After injuries have forced the Wizards into lineup changes in the last two games, the team’s entire complement of players – including Andray Blatche (left hip bruise) and John Wall (sore left foot) but minus still-rehabbing Josh Howard – could be available against the streaking New York Knicks tonight.
“We hope to have everyone back,” said Wizards head coach Flip Saunders prior to shoot-around this morning. “We’ll see.”
Saunders wouldn’t characterize the team’s mood as frustrated, but blamed the current state of dissatisfaction on the injuries.
“It’s a disappointing level,” said Saunders. “I think the frustration level is because we haven’t had everyone together. We’re a different team with John playing for us and not. I don’t think anyone would expect when the season started that we’d be 21 games and he’d play 12 or 13 of those 21. When you have a guy who you think is going to be very dynamic for you, and he’s not on the floor. He’s played 12 games but he’s also come back off of injury in some of those games, and it’s taken one or two games to get into a rhythm. The first time he got into a rhythm from the injury was the [Los Angeles] Lakers game and then all of a sudden, he’s down again. I think the frustration level is more from that than from a standpoint of wins and losses because we played well against the Lakers. We felt very positive about the direction we were going, and to not build off of that, it’s tough.”
To be fair, the Wizards have won twice without Wall (vs. Toronto, vs. Memphis) and in Wall’s first game back from his sprained left foot last month, when he scored 25 points in an overtime win against Philadelphia. But just as in that game, in which Wall played superb but also picked up a shin bruise, he similarly got banged up against the Lakers even as he put together one of his best games of the season (22 points, 14 assists, 3 blocks).
As for the Knicks, Saunders had this to say: “Our Achilles heel has been our ability defend pick and rolls, and they’ll probably only run 95 percent of their offense through the pick and roll so it’ll be a challenge for us.”
