Smith, SG	DNP COACH'S DECISION
TOTALS		FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	OREB	DREB	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PF		PTS
		41-81	12-23	26-32	7	32	39	23	6	2	15	21		120
		50.6%	52.2%	81.3%
Fast break points: 8 Points in the paint: 46 Team TO ( points off ): 15 (18)

 

STARTERS	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	OREB	DREB	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PF	+/-	PTS
Rashard Lewis, PF	34	3-6	2-4	0-0	0	2	2	2	1	3	3	3	-7	8
Andray Blatche, PF	38	8-14	0-0	9-9	2	7	9	4	3	1	2	2	-2	25
JaVale McGee, C	24	5-9	0-0	1-1	0	7	7	0	1	2	0	3	-9	11
Nick Young, SG	41	10-19	0-5	6-8	1	4	5	2	1	1	0	2	-8	26
John Wall, PG	34	4-8	0-1	2-3	0	5	5	13	2	0	4	5	-4	10
BENCH	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	OREB	DREB	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PF	+/-	PTS
Hilton Armstrong, C	4	1-1	0-0	0-0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	+3	2
Cartier Martin, GF	7	1-3	0-1	0-0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	-3	2
Al Thornton, SF	13	2-5	0-0	4-4	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	3	-4	8
Mustafa Shakur, PG	14	1-3	0-0	1-2	0	2	2	2	1	0	2	2	-7	3
Yi Jianlian, PF	12	5-9	0-2	0-0	2	2	4	0	0	1	0	0	+6	10
Trevor Booker, C	10	2-3	0-0	0-0	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	-9	4
Kevin Seraphin, F	9	0-2	0-0	0-0	1	0	1	0	0	0	1	1	-11	0
TOTALS		FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	OREB	DREB	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PF		PTS
		42-82	2-13	23-27	7	29	36	23	9	9	13	23		109
		51.2%	15.4%	85.2%
Fast break points: 32 Points in the paint: 56 Team TO ( points off ): 13 (15)

 

Post Game Quotes by the Washington Wizards PR Department

 

WIZARDS HEAD COACH FLIP SAUNDERS

On the Nuggets’ offensive performance:

“I think we were a little bit tired.  I don’t think it had a bearing on the game overall.   Chauncey [Billups] really went at John [Wall] early and set the tempo of the game.  The [Nuggets] built so much confidence that they carried that through the whole game.  Even when we cut the thing close, it was like they were throwing in threes.   The confidence that they built from the beginning of the game carried through to the end of the game.  As everybody knows, especially players, when you get into a rhythm, things just happen to fall.”

On Blatche’s performance:

“I was proud of how [Blatche] came back.  Today, as I said to our whole team before the game, that’s partly what the NBA is about.  When you have a poor performance, as an individual or a team, you always have an opportunity to come back and try to play well and make up for how you played.  He came back and played well, tried to play within the system and really was the only thing we had going early or else it would have really been bad.  He kept some things going.”

On the upcoming road trip:

“I think our guys are looking forward to going on the road.  Sometimes going on the road for a four game trip is better than going for one game because you have the opportunity to bond a little bit, set your feet together, and do some things as a team and really kind of focus.  Sometimes you go on a one day trip, you get in there the night before, you go to dinner and you’re playing the next day.  I think our guys are looking forward to it.  We’re looking forward to playing. We’re looking forward to getting a win on the road.”

WIZARDS GUARD NICK YOUNG

On the Denver Nuggets:

“They have great players and great role players too around Carmelo and they were just knocking down shots.  Al Harrington, I don’t think he missed a three today, I don’t know but it looked like it to me.  He even made that last shot and that’s how you know what type of day it was.”

On the team’s tough schedule:

“We just played four games in five nights and none of them were subpar teams, some of the top teams in their conferences.  We’ve just got to bring it no matter what.  We’ve got two more back to backs coming up and we’ve got to rest our bodies up.”

WIZARDS GUARD JOHN WALL

On the game:

“I don’t think fatigue was a factor.  We both shot the ball well in the beginning but what got them the good cushion was that they shot more free throws.  I think they shot 20 free throws in the first half.  They shot like 86 percent from the free throw line so that gave them a boost.  I think we got it down, but then Al Harrington, when we tried to make a run but he got hot.  When he got hot he didn’t miss.  Every time we chipped away he put the lead right back up.”

On the upcoming road trip:

 

“I think everyone is looking ahead to the road trip.  We always prepare for the next game but every time we see a road game on the schedule we’re just hoping to get that one (win).  We can’t make excuses anymore or complain about not winning on the road, we’ve just got to do the job.”

WIZARDS FORWARD ANDRAY BLATCHE

On the game:

“I just wanted to get to the rim and try to get a rhythm going.  I feel that’s what I did.  I tried to be aggressive.”

On the Nuggets’ offense:

“The Nuggets have a good outside presence and their three point shots are tough.  It’s hard to fight a team like that because you have to be focused.  They got us on transition and they have a good player in Carmelo.  It was tough because every time we made a big play they just took it right back at us.  I am happy that we have and we will continue to fight, but we just couldn’t pull it off.”

NUGGETS HEAD COACH GEORGE KARL

On Al Harrington:

“He made some great threes and fortunately he made them when we needed them and kept us from having to play our starters down the stretch.”

On the game:

“We had one good defensive quarter (in the third quarter) where I think we really took control of the game with making some stops.”

On his team:

“I thought we had a lot of people involved in the game.  Chauncey (Billups) got off to a great start and I thought Nene had a great game going until the end of the game, and Aaron (Affalo) came in with the second unit and gave us a big lift.  We had different people giving us different contributions. Ty (Lawson’s) speed was definitely a factor in the first half.  I’m not saying it was an easy win, but when you sustain a 10-point lead on the road, I would say it’s a pretty damn good win.”

On the gossip surrounding the team:

“We’ve laid some eggs a couple of times, probably because of the fatigue that comes with trying to fight through some of the drama that we have on our team.  But in the same sense I think everybody in that locker room thinks that we can be a very good basketball team.  We haven’t gotten there yet.  We know we have to improve during the year.”

NUGGETS GUARD CHAUNCEY BILLUPS

On the team’s strategy coming into the game:

“We knew this was a big game.  We focused in on what we needed to do.  They were coming in off a back-to-back.  You know we just wanted to push the tempo early, and kind of play the way that we play. We are trying to be a lot more focused on the road.”

On John Wall:

“I like him. I think he is going to be a great player. He’s explosive, he’s fast, he already knows how to kind of read defenses and make plays. When he gets to be a little more aggressive scoring the ball and making those shots he is going to be a handful.”

NUGGETS FORWARD CARMELO ANTHONY

On bringing their best despite distractions:

“Once I’m in the building, the only thing I have to focus on is basketball.  Everything else doesn’t matter, and isn’t even on my mind.  It’s not fun to play when you’re distracted, I can tell you that.  Us as a team, we know that, and we just want to go out there and focus on playing basketball and doing what we do, which is having fun and playing the game.”

On where he thinks he’ll be next month:

“I don’t know.  I can’t look that far ahead.  I’m focused on tomorrow against Detroit.  I can’t look into February.  Regardless of what’s going to happen, it’s going to happen.  If I decide to stay, if they decide to trade me, something’s going to happen so until then all I can do is continue to go out there and give my all on the court.”

On their win tonight:

“We had guys open, we distributed the ball well tonight, and everybody felt like they were a part of the game.  It’s fun playing like that.”

On playing in DC:

“It’s always good to come back home and play, playing in front of my family and friends and people that I don’t get to see as often out there on the West Coast.  Coming back here I can hear it, my family and my friends are excited to see me and I’m excited to see them but now it’s off to the next city.”