Before hosting the Houston Rockets on Wednesday evening, Wizards head coach Flip Saunders again faced questions about the second practice he sprung on his team Monday, even though the subject had seemed to have run its course after a day. (And by the way, it’s not exactly clear how to describe what happened. Flip stormed out of practice, but the players have described as them being kicked out of practice. Which is it? Both, really, even though that seems contradictory.)
Saunders has appeared to be surprised by the reaction to what happened, and he reminded reporters that it could happen one or two more times this season.
Maybe it should.
Because Saunders got exactly what he was looking for from the Wizards against the Rockets: rebounding, effort, concentration down the stretch, and ultimately, his team’s first convincing win of the season.
Did it come against “a team that some people are picking to meet the Lakers in the West,” as Saunders described Houston the last two days? Probably not, and even less so if Yao Ming faces more injury problems. Nevertheless, the combination of coaching, a couple days’ preparation – and perhaps some brainwashing if the players had been hearing Saunders build up Houston to them the same way he did to reporters – resulted in a team that looked fresh, sharp, aggressive and focused.
Even if Yi Jianlian said he was treating it like just another game, he didn’t play that way. He was much better.
The John Wall Watch (19 points, 13 assists, 10 rebounds, 6 steals, ONE turnover)
Maybe a half-inch of Reezig heel. Not an offensive foul in transition. Not a forced pass in traffic. Not a failed effort to split a screen. Not a palmed ball.
The difference between Wall ending with a mistake free night and with one stinking turnover was an iffy call for stepping out of bounds – with 4 minutes, 40 seconds left to play in the game – after making his fourth steal of the night.
“I didn’t think I stepped out of bounds, and I ran down the court with the ball,” said Wall. “I almost got a tech.”
Instead, he walked away with his first NBA triple double – becoming the sixth NBA player to do so by his sixth game – and he became the second player in NBA history to get a triple-double and at least six steals. The other: Magic Johnson, who was at the game, sitting in the courtside seat right next to the Wizards. Johnson may have well been another coach. He did speak to the team before the game.
He’d also been to see Wall play at Kentucky.
“He’s a legend, a Hall of Famer, somebody that you would look up to, a big point guard that had the Showtime and won championships,” said Wall. “So you try to reach the goals he got but you do it in your own fashionable way.”
Wall’s fashion on Wednesday was crisp, clean, and deliberate. He was a menace defensively, but there was purpose in his eyes every time he broke loose on the fast break, always trying to keep his head and have some sense of who was running with him or trailing. He hit JaVale McGee for an alley oop early in the first quarter. He hit Nick Young for a corner 3-pointer at the end of the first half. He found Al Thornton and Andray Blatche for crucial layups late.
He also had one fast break where he looked like he was doing the triple jump but still finished without traveling, as well as a one-handed slam alley oop from Gilbert Arenas, and he nearly found himself too far away from the basket on a solo fast break, but still reached out and half-Dwight-Howard-dunk-contest-style got the ball through the rim.
Oh, and at one point, he made six shots in a row.
“We actually had a tape made of watching John Stockton, about a 45-minute tape he watched the last two days, took home and watched,” said Saunders. “All he came back was talking how John was so deliberate and how he played more under control, and I think John tried to make more of a conscious effort to do that tonight, how he played. He found people, and when he gets that motor going at both ends, he electrifies everything.”
The Gilbert Arenas Game (5 points, 3 assists, 2 rebounds)
So much for that seductive jumper. Arenas went 1-for-7 from the field and looked a lot more like a guy who is not yet in playing shape.
“I think right now,” Saunders said before the game and reiterated as much afterward, “we’re in a situation, until we see that he can really go hard in back-to-backs and gets that weight down a little bit, he’s not going to be able to play those major minutes just because we don’t want to put him in a situation where he’s had some nagging injuries and he gets hurt again.”
The fast break with Wall was a reminder of the potential for the spectactular that the two have playing together.
“Last game I had that same lob and Andray Blatche was running down the lane so I made the pass to him and he dunked it,” said Arenas. “This time the guy stayed with Andray so I threw it up to John. I’m glad he read my mind or it would have went out of bounds.”
Ballers
Andray Blatche (20 points, 11 rebounds, 3 assists)
For a second straight game, Blatche’s effort around the basket late stands out more than his overzealous intent to establish himself early.
After Thornton reclaimed the lead for Washington, 86-85, Blatche got a key putback – one of three offensive rebounds in the fourth quarter, part of six on the night – and then finished on the break on consecutive plays to really put the game away.
“I don’t think Dray really realizes how good he can be around the basket,” said Saunders, “because he’ll go out, and when he makes that fadeaway shot, he gets the oohs and aahs out of the crowd. He gets more oohs and aahs than he does when he just scores inside. Some of his inside scores early in the game were more impressive than him just being able to face up and shoot the ball from the perimeter.”
“Flip been pretty on me about staying near the rim,” said Blatche. “The more I’m at the rim, the more opportunity I have to rebound, get putbacks so I’m hanging around there and I’m jumping up there and getting them.”
Yi Jianlian (13 points, 7 rebounds, 4 blocks)
The highlight that will make the national rounds is Wall finishing the scoop pass from Arenas, but Yi had the dunk of the night when he rounded Luis Scola on the baseline and then flushed it hard, adding some extra rim rattling for emphasis. It was as strong as he’s gone to the hole this season, and it certainly was the crowd pleasing play of Asian Heritage Night.
But Yi also made big plays. At the end of the third quarter he knocked down one of his trademark long 2-pointers and then rejected Kevin Martin at the other end of the floor to help maintain a slim 73-72 lead heading into the final period.
Al Thornton (20 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists)
He’s been the best player on the team so far this year not named Wall, and he’s actually been way more consistent. Six rebounds coming right up, along with endless scrapping around the rim and tough buckets when the offense falls out of rhythm.
Busts
Kirk Hinrich (10 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists, 6 turnovers)
Given how out of shape Arenas is at the moment, Hinrich would’ve expected to be on the floor down the stretch in the fourth quarter. But after followed a 0-for-2, two turnover third period with three more turnovers in the fourth, Saunders had to pull him and send Arenas back in. It wasn’t just that Hinrich was giving the ball away, his passes basically initiated the Houston fast break.
Portrait Play
At the end of the first half against Cleveland, Wall raced the length of the court in 2.1 seconds and dunked the ball, only to find that if he’d have laid it in, he would’ve released the ball early enough for it to count. When Wall ended up with a similar opportunity against the Rockets, he didn’t try to force the play, instead hitting Young, as described above, for the wide-open three.
“It does show you one, his intelligence, and how coachable he is to now put himself in a situation,” said Saunders, “because I’ve been on him the last few times about the turnovers that he has and that he’s got to get those things down, possessions are important.”
Stat of the night
Scola and Martin combined: 18 for 38 (47 percent) from the field
The rest of the Rockets: 16 for 49 (33 percent)
