I could’ve sworn that Wizards head coach Flip Saunders was asked a little while ago about how difficult it is to lose so many games by five points or less – a total of ten losses, to be exact.
His answer sounded more like a description of how difficult it is to win those close games:
“The common factor is, what we haven’t been able to do is, we haven’t been able to make stops down the stretch,” said Saunders. “We’ve improved sometimes defensively over the course from the beginning of games. But when it comes down to it, you’ve got to be able in crunch time almost to play meat and potatoes defense and be able to make a stop. That’s what we haven’t been able to do, either by allowing penetration, by allowing an offensive rebound, or allowing a quick duck-in. Those are the things, you can’t make those type of mistakes.”
Saunders went on to talk defensive schemes, too: “In two of our last three games, our best defense has been our zone defense. We’re going to have to start playing more zone and doing more gimmicks. We’re going to have to weigh and see if that’s something we have to do to keep the other team off balance and not get in their comfort zone enough.”
And thus we have the Wizards facing off against the Thunder, who scored 127 points in their win over Washington in Oklahoma City on November 20 – the most points the Wizards have allowed this season.
Welcome home, too, for Kevin Durant, who matched his season-high with 40 points last night in the Thunder’s win at New Jersey, completing their first three-game winning streak of the season. They also now have eight road wins already this season, matching their total for all of last year.
“He’s playing as well, and their team is playing as well as anybody in the league,” said Saunders. “He’s dynamic. He’s a nightmare to match up with because at his size and his arms, he should be playing a power forward or a center. The guy can play a two guard, the three, he can play all over the floor. It’s one of those situations, when the draft came out, there was [Greg] Oden and him. Seattle, at that time, they were lucky to have the second pick. They didn’t have to make a decision. They let Portland make the decision, and unfortunately for Portland, Oden’s had a lot of injuries and everything else, and Durant has just blossomed into one of the top ten players in our league.”
Former Georgetown Hoya Jeff Green ain’t too shabby either, averaging 14.5 points and 6.1 rebounds. But he has been held to just six points in each of the last two contests.
Meanwhile, Washington counters by pointing out that Gilbert Arenas has averaging 29.3 points and 6.7 assists over last seven games, including four with at least 30 points. The Wizards’ record over that stretch: 3-4.
JaVale McGee (knee) is active tonight for Washington while former Wizards center Etan Thomas is home in Oklahoma with the flu.
