Three thoughts on the Wizards’ 87-80 loss to Chicago:
The Bulls made adjustments while the Wizards used the game as a learning tool. Washington has taken pride in the way it has played since its second-half comeback at New Jersey last week, a moral victory (if there can be such a thing against the Nets) that was followed by not imploding until the final 35 seconds against Miami and then an utter throttling of Charlotte, which helped put the nail in the coffin for head coach Larry Brown. The Wizards have some reasons to add Wednesday’s loss to Chicago to that group of pretty good games, but only to a certain extent.
Why? Because there was no reason whatsoever for Andray Blatche to be on the floor down the stretch in the fourth quarter, and not just because the ball inexplicably flew out of his hands on a wide open fast break in the first quarter and rattled him. Blatche (7 points on 3-of-14 shooting, 6 rebounds, 4 turnover) simply did not have it against Chicago, and the entire crowd at Verizon Center knew it, showering him with boos nearly every time he touched the ball in the period. Yet, Wizards head coach Flip Saunders stuck with Blatche instead of belittling him.
“He’s one of our main guys,” said Saunders. “He’s a young player. Part of development sometimes is getting your butt kicked and understanding, you can learn as much sometimes when you play bad as you can when you play good. I’ve got confidence in him that no matter how bad he’s played, that down the stretch, I feel he’s going to be able to make a couple plays for us.”
The rest of Washington’s frontcourt wasn’t much better. In his Wizards debut, Rashard Lewis (8 points) was 4 for 10, but a staggering 0 for 5 from 3-point range, including a miss that could’ve tied the game with less than two minutes to play. JaVale McGee was also 0 for 3 from the field but had 10 rebounds, and Al Thornton (11 points) was 4 for 10.
The Wizards were competitively in the defensive struggle with Chicago until the final minute. But Blatche was a disaster, especially in the second half during the Bulls’ game-changing 13-0 run and early in the fourth quarter. The upshot was it made a Wizards team that was already struggling to handle Chicago coach Tom Thibodeau’s superior defensive adjustments (i.e., Nick Young had 15 points in the first half, seven in the second) look that much worse. After 33 points in the first quarter, Washington averaged just over 15 over the final three.
“After that layup, I knew it was going to be a long night,” said Blatche, who also got a technical foul for complaining to officials. “I tried to prepare myself for it mentally. That was probably one of the worst funks I’ve ever been in during my career. It just got worse and worse. The fans started booing me, and once that happened, it just messed my whole head up. I just started hesitating and everything else.
“Was I surprised by [the booing]? Yes, because they are fans, and they’re supposed to support us. But at the same time, if I’m playing like crap, they’re going to let me know. It goes both ways.”
Lewis had a poor shooting night, but that’s what happens after a week away from basketball. Getting traded to Washington probably wasn’t what Lewis wanted, and he had been struggling in Orlando already, so a six-day break between games – with the first one back at a foreign arena – easily adds up to zero 3-pointers vs. the Buls. He already missed dozens during his pregame session on the Verizon Center main court.
“I ain’t played in about a week,” said Lewis. “I ain’t got a full practice in so I got a little tired early. I just felt a little out of rhythm. Hopefully, that’ll all come over these next couple days, try to get some running in and some shots up.”
He will get better, and a return to his hometown of Houston on Monday could give an extra boost. But the question still remains, how do the Wizards best use him?
“When I had [Kevin] Garnett and [Tom] Gugliotta,” said Saunders before the Bulls game, “I called them bastard forwards, that they were really not a three and really not a four. They could play either position, and so what happens is when he plays the three, you’ve got a choice, you put a 6-5 guy on him or you put a 6-5 guy on Andray. You create matchups, and he gives the ability, you can play him at the three and Josh [Howard] at the two, and you can create another post-up match-up situation. That’s one of the problems we’ve had in the last year, we haven’t been able to put people in the post and have some type of match-up situation.”
Afterward, Saunders’s impression of Lewis was this: “He did some positive things. He didn’t make any threes. I’m not concerned, that’s what he’s going to do. We’re putting him in a tough situation. Dray couldn’t do anything tonight so we’re putting him in there. I felt like an air-traffic controller trying to show him where to go in plays. It’s tough for the other guys to play in that type of situation so that’s the unfortunate thing. But he’s going to be okay for us.”
The chip on Kirk Hinrich’s shoulder isn’t pretty, but it’s effective. The poor guy has had to shoulder a massive load with John Wall sidelined, and his heavy minutes and some of the frustrations of having to play with the rest of Washington’s youngsters have turned him into a ferocious presence on the floor – that is, when he’s not shaking his head – a point guard who fearlessly drives into traffic and takes pride in harassing the ever-living soul out of opposing point guards.
Hinrich and Young combined for 28 points in the first half, helping Washington establish a 50-46 lead at the break, but for Hinrich (19 points, 9 assists, 5 rebounds, 2 steals) to maintain his pace at the point for 45 minutes a night is impossible. Against the Bulls, cramping certainly didn’t help against Derrick Rose, who ultimately got the best of Hinrich on multiple occasions, including one fast break where he blocked Hinrich’s shot right back into him and then out of bounds.
“We need wins right now,” said Hinrich, who also had a brilliant shiner under his left eye that gave credence to the physical match-up with his old team. I feel like we’re taking steps in the right direction, but it’d be nice to get some big wins.”
To do that against a good defensive team, the rest of the Wizards need to follow Hinrich’s lead. Instead, Saunders and McGee also both got technical fouls as part of the collateral damage of how the Bulls play with Rose constantly keeping defenses on their toes and Carlos Boozer always drawing some kind of contact. Washington fell into the trap of trying to match those players’ individual games instead of remaining disciplined offensively.
“We’ve been good the last couple games because we’ve moved the ball,” said Saunders. “We passed the ball. We haven’t, even Nick, he’s been so effective, we talk about him catching and shooting, and now tonight he was trying to do a lot off the dribble. We played, when you start doing that, that’s more individualistic than it is team-wise, and it’s easier for good defensive teams, which that’s what they are, they’re second in the league in defensive field goal percentage, to lock into you. The referees were letting them grab, hold and do those things and so you don’t put the ball on the floor and try to beat those guys off the dribble doing that. You do it with the pass.”
