Return of Jamison, better ball movement keys to Wizards’ win
The concept is clear to Brendan Haywood: make a move or get rid of the ball. Period.
“I think it should be like a rule: two dribbles, pass the ball, that’s it,” said Haywood. “After that, we don’t need to see nothing else.”
After a case of far too many sticky hands — and a lack of Antawn Jamison — the Wizards finally broke their six-game skid with crisp ball movement and solid defense against Cleveland on Wednesday. The unselfishness and intensity will have to continue if Washington is to continue its turnaround over a difficult back-to-back weekend set in Oklahoma City and San Antonio.
The Wizards (3-7) have never won in Oklahoma City — not against the Thunder (6-6) or when the Hornets were relocated there after Hurricane Katrina — and the last time they beat the Spurs (4-5) at home was nearly a decade ago, in Dec. 1999.
Jamison will be a key to ending that futility. He showed no signs of rust with 31 points and 10 rebounds in his season debut vs. the Cavaliers, a performance that overshadowed another solid night for Haywood (6 points, 13 rebounds, 3 blocks), who is having a career year on the boards and in blocked shots.
“I’m not going to say that everything is fixed,” said Jamison. “Now we’ve got two pretty good teams that play at home so now we got to find a way to get it done on the road. But I will say just the energy level and we’re competing a little bit better than what we did the last week.”
