Wiz Kids learning to play team ball

Basketball is an organized sport. So why do the Washington Wizards play a one on one game?  During the post game of the first Wizards and Celtics game, coach Flip stated that the best play of the game was a play that did not even lead to a basket.  It was actually a miss shot.   But it’s the play that resulted in the miss shot.

“Our best offensive play that we played the whole night was when we had the ball, Nick (Young) passed it to Dray (Andray Blatche) on the outside, Dray passed it to John (Wall), John passed it to Rashard (Lewis) and Rashard had a wide open three in the corner and missed it, we didn’t score it but that’s winning basketball plays.  Those are winning basketball plays.”

It was a tale of two halves that night for the Wiz Kids. You could see the frustration on the faces of this young squad as assignments were blown on both sides of the court. The Wizards shot just 28 percent in the first half and trailed by 17 at halftime.  The 2^nd half was a little bit better as the Wizards finished shooting 41%.

The Wizards and Celtics met again the following night and did a much better job of competing.  It was a moral victory of sorts.  Andray Blatche had a season high 28 points along with 9 rebounds. JaVale McGee had a great game as well hitting the Celtics with his favorite move -  the baby hook shots.  McGee finished with 17 points, 14 rebounds, and 3 blocked shots.

The beauty of this game is the fact that the Wizards hustled hard and actually played team basketball.  The first meeting had more of a one on one feel.  The second game had a team feel as at least 4 players would touch the ball before a shot went up.  There is a reason your high school coach teaches you the value of getting 5 touches before a shot goes up.

Basketball is a team sport and the Wizards are learning that slowly. Hopefully the Wizards can continue with the same intensity going forward.