[WE Game Recap] - Wizards vs. Cavaliers: Wizards Lead for a While Until the End of Course

cavaliers 87 wizards 84
12/26/2012 - Verizon Center, Washington, DC
ESPN Boxscore
NBA.com Game Highlights

(Photo Courtesy ~ Ned Dishman) 

I never quite know how to answer this question. A team that’s lost 23 of its first 26 games doesn’t have any sort of MVP. Not even for one game! I’m almost tempted to give this award to the epic Luke Walton VS Jan Vesely match up which featured multiple airballs, no made free throws and a combined 8 points, with 6 of them being scored by Walton. Trust me, as ugly as that sounds, it provided for some of the most horrifically entertaining basketball you’ll see all year. 

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Jordan Crawford: In a game that should’ve featured 2 of the league’s most up and coming guards before the season started, Jordan Crawford did the best he could to try and match up with Kyrie Irving. However after being held out of the starting line up and only playing 26 minutes for the game, the task proved to be rather difficult. Crawford did give the Wizards a big offensive spark off the bench and hit a lot of Nick Young Esq jump shots. He did have the opportunity to tie the game late and send it to overtime, but he came just short and ended being 0/5 from behind the arch.

Kyrie Irving: Even though he didn’t have the best shooting night. He still some how managed a way to get 26 points. At certain times throughout the game, The young phenom dazzled the verizon center audience some impressive crossover dribbles and the ability to fly by defenders at will. He was able to penetrate the Wizards front court with relative ease and go to the line 11 times. Watching him on the court reminds you of a young Chris Paul. He’s able to stop and start with relative ease, he sees the court very well and plays with a lot of emotion. One of my favorite players to watch in the league when he’s at 100%

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The Good

I can’t believe I’m actually going to do this, but Emeka Okafor was the good? Yes, he was. I think?

Okafor  and Crawford finished with a team high 17 points but was a force early on for the Wizards. He was hitting the 10-15 foot jump shot, being a force inside with 4 blocks and collected 10 rebounds. I feel like this was one of the more complete games that Wizards fans have seen from Okafor all season. Him and Nene seemed to work really well together early in the first quarter and the two were mainly responsible for Washington’s hot start. But as the quarter wore on, Randy Wittman was forced to take Nene out of the game in order to ease the center’s role back from his plantar fasciitis injury. Jan Vesely came in to the game, and its safe to say, the offense never fully recovered.

 

The Bad

Kevin Seraphin. I mean, what was that? Randy Wittman was noticably frustrated about Seraphin’s performance in his post game. Not exactly too concerned about his lack of offense, Wittman pointed to Seraphin’s hustle and defense. “He played 12 minutes and got zero rebounds. That’s a whole quarter of basketball.” I mean, the guy has a point. You play a 4th of a game as center and don’t get a single rebound?

 

The Ugly

Maybe he was already looking forward to his post game hookah at Darna Lounge but I am at a loss for words with this guy. Not only does he not contribute, but he looks like a moron while not contributing. Airball-ing layups, 5/22 from the line, and 2 different full court heaves after the whistle blew which took out 2 different camera men. Nice.

Why is Jan Vesely still on this team? Furthermore, why is he playing valuable minutes in the 4th quarter when the game is on the line?