We’ll have to wait until Friday, at the earliest, to find out more about the extent of Gilbert Arenas’s groin strain – the lasting news from the loss to Milwaukee – but here’s what I saw from my vantage point at the scorer’s table. Arenas had just gotten his third steal and chucked the ball down court, only to have his pass intercepted, which immediately put him back on defense in the lane. He went up over the back of Ersan Ilyasova, got called for the foul, and then immediately started jogging down the court. He pulled his jersey up over his mouth so no one could read his lips and told Wizards head coach Flip Saunders something – clearly regarding the injury – and then took a seat as Cartier Martin got up and checked in cold. I could not see what Arenas was doing on the bench, but given the positive reception he received from the crowd when he first entered the game, what a bummer for him to go out that quickly.
The John Wall Watch
Can’t go anywhere without mentioning the rookie’s first double-double (15 points, 11 assists) of the preseason. Want a more remarkable stat? The Wizards had 19 assists, total. As for Wall, a bunch of his assists came in transition, which is fantastic for the crowd but he’s got to have as many in the halfcourt as he does on the break. Watching the Wizards in the third quarter, when Milwaukee forced them to slow down much more, was painful as Wall’s passes never seemed to lead to open shots.
“It’s great to have a double-double but doesn’t mean anything,” said Wall. “I think we took a step back, we didn’t move forward like we did last game.”
Ballers
Hilton Armstrong
Yeah, he fouled out. But he was active and aggressive (4 rebounds, steal, block) and made his presence felt. He also manage to avoid the hair-trigger technical fouls that are popping up all over the place. Surely, it’s not sustainable.
“Hilton played really well,” said Saunders. “He was the only big that was solid tonight, solid defensively, set good screens, was a weak-side help most of the time, did a nice job, as good a job on pick and rolls as anybody. I thought he – he’ll probably grade out as good as anybody on our roster.”
Busts
Andray Blatche, Yi Jianlian (combined 9 for 22 from the field – Yi was 1 for 5)
This game was a demonstration of the challenge that the Wizards face maintaining their discipline night in, night out. They’re not going to shoot as well as they did against Atlanta on Tuesday in every game, and the coaches can only do so much to force them to play unselfishly. This is why it’s going to take a while.
“Our bigs are basically trying to play too much perimeter,” said Saunders. “That’s something we have got to clean up. We got to have a thrust inside, and they keep on popping out, popping out. That just isn’t going to work. We got to have more of a presence in the paint.”
To say this is familiar with Blatche is an understatement, and again, much has to do with him still working his way back from injury, trying to get sharp and get in shape.
“He’s about as good a low post scorer as there is if you look at fours around the league,” said Saunders. “We just gotta get his big butt down there more often and not have him keep on popping out there all the time because that’s where he’s most effective, down there on the block.”
Blatche’s frustration afterward, even with 17 points and 9 rebounds, was obvious, too, but he also indicated pretty clearly that he’s trying to be a good student.
“It’s tough for me to stay on the block when I’m setting a lot of picks,” he said. “I’m just going through the flow of the game. A lot of guys are sagging off, and I’m just reading the defense. But if he wants me to be down on the block, I don’t have a problem. That’s where I want to be, and that’s what I’ll work on doing.”
Kevin Palmer
Waived.
Portrait play
Wall scored 11 of his 15 points on the fast break, so pick your poison. Whether you like to see him dunk or feed a teammate for a dunk or fight off a defender to get his shot off and have the ball land softly on the rim and spin its way into the cylinder, the variety is going to be on display all season. There may also be some cringing, too, when Wall hits the floor hard on occasion. There are going to be plenty of players who won’t exactly enjoy having a 20-year-old blitz them – they just have to catch him first.
So Trendy
For now, this spot is for tracking the Wizards’ +/- assist-to-turnover ratio. Tuesday it was +14. Thursday it was -3. Ah, youth.
