It’s like it was predicted before the Clippers loss earlier today, the latest setback for the Wizards. Props to Comcast’s Chris Miller, who asked a seemingly innocuous question about Flip Saunders’ strategy regarding timeouts and when he calls them, and I recapped it here.
Then it happened in the first quarter… and the second quarter… and the third quarter… and the fourth quarter.
“Again we have to call a timeout with 8:35 left in the first quarter. I mean, that’s getting ridiculous,” said Saunders after the game.
Pathetic is more like it. The Wizards can talk all they want about stilll being in some kind of contention for the eighth playoff spot in the Eastern conference. But it’s a mirage that with each game Washington plays is revealing itself to be nothing but more arid, dry wasteland and desert. The Wizards are now 6 1/2 games behind Chicago.
Not that the players are acting like it.
“We come into games playing like we’re the team that’s 26-8 or something,” said Saunders. “That’s got to stop. We just can’t continue. We just have to come out with a sense of urgency early. That’s why right now we’re searching for people to put in, consistent people that will give us consistency in what we’re trying to do.”
Like Mike James (11 points, 2 assists, 2 steals, 3 turnovers)? His mere insertion into the game after being listed as inactive for an overwhelming majority of the previous 36 contests overshadowed double-doubles by both Antawn Jamison (20 points, 10 rebounds) and Brendan Haywood (18 points, 12 rebounds). Combined with 14 points, 8 rebounds and 4 assists for Caron Butler, the whole contest had the feel of a used car lot.
“Guys come out and we’re launching jumper after jumper,” said Haywood for the second straight game. “It’s something that’s happened all year. What game is this? Game 43? It’s the 43rd game and we’re making the same mistakes we were making in games two and three. There needs to be a new Wizards’ Man Law: Take the ball to the basket. If that first J is open, pass it up and take the ball to the cup unless it’s a wide open J off of penetration.”
And then there was Andray Blatche. Two days after his double double-inspired comments about heart and effort, he went 0 for 1 with 0 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 block and 2 turnovers.
“I’ve seen enough of that behind-the-back dribble in the lane,” said Saunders. “That might’ve worked on the playground, but it ain’t going to work here, and every time he does it, he turns it over. The only he’s going to learn is that if he does it, to come out of the game and to not do it. It’s not him personally, but there are habits that have to be broken.”
It’s more than habits. The whole thing just ain’t working right.
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