Guard looking to build on his breakout effort
Nick Young said his breakout performance was the Wizards finally pulling him out of the box.
Only by proving he’s not made of glass can Young ensure he doesn’t get put right back.
Three days after he was a healthy scratch in San Antonio, Young was thrust into the injury-depleted Washington starting lineup Tuesday against Philadelphia. After erratic and poor showings in his two previous attempts at meaningful minutes, this time Young responded with a solid showing at both ends of the floor, highlighted by a season-high 20 points.
Wizards head coach Flip Saunders also had a theory why he wasn’t so fragile this time around.
“He hit his first shot,” said Saunders. “But more importantly, it wasn’t his offense. It was the defense. There’s probably not many times anyone has sat in here and said we couldn’t get Nick out because of the job he was doing defensively. But that’s one of the reasons.”
The coach, however, wasn’t impressed with Young’s reminder of just seven appearances in Washington’s first 13 games.
“He has to get rid of the flicking of the shirt or anything else when he’s making a shot because that’s not why you make shots,” said Saunders.
“That was my thing,” said Young. “When I came into practice that day, they put me on the black team, and they was talking about knocking some of that dust off me, so some of the players were dusting me off a little bit.”
The players also encouraged Young from the bench against the Sixers, allowing him to gain confidence instead of losing his way, as he did in his first appearance of the season at Atlanta (zero points on 0-for-8 shooting) and his first start at Indiana (a three-pointer and a block before three missed shots and three quick fouls).
“He wears his emotions on his sleeve,” said Caron Butler. “For him to go out there and compete the way he did on both ends of the floor — obviously, he can score with the best of them, but him to defend and score, that was special.”
The only way Young will stay in the Wizards’ rotation is to maintain a similar passion for practice.
“He’s prepared because of being basically forgotten about a little bit,” said Saunders. “It’s a credit to him that he was able to stick in there and work hard and didn’t fold.”
