Three thoughts about the Wizards’ 108-75 win over the Bobcats:
How many games is enough evidence to argue that the Wizards are better without Gilbert Arenas? How about two? It can’t just be Nick Young in the starting lineup, the return of Josh Howard from injury and the furious floor-general dominance of Kirk Hinrich that has caused the Wizards to play quite possibly their two best games of the season. The Wizards just got their biggest victory in nearly six years not only without Arenas, but also his replacement, Rashard Lewis, not to mention John Wall, who is still on the shelf with a bone bruise in his knee.
“I think whenever a trade happens, it’s just an eye-opener,” said Hinrich, “and you try to regroup as a team and come together, and so far we’ve done that. Obviously we’re not happy with losing to Miami, but just the way we played and we’ve been approaching practices and games has been much better.”
Young, in his second start of the year, had his fourth straight game with at least 21 points. Hinrich had his second straight double-double, and Howard was a massive defensive presence again off the bench in his second game of the season.
And Washington completely suffocated Charlotte to historic levels in the third quarter.
“I think we have been better defensively,” said Wizards head coach Flip Saunders. “It’s something we have spent time on it, we worked on it. I don’t know if we’re that good, to hold teams to one field goal, but we really contested shots tonight, we didn’t give many open looks and we were very active.”
Even if Washington remains terribly erratic at times – against the Bobcats, the Wizards went from a crisp 63 percent shooting, 32-point first quarter to an ugly 26 percent shooting, 18-point second quarter – in the last two games, the Wizards have demonstrated an ability to buckle down and get better as the game progresses, to maintain focus and still execute down the stretch. Is it simply a coincidence that there isn’t a dominant superstar demanding the ball?
“One thing that’s happened is that Gilbert was so good with the ball, that our players had a tendency that when Gil got it, to stand and watch,” said Saunders. “Now I think our guys are moving more, and that’s not taking anything away from Gilbert. Now the guys know they can’t rely on his ability to take over situations and so they have to rely on our offense and that is what Nick is doing. He is making good quick decisions.”
Now wait a sec, let’s not get carried away because Charlotte is apparently in a far worse state than perhaps any other team in the NBA.
“The worst part [was] warm-ups,” said Bobcats head coach Larry Brown. “We’re not a team. We’re not well-coached. We don’t play hard. That’s my responsibility. I feel bad. To put a team out there like that and look that way, that’s totally my responsibility.”
To think that in a game involving the Wizards there would be talk of players quitting but it wouldn’t be in reference to Washington’s players? That’s a welcome change. Instead of a meltdown on the Wizards side of the ball, on Monday it was Nazr Mohammed who earned himself an early trip to the showers with a pair of technical fouls during the Wizards’ 21-2 run in the third quarter.
Meanwhile, there were plenty of smiles in the Wizards locker room after the game, but no sense of exuberance and celebration. The Wizards had lost their previous seven games, after all.
“They fought hard but just weren’t hitting shots in the third quarter,” said Andray Blatche. “When you shoot 7 percent in a quarter, you don’t give yourself a chance to win. With a higher percentage it would have given them a chance to win, but I didn’t see any of them giving up.”
What will be Washington’s best starting five? Solving the Wizards’ rotation will not be easy for Saunders, and the dilemmas start immediately with Lewis in practice for the first time on Tuesday. Lewis referenced the nine years he played the small forward position in Seattle vs. the three years he was at power forward when asked what his best position was. It would seem pretty clear that Saunders is leaning in the same direction, but that has direct implications for Howard and Al Thornton.
“We’re going to try to use him how he was used in Seattle, move him around, let him play a couple different positions, run plays for him where he doesn’t become as much of a one dimensional-type player,” said Saunders. “I think that’s one of the positives, that you can move him around. There’s going to be times when he’ll be able to play four or we can go small, really stretch out the four and put Andray at the five and put Josh at the three, and there’ll be times when we can go big, put him at the three and move Josh, play Nick and be big on the front line.”
As soon as Flip figures that out, he should also get Wall back, and then it’ll be time to put either a 20-point scorer or a ten points-ten dimes point guard on the bench. Any ideas?
