Wizards Player of the Game

I’m going to go with Jordan Crawford who led all scorers with 23 points and Jan Vesely scored a career high of 14 points and seven-rebounds. Crawford has also mentioned what goals he wishes to achieve this season, "I want to get to 20 wins. That's what I want to do. We're eight away, and they're 13 games left. We got 8-5, that's pretty good."

WE’s to Watch/WE Spotlight

John Wall had a decent game had a decent game, he added 14 points, six rebounds, and nine assists. Though Wall struggled to get going offensively, Coach Wittman had collected a technical foul in the third quarter, when one of Wall’s fast dashes ended without a foul being called.

Brandon Jennings played a great game last night, scoring 17 of his 19 points in the third quarter. He made two finger-roll layups and a pair of free throws in a 10-0 run, then hit another driving layup in a 6-0 spurt.

The Good

Crawford scored 23 points to lead the Wizards, who again had to go with a younger lineup without star players, Nene or Trevor Booker playing due to their injuries. Rookie Jan Vesely scored a career-high 14 points, and Kevin Seraphin had 15. John Wall finished with 14 points, nine assists and six rebounds while shooting just 4 for 13, but he clearly wasn't happy that he took only six free throws.

The Bad

The Wizards have lost seven of eight and were playing the second night of a back-to-back.

"I don't think we had the bounce in our legs tonight that I've seen," Washington coach Randy Wittman said. "We were down on ourselves a couple of times. I felt it in our huddle."

The Ugly

The Wizards had suffered another home defeat, and claimed they were “undermanned”. “You don’t have an excuse by saying everybody is injured,” Wall said. “You’ve got to play with what you’ve got. Guys have to step up, and we just didn’t play well tonight. They outplayed us.”

Post-game interviews
featuring coach Randy Wittman and John Wall
Video edited by Roni B. @BBallWiz330

Who needs to watch the NCAA Men's National Championship game? Who cares about the Washington Capitals must-win match up against the Tampa Bay Lightning?

Apparently, 11,000 people at the Verizon Center last night shared those very same sentiments. With no Nenè and Trevor Booker in the lineup due to injuries, Washington faced a tough challenge. The Bucks entered the game 2 1/2 games behind the surging New York Knicks for the 8th and final playoff spot in the east. Washington was playing a role they've unfortunately known all too well this season: The role of the spoiler.

Unfortunately, they came up empty as the Bucks pulled to within 2 games of the Knicks after beating Washington 112-98

Speaking of National Championships, let me use this platform to go off on a small, but tiny tangent as it relates to the reputation of the professional basketball team that resides in the Nation's Capital.

For days now, The Wizards have been tormented by the media with respect to their comparison to the Kentucky Wildcats. The hypothetical question that people have been asking is that are the Wizards capable of beating the Kentucky Wildcats? Every single member of the media should be absolutely ashamed of themselves for asking such a ridiculously blasphemous question. Not only would they beat them, but they would run them out of the gym. Kentucky may have 4 or 5 "potential NBA players" but last I checked, The Wizards have a whole roster of NBA players. The Wizards have also beaten the Lakers and Thunder. Please, save yourself the embarrassment and stop trying to compare a young, rebuilding team to a college team stacked with illegally recruited 19-20 year olds.

Ok, back to the point. The Wizards were, simply put, out hustled tonight by a Bucks team who really showcased everything that they had to offer. Going in to the game, we knew that Milwaukee could do 3 things: 1. We knew they could score (8th in the league in total points scored per game). 2. We knew they could pass the ball (3rd in the league in assists per game). 3. And we knew they would crash the boards (They entered last night's game 5th in the league in offensive rebounding).

112 points, 25 assists, and 48 rebounds later, you get a final score of 112-98 in favor of the Bucks. It was really quite frustrating to watch. I can't recall how many time I would see Brandon Jennings, Monta Ellis or Shawn Livingston dribble around the whole team at will and then, when the shot wouldn't go in, Ilyasova or or Udoh would be there for the rebound and put back. As the two Milwaukee forwards combined for 31 points and 19 rebounds, they effectively drained the life out of the Wizards every time they made a run.

As a fan, it was extremely frustrating to watch. Even though the Wizards were down and out a couple times throughout the course of the game, the team showed tremendous heart. They would make runs and fund ways to cut the Milwaukee from fourteen or fifteen down to single digits. At one point, the Wizards even cut the lead to 2 in the third quarter. Every time Washington found a way to cut the lead and put themselves in a position to take the lead, the Bucks would respond with their own run.

"We cut the lead to 2 and they responded with a 12-0 run" Said Coach Randy Wittman. It was tough on the team and you could feel the energy being sucked out of the "less than capacity" crowd that was in attendance.

"They just played harder than us tonight. They were moving the ball and got to the line" said a noticeably frustrated John Wall who finished with 14 points and 9 rebounds. At one point in the game, the Bucks had shot 15 more free throws than the Wizards and it really seemed like Washington was not going to be the recipients of any whistles. On a night where they could've used some help from the officials, they got none of it. Jordan Crawford put up another great stat line and continues to be an offensive threat for an offensively challenged Wizards team. He finished with a game high 23 points and was 3/4 from behind the arc.

With 13 game left to go and nothing to play for, it's important for this team to finish on a strong note.

"You want to go out there and win as many games as you can" said John Wall. For a lot of the guys on this team, the final 13 games here are an audition to see who's going to be here next season. I think guys like Cartier Martin, Brian Cook, Kevin Seraphin and even some of the rookie class have to really play well down the stretch if they wish to continue to be on this team. Ernie and Ted have shown that they're more than willing to trade away players regardless of talent and "potential" if they've shown to be dead weight on a young team. Contribution is key and for this team, everything has to be positive moving forward.

AT   

Monday, April 2nd, 2012
7:00 PM ET
TV: Comcast SportsNet Plus HD
Steve Buckhantz, Phil Chenier  
Radio: 106.7 The Fan - http://bit.ly/5yZqu8
Dave Johnson, Glenn Consor
_________________

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WE Spotlight



Bucks' Projected Starting Lineup



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Funniest Looking Buck



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Proud Moment in Bucks' History


Those were the days...

Friendly Dancers - Wizard Girls












Go Wizards!!!!!!

In the DC area, and even lately, nationally, there has been some debate about whether or not the University of Kentucky men’s college basketball team could defeat the Washington Wizards.

This needs to stop right now.

I just can’t wrap my head around the immense national scrutiny for the Washington Wizards. There is no question that the team hasn’t performed to anyone’s expectations the past few years, but as I recall it was only four years ago that the Wizards were threatening a first-round upset against the Lebron James led Cleveland Cavaliers.

But some people really think that with the Wizards’ record the past two years, that this unbelievable UK team could actually beat a completely professional National Basketball Association team.

This Kentucky team is great, and I’m not trying to downplay their success at all. They have rivaled some of the great teams of NCAA past with their straight-up dominance of nearly everyone they’ve come across.

But there is no way that this team could beat even the second-string rotation of Shelvin Mack, Kevin Seraphin, Roger Mason Jr., Cartier Martin and Jan Vesely.

No matter what Tony Kornheiser thinks.

Everyone has seen what these guys have been able to do in this second-half of the season and combined with the starting lineup of John Wall, Jordan Crawford, Nene, Trevor Booker and Chris Singleton, there just is no way.

What really blows my mind about this discussion is that the Charlotte Bobcats haven’t come into play, whatsoever.

Does anyone realize that they have the worst record in the NBA and probably will finish as having the worst year in franchise history?

It’s time to stop this absurd conversation, congratulate the University of Kentucky’s men’s basketball team for their accomplishments, criticize the Washington Wizards for their lack to close games in a professional league against the best-of-the-best the world has to offer, and move on.

Wizards Player of the Game

I’m going to go with Kevin Seraphin and Chris Singleton.  Seraphin has continued his inspiring play. No Wizard has taken advantage of their increased playing time like Kevin. He has become a monster on the boards and a put back specialist. Singleton had one of if not his best game of the season, adding 8 boards to his 15 points and the best part was that his 15 points came on 5-8 shooting.

WE’s to Watch/WE Spotlight

John Wall had a decent game finishing with 15 points and 11 assists. He didn’t struggle from the field going 4-8 but he wasn’t as aggressive as WE would like him to be especially in a game where two starters were out.

Jose Calderon also had a pretty good game 15 points and 8 assists. He didn’t torch the Wizards like he has been known to do; there wasn’t anything spectacular from, just steady point guard play. He seems to get the better of Wall in their matchups.

The Good

The front line. Even with Nene and Trevor Booker both out for the game, and after getting down early The Wiz Kids never gave up and were able to overcome a 15 point lead and make the game competitive in the end.

The Bad

Rebounding. The Raptors dominated the Wizards on the boards and while the discrepancy doesn’t look that bad 43-31, the timeliness of said rebound killed the Wizards. With the game winding down and the Raptor’s leading by 3 with just over a minute to play. The frontline which played so well failed to box out Amir Johnson for a put back dunk.

The Ugly

The Wizards close out. I have watched this team improve all season long, they have cut up the knucklehead plays, improved their effort and hustle, but the one area the Wizards continue to struggle is fourth quarter play. The Wizards have started to play teams close, giving them hell until the last 3 minutes of the game when they forget how to play. I’ll chalk this up to the growing pains of a young team but it sure is ugly.

AT  

Sunday, April 1st, 2012
6:00 PM ET
TV: Comcast SportsNet HD
Steve Buckhantz, Phil Chenier  
Radio: 106.7 The Fan - http://bit.ly/5yZqu8
Dave Johnson, Glenn Consor
_________________

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Wizards' Projected Starting Lineup



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Truly Proud Moment in Raptors' History



Enemy Dancers












Go Wizards!!!!!!

The Wizards have been slapped around by the Philadelphia 76ers this season, as they’ve been beat by 31, 13 and then 20 points so far.

Well, last night, the Wizards decided that enough was enough and that it was time to punch them back.

After a slow start to the game in the first quarter, the Wizards saw Trevor Booker go to the locker room in some visible pain, and one might believe it could have been all over from there.

But alas, the Wizards stated capitalizing off of Philly’s five turnovers and succeeding on the fast break, which ultimately led to the Wizards holding an eight-point lead by the end of the first quarter and a field goal percentage of 50%.

A key to holding Philly to only 15 points in the first quarter was ultimately the big-man pairing of both Kevin Seraphin and Nene in the lineup to provide that spark on the boards as well as a menacing presence in the post.

Nene continued his onslaught in the second half as he seemed red-hot, sinking 17-foot jumpers and scoring 10 of the Wizards’ first 12 second-half points, but was ultimately taken out in the fourth quarter after he ironically suffered the same injury that Booker was listed as having earlier in the game.

By the time Nene was out, however, things were wrapping up in the Wizards’ favor as Jan Vesely, Cartier Martin and Seraphin held things down in the absence of the two big guys.

While Vesely only had six points, he really proved his worth as he played the clean-up man, grabbing 11 rebounds, four of which were offensive boards. It was really a career night for him as this was really one of his first chances to be out there for an extended period of time (29 minutes).

In his post-game press conference, Randy Wittman (as well as every other player) credited the second unit in the second quarter for a huge chunk of their win. Shelvin Mack, Vesely, and Martin really proved themselves worthy of being on this team in the second, and allowed the big men to get some rest since they were able to not only hold onto the eight-point lead from the first, but extend it to a nineteen-point lead.

While the Wizards had that nineteen-point lead at the half, everyone in the arena had an aura of doubt to them as the Wizards had blown five games straight, many off of having 20-point leads.

But the Wizards really stayed strong and answered every one of Philly’s runs in the second half by keeping the ball moving and capitalizing on every single turnover and missed shot.

The play of Cartier Martin was absolutely essential to this win as he had 20 points, 6 rebounds and went 4-7 from three-point land. The guy was lights out and proved that he was even better than the Cartier Martin that Wizards fans saw last year with the team.

The most amazing stat? In the +/- category, every player went for positive numbers, with Cartier Martin at +20 for the game.

In a truly positive outing for the Wizards (sans the two big injuries, both of which are still day-to-day), Wittman can be proud of his team as they finally found a way to keep up the intensity throughout the game and to be able to hold on to a precious lead.

While the upcoming games against Toronto and Milwaukee are important to the team, one has to think that this team has really got it sights set for Wednesday as they will have a chance to finally play this was against Indiana.

They have the necessary tools, so now’s the time to fight back.

Wizards Player of the Game

After Cartier Martin's pleasant outing last night versus the Pacers, I was compelled to crown him the Player of the Game but opted to go with Nene. Tonight I will not shy away. In only two games this season, Martin has taken very little time meshing with his teammates. Martin was fantastic tonight matching a career high 20 points while nailing four 3-point shots.

WE’s to Watch/WE Spotlight

Jordan Crawford had a typical night, taking a game high 17 shots and matching that number in points, which also happens to put a halt to his streak of 20 point games at seven.

Jodie Meeks? 2 points on 1 of 8 shooting and 0 for 6 from 3-point. I might as well have put a big fat N/A here.

The Good

The Wizards' front court, which outscored the Sixers' 48-30. I absolutely love the combination of Kevin Seraphin and Nene on the floor at the same time. I mean, seriously, that literally can be called the Great Wall of Chinatown. Add a little Singleton, which coach Wittman does at times, and you've got yourself a potential 3-headed monster in the front court. It's definitely one of Wittman's better rotation schemes and it certainly played to perfection tonight. Nene and Seraphin combined for 30 points and 15 boards, shooting 14 of 21 from the floor. Singleton contributed with six boards, including two on the offensive glass.

The Bad

 Nothing too terrible to point out besides Coach Randy Wittman holding his head in disgust as JC dribbled the ball aimlessly for about 15 seconds before chucking up a shot, which happened to go in. It didn't make Randy feel any better.

The Ugly

Both Trevor Booker and Nene headed to the locker room at different points of the game. Ironically, they both got hampered by the same exact injury: a pulled left fascia. Booker's foot injury, which he had mentioned about recently, finally caught up to him tonight as he was seen limping into the locker room midway through the first quarter. Nene joined him later in the fourth quarter. Neither player returned.

             AT   

Friday, March 30th, 2012
7:00 PM ET
TV: Comcast SportsNet HD
Steve Buckhantz, Phil Chenier  
Radio: 106.7 The Fan - http://bit.ly/5yZqu8
Dave Johnson, Glenn Consor
_________________

WE's to Watch



WE Spotlight



76ers' Projected Starting Lineup



Wizards' Projected Starting Lineup



Funniest Looking 76er



Paying Homage





Truly Proud Moment in 76ers' History


 
Friendly Dancers - Wizard Girls












Go Wizards!!!!!!

Wizards Player of the Game

Playing with a sore back, Nene defied his nagging injury with 16 points and 13 rebounds. More importantly Nene was able to contain Roy Hibbert who dominated the Wizards down low in their previous matchup just over a week ago. Hibbert was held to just 9 points and 3 rebounds.

WE’s to Watch/WE Spotlight

Ahh Jordan Crawford. I received a text from a friend a few days ago which read "Congrats on getting Kobe. I just don't understand why he changed his name to Jordan Crawford." Now before we misinterpret that text, let me go ahead and clarify that this friend wasn't implying that JC plays with the caliber of a bona fide all-star and 5-time champion, but rather clowning him for the amount of head scratching shots he chucks up. Unfortunately for the Wizards, that was sorely the case last night, primarily in the final quarter as a few possesions down the stretch were wasted thanks to JC's "NOOOOOO" shots.

 Despite being a force on defense, accounting for 4 of the Pacers' 9 steals, Paul George was virtually ineffective on offense, getting into foul trouble early and finishing with only 7 points.

The Good

As impressive as Trevor Booker has been playing with that nagging sore foot, I can't shy away from Cartier Martin and his welcome back party last night. Signed to a 10-day contract a few days ago, Martin seemed as if he had never left, scoring 10 points on 4 of 7 shooting, including two 3-pointers. He also had 5 rebounds.

The Bad

John Wall and Jordan Crawford in the fourth. Their decision making down the stretch pried the offense away from Nene, who had been playing very well all night. Wall missed a game tying jumper late in the fourth and turned the ball over on an arrant pass which resulted in a backcourt violation. I love the fact that Wall has been put in clutch positions to win games, but eventually we'll need to see him respond.

The Ugly 

  The free throw shooting. The Wiz Kids missed nine freebies which was clearly a difference in the outcome of the game. In the wise words of my colleague Chuck Lamar "HOW YOU GON MISS A FREE THROW SHOT?! IT'S FREE!!!"