Three thoughts from the Wizards’ 101-95 loss to New York:
Continuity starts here, with the first appearance this season of the John Wall-Gilbert Arenas-Al Thornton-Andray Blatche-JaVale McGee lineup. The Wizards were finally healthy on Friday, and Josh Howard’s return seems all but assured of happening next week when Miami comes to town. Maybe the starters weren’t exactly the group responsible for what was arguably Washington’s best first half of the season, given how well the Knicks were playing coming into the night, but it appears that the Wizards are moving away from a three-guard lineup. Blatche was aggressive getting to the basket, and McGee also stood his ground early and late against Amar’e Stoudemire, even if his gamble for a steal helped Stoudemire get to the line and all but put the game out of reach late. Thornton continues to struggle; he’s yet to establish a rhythm coming off an injury and is also suffering from the pressure created by how well Nick Young is playing and how important Kirk Hinrich’s presence is on the floor.
“One of the problems we’re having right now is our best players, a lot of them play the same position,” said Wizards head coach Flip Saunders.
John Wall needs more health and more confidence with his jumper. For the first time this season, Wall did postgame interviews in front of his locker after the game, where he was frank about his own struggles and those of the team.
“I’m not fully healthy, but I think I’m doing good enough to help the team out,” said Wall. “But tonight wasn’t a good night for me, and the beginning of the third quarter tore us apart.”
Wall’s challenges are many, including getting his left foot fully healthy, developing more chemistry with Arenas in the backcourt, and playing both sides of the pick and roll.
“I think they doing a good job,” he said when asked if he thought the Wizards were handling his health in the right way. “They leave it up to me. If I feel like I’m healthy enough to play, I’ll play. If I don’t feel like I can go, they let me take my break. I’m making sure I come in and get extra treatment. They’re not pushing me to get back, but they want to know if I can go or if I can’t go.”
Until he’s back fully, there’s only so much that can be diagnosed about his ability to play with Arenas or not. Both players have issues at times: Wall needs to attack the paint when his defender goes under the screen instead of the brick-laying he did against the Knicks, and Arenas continues to struggle with his own decision-making, often forcing passes when he’s trying to play facilitator and showing hesitancy with his own jumper.
“For the most part, he’s been trying to look for me down the stretch because I’ve been proven that I can score down the stretch,” said Arenas. “Other than that, he has the ball, and he makes all the decisions. He has a nagging injury in his foot so he can’t play to the stage that he’s supposed to be playing at right now. But hopefully in a couple days, couple weeks, he’ll be back to his self.”
Continuity is one thing, consistency is something else. A regular lineup is no substitute for the right mentality, which the Wizards didn’t have at the beginning of the third quarter against the Knicks. Some of Friday’s lack of energy in the second half can be explained by the lingering effects from the West Coast road trip earlier in the week, but someone on the Wizards roster has to take responsibility for keeping them in the right frame of mind for 48 minutes.
“I think we’re a talented enough team there’s just certain little things we do that doesn’t help us out,” said Wall. “At times we don’t rebound, at times we turnover the ball. It’s little things we work on and fix it one game, then we go back to something we didn’t do good the game before. Really we just got to get it all down pat.”
Said Saunders: “That’s the toughest thing about rebuilding with players, that every night is a learning process.”
