Four concerns, and symptoms of concerns, after the Wizards dropped their fourth straight game, getting burned by Steve Nash and the Suns, 102-90:
Concern — Washington can’t seem find any offensive rhythm without Antawn Jamison and Mike Miller. Despite getting by in wins at Dallas and vs. New Jersey, being without Jamison has proven more difficult with each passing game because of his consistent production. He may not be the guy that wins games for the Wizards late in the fourth quarter, but he’s definitely the guy that makes and keeps them competitive in the other three. Losing Miller has been a blow to the team IQ. That’s two glue guys down. Overall, it leads to players now blaming their unfamiliarity with one another:
“I can’t put my finger on it,” said Caron Butler when asked why the Wizards are ending up with more turnovers than assists. “But obviously we just gotta remain positive and continue to execute. Obviously you see different guys being inserted in the lineup, and we have to get a feel for one another. A lot of things are happening on the fly with the lineup change and different guys being out there playing with one another. So we just gotta get accustomed and just continue to play good basketball and play with high energy.”
Symptom and concern – Gilbert Arenas wants others to take the shots they’re given (symptom) but also admits falling short himself (concern). After the game, Arenas was asked about the increased offensive pressure on he and Butler to make shots.
“Everyone has to hit shots,” said Arenas. “I keep telling ’Dray [Blatche] that for us to win, he has to be ready. The two games we’ve won, he’s been that key factor. He’s hitting that shot. When ’Dray hits the shot, it relieves me. Just like when ’Twan. When ’Twan’s hitting that shot, it relieves me. The way ’Dray moves is the way we’re going to move right.”
Blatche had 20 points vs. the Suns. “But I didn’t play so well in the second half.”
Exactly.
Symptom — Nash had more assists (17) than the entire Washington team. The larger concern is again that the Wizards had more turnovers (17) than assists (15).
“First of all, they’re going to beat most teams in assists because they have the best assist man in the game,” said Brendan Haywood.
The object of the game isn’t to get an assist. It’s to score. To do that, the Wizards require more trust in each other.
“If we were a hockey team, we’d have no hockey assists, the pass that leads to the pass that leads to the score. We’ve got to do that,” said head coach Flip Saunders.
Again, Haywood: “It can’t be, ‘Okay, they made their run, it’s [isolation]-time.’ No, that’s when you have to execute the most. Swing the ball around, set a good screen, roll, everybody on the floor touches the ball, and then you end up with a wide open shot. That’s what we have to do. That’s what they did in Detroit. That’s what Flip Saunders is used to. At some point, that’s what we’re going to start doing here.”
Symptom (of improvement) – Washington did force Phoenix into 21 turnovers, resulting in 23 points. That’s the best the Wizards have done so far this season.
“I was happy with where we were defensively,” said Haywood. “I just thought down the stretch, we had a couple of mishaps on rotations that led to easy shots, and we gave up a bunch of offensive rebounds as well.”
“At the end of the day,” said Arenas. “[The defensive improvement is] something to be proud baby because at the end of the day, offense eventually will pick up.”
It can’t happen fast enough.
