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Wizards 109, Kings 106

<rant>

I've never felt worse about a victory.  It should have been a blowout, and instead, the Wizards ended up getting incredibly lucky.  Let's do this bullet point style.

  • I know this team struggles defensively, and I know that it can't improve overnight.  But tonight was simply unacceptable.  How many times does Mike Bibby need to hit an open three-pointer before you get out on him?  Bibby wasn't doing anything but shoot threes.  He wasn't taking the ball to the rim, and he wasn't really passing much unless he didn't have a shot.  Yet he was unmarked every time.  I'm tempted to put all the blame on Gilbert Arenas, but many of Bibby's threes came in transition.  That's on everyone.
  • Offensively, why did it suddenly become 4 guys watching 1 guy go one-on-one?  Granted, the Wizards offense is mostly an isolation-based system, but at least there's a lot more movement and activity away from the ball.  Instead, the rest of the guys looked timid, which is exactly why they lost so many close games last season.  Sactown Royalty is all over praising Francisco Garcia for stopping Arenas in the fourth quarter, but the rest of the Wizards deserve an assist.
  • All that uncharacteristic sloppiness killed me.  As long as the Wizards held onto the ball, they were carving up the Kings' defense.  Until Garcia switched on Arenas, the Kings had no answers.  Caron Butler started to heat up in the third, because he was too quick for Ron Artest.  DeShawn Stevenson had another big game on Kevin Martin.  But all those turnovers, very few of which were legitimately forced, were awful and uncharacteristic.  I can't honestly find a reason why that happened.
  • Finally, my last bullet point is reserved for Eddie Jordan.  Were you trying to let the Wizards lose?  How do the Wizards play THE ENTIRE FOURTH QUARTER without Brendan Haywood, Etan Thomas, or Andray Blatche?  How can you play Michael Ruffin in crunch time minutes, even though he was pretty good earlier in the fourth?  How can you play Darius Songaila instead of Blatche?  How can you play Jarvis Hayes at power forward after effectively saying you wouldn't only a couple weeks ago?  How can you go small when Sacramento can counter by moving Artest, a big guy already, to the four and play the mobile Brad Miller at the 5?  The players are probably to blame for the blown lead, but Jordan put them in an awful position.

Hell, a win's a win, but how many times can the Wizards get wins like this against bad teams at home?  If the Kings don't shoot 59 percent from the free throw line, this is a loss.  If the referees don't blow the foul on Caron Butler after he stripped Bibby (Butler clearly tripped on his own feet), this is likely a loss.  If Garcia doesn't foul out on that questionable call, this is likely a loss.  If Sacramento doesn't commit 24 turnovers of their own, this is a loss.  You can't keep getting lucky over and over again.  

</rant>

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a win's a win
i like those <rant> tags, though.

by Seth on Feb 22, 2007 11:53 PM EST   0 recs

This one was almost on Eddie
Great rant ... I totally agree, especially with your last bullet.  I was going crazy during the last part of the 4th when he was playing Ruffin big time minutes.  What the hell is he thinking??!?!  Ruffin has had some moments over the years, but he is soooo limited and should only be used for spot play.  How can he still be playing small ball?!?!  It so obviously does not work for them...

by westcoastwizard on Feb 23, 2007 2:07 AM EST   0 recs

i never hate on eddie
but last night i did. when a lead is shrinking he needs to understand that are defense isnt going to suddenly start to increase it again. ruffin isnt the answer in this situation. if the other team is going to score on us we should at least make sure we have the best lineup on the floor to score back. Haywood, Etan, and Blatche not getting in during the 4th quarter is inexcusable. Anyone of these guys are considered major threats compared to ruffin!

Its not all on eddie though. The game was sloppy from the get go but to me it seemed like once they got that lead in the 4th caron and butler starting fooling around. Especially Caron. He looked like he was at a scrimmage or something they way he was playing offensively. I hate when teams get over confident like that.

I was audibly cursing and even snapped at the ole wife when she ran up stairs asking me what the hell happened when the wiz were suddenly trailing.

Once the Kings got the lead I started envisioning a 5 game losing streak comming.

I didnt mind seeing Songaila on the court in the 4th. Even though he wasnt that affective and ultimately fouled out at least he was out there. He needs to continue to get minutes and, man, he plays with heart and I love that. I would just have preferred to see him on the court with someone else other then ruffin. Darius has proved he is a great passer and has hit several open people under the basket already in these 7 games. Is he supposed to pass it to Ruffin!?!?!?!?!?
Darius and Blatche on the court at the same time could be pretty exciting and in my opinion could have given us some points when we needed them badly.

Blatches numbers werent the best tonight but he did a few things that dont show up. He drew a nice charging foul and he alters so many shots with those long arms. I would have loved to seen him get a shot in the 4th when the lead was dying.

arfhasddfadfdadfsasf

by riskus on Feb 23, 2007 6:40 AM EST   0 recs

WTF?
I only got to see the 4th quarter, but I figured Blatche must have gotten hurt and maybe Haywood fouled out.

West Coast us right, Ruffin is OK for spot play, say if Darius, Blatche, Haywood and Etan are all injured or in foul trouble. But I don't see how he's earned extended 4th Quarter minutes. The ONLY things he's supposed to bring are defense and rebounding, but he didn't provide much defensive influence when the Kings were making their 21-3 run, and he finished with all of two rebounds in 13 minutes. And offensively, he's just a momentum-killer -- the defense gets a chance to reset any time the ball's in his hands. And even if he doesn't touch it, we're playing 4-on-5.

I imagine Eddie wasn't happy with how the Wiz lost their focus after building a 17-point lead, but he has to bear some responsibility too.

by Vanilla Gorilla on Feb 23, 2007 12:34 PM EST   0 recs

Strangely enough
Ruffin was +6 last night.  He did play well when he was in there late in the third quarter, but that doesn't mean he should play at the end of the game.  Play Blatche.  Or Haywood.  Or Thomas.  Anyone.  How did Blatche not play one minute in the fourth quarter.  

Songaila was an awful -5 for the game.

It just seems strange that you don't play your starting 5 at the end of the game, instead going to a 4-guard lineup you never use any other time.  Why would you do that?  

You know you'll get devoured by Cheaney, Wallace, and Juwan Howard.

by Pradamaster on Feb 23, 2007 12:59 PM EST to parent up   0 recs

ruffin playing well?
Can you point out instances where he played well last night? I am not being snarky. I just want to see what I am not seeing.

I remember seeing a few times where he was too slow to move over to help on artest or whover that was getting around his man to an almost uncontested layup.

i obviously remember the bad more then the good since his good moments arent the kind of things memories are made from.

by riskus on Feb 23, 2007 1:57 PM EST to parent up   0 recs

To be fair, "Well" is a relative term
But he was serviceable in the third to me.  He was getting rebounds, setting pretty good screens, and not stinking on defense.  These types of things are hard to objectively notice right away, but the Wizards made their biggest run with Ruffin out there.  He was +9 at the end of the third.

None of that means he should play the fourth.  But considering that Michael Ruffin's role is to "do the little things," he actually accomplished that for a stretch yesterday.  

You know you'll get devoured by Cheaney, Wallace, and Juwan Howard.

by Pradamaster on Feb 23, 2007 2:59 PM EST to parent up   0 recs

Ruffin it....
No way does Michael Ruffin play crunch time minutes for an NBA contender.  Not unless the rest of the team is felled by the plague at the same time.

by westcoastwizard on Feb 23, 2007 6:21 PM EST   0 recs

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