Wizards run, gun their way past Golden State
The Wizards have a new coach, and at least for one night, a new identity.
Running, gunning, attacking the boards, and doing it all with newfound zeal, the Wizards blew past one of the NBA’s foremost practitioners of the art, Tuesday night, delivering Ed Tapscott a 124-100 victory over the Golden State Warriors in his NBA head coaching debut.
From the opening tap, when rookie JaVale McGee directed the ball to Caron Butler and sprinted to the basket for a successful alley-oop slam, the Wizards played loose, free, and with a shoot-first mentality. For one night, in front of 13,852 at the Verizon Center, it was goodbye Princeton, hello Showtime.
“It’s better than 0-1,” joked Tapscott, who replaced Eddie Jordan on Monday. “It was a terrific effort by our team. I’m really happy with the focus and the energy that we had throughout our roster. Guys shared the ball. We went through our forwards, our captains and our leaders.”
In snapping its five-game losing streak, Washington (2-10) was led by forwards Butler (35 points, 8 rebounds, 6 assists), Antawn Jamison (25 points, 11 rebounds), and Andray Blatche (25 points, 12 rebounds, 5 assists, 5 blocks), who had his best game after four seasons in Jordan’s doghouse.
“I was delighted to see that Andray Blatche,” said Tapscott. “We’ve known he has those skills and abilities. For young players, focus and concentration can be an issue.”
Sparked by five straight points from guard Dee Brown (10 points) and consecutive buckets from Blatche, the Wizards took the lead for good with a 9-0 run midway through the first period. Blatche added four more points in another 9-0 run in the third quarter that gave Washington a 91-68 advantage.
“We executed the things we have been working on and played well as a team,” said Blatche. “We all played hard. We played good defense. We finished shots at the rim. We played great today.”
In scoring their most points in regulation since Nov. 4, 2006, the Wizards out-rebounded Golden State, 54-40, hit 50 percent of their shots, and matched their season-high with 27 assists.
Golden State (5-9) never got the deficit into single digits in the second half. The Warriors were led by forwards Stephen Jackson (16 points, 8 assists) and Corey Maggette (17 points). Guard Jamal Crawford, newly acquired from the New York Knicks, started and scored nine points.
“We played an inspired team tonight,” said Warriors coach Don Nelson. “They out-worked us. They out-hustled us and out-played us. Washington did everything well and we did nothing well.”
Tapscott said Monday that he wants to shorten the Wizards rotation. On Tuesday night, with Antonio Daniels inactive, Oleksiy Pecherov and Etan Thomas remained on the bench.
“I call it the eight-plus-two plan,” said Tapscott. “There’s a core of eight guys that are going to play every night. The two out of our remaining four, are based on match-ups, scouting reports. Nobody gets put in the closet.”
The Wizards also thrived with a big lineup that included the 7-0 McGee, 6-11 Blatche, 6-9 Jamison, and 6-7 Butler on the floor together.
“We had some interesting combinations in there,” said Tapscott. “We also went with some size. I think that was a good thing for us on the boards. We got some offensive rebounds and some putbacks, which are golden points for us.”
The changes agree with Butler. Afterward, he was downright giddy as he compared Tapscott to another new man in charge in Washington.
“Obama’s on the sideline with us,” said Butler. “He’s light skinned. He stands for change. He has a law degree. He uses big words. He’s new in the District, and he’s in control now.”
Notes
» Assistant coach Randy Ayres was unavailable after undergoing a minor surgical procedure Tuesday morning.
» McGee had 15 points and 5 rebounds in 20 minutes.
» Butler hit 13 of 19 from the floor, Blatche was 11 of 18.
