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The Official Washington Basketball Thread: Wizards, Mystics etc


BRAVEONAWARPATH

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Good win. This is exactly the type of game we used to always lose. For once we actually went on the road and out-executed the other team in the fourth quarter. Got the stops we needed, made the offensive plays we needed. And then our star player closed out the game for us.

We looked like the seasoned playoff caliber team and the Pistons looked like the struggling young team trying to figure out how to turn their athleticism into quality play. They haven't figured out how to fit their parts together yet.

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Terrific game from everyone. Wall has finally figured out when to slow up when the shot isnt there, and Porter is gaining more and more confidence each game out there. Im really liking the defensive intensity when Temple and Porter are out there. There was a defesive sequence from Temple on Jennings that was possibly the best ive seen from this team all year. Jennings obviously had no respect from him and decided to try and school him for a good 20 seconds. Temple wasnt having it and practicaly stole the ball about 3 times, and resulted in an airball.

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Nene and Webster off the bench have given the wizards some balance and we aren't seeing the dramatic drop off when the starters rest any more.

 

It helps that Booker has been serviceable as a starter. His defense is a mess at times, but he hustles and seems to be more comfortable on offense.

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@Ourand_SBJ 10:02 PM
Nice come-from-behind win for the Wizards in Detroit. National TV networks eventually will figure out that this is a fun team to watch.

 

 

This, John Wall is turning into must see tv. And finally the team is showing heart, bench is coming around, reminds me of Nats circa 2011. starting to figure things out.

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Back to .500 and two wins over a team that is going to be competing for a playoff spot. Fantastic.

Those were key wins over Detroit. They're going to make the playoffs unless Charlotte and Toronto are actually for real and Boston/Chicago/New York .

But we put some distance between us and them for seeding purposes with these two wins.

With Horford going down, Atlanta is vulnerable too. The three seed is very much back in play for us.

Finishing a road heavy first two months at .500 is where we need to be. January is hectic, lots of games scheduled and five back to backs. But our home-road split is finally favorable. And February is home heavy. That'll be our shot to climb past .500 and make a run at the three seed. Or at least the fifth seed home court in the first round.

Looking at January:

Five games in seven days starting on the 5th is rough. We finish the week at Indy and home against Houston in a back to back. Both probable losses. But the key stretch is the 8 games in the next two weeks:

@ Chicago. Home stand against Miami, Chicago, Detroit (second game of a back to back), Philly, and Boston. Then another back to back on the road against Phoenix and Utah. The back to backs make the stretch somewhat difficult. Regardless, it's very important that we win most of those games. We need to go at least 5-3 there. Preferably 6-2.

Because we close out the month with a back to back on the road at Golden State and @ the Clippers, both probably losses. Our goal should be to finish January above .500.

Edited by stevemcqueen1
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It helps that Booker has been serviceable as a starter. His defense is a mess at times, but he hustles and seems to be more comfortable on offense.

Yeah Booker does look a lot more comfortable on offense. He's a quality inside finisher when he catches the ball in close.

Benching Maynor was big. Temple offers so little offensively since he's not a knockdown shooter and he isn't a slasher. But his defense is good enough for him to hold down a job in an NBA rotation and he doesn't really hurt us offensively.

Porter's emergence is going to really help the bench too. Combine that with Webster and Nene doing their thing and the bench will actually become a strength capable of beating up on the benches of other teams.

And that transforms this team's ceiling from late seed fodder to three seed and pesky second round match up.

Ariza has been shockingly good and consistent the entire year. We're not going to trade him. If anything, I think it's a lot more likely that we extend him this offseason than trade him before the deadline. The only way he's falling out of the rotation this season is injury.

We've had some trouble with injuries and the schedule was treacherous early on. But we've actually seen a lot of positive developments this year:

1.) Wall became an All Star and the best PG in the conference.

2.) Nene has been playing.

3.) Gortat adequately replaced Okafor. Made our offense even better if anything.

4.) Booker has been playing.

5.) Webster has been playing and doing his thing.

6.) Ariza is having his best season.

7.) Vesely actually became a useful rotation player.

We're still one key player away from a special season IMO. The only guy I can see on the roster picking up that slack is Porter, but I don't expect it. And even then, I think we're still a Bradley Beal emergence as an All Star away from being legit.

I think if you can keep most of the supporting cast intact and playing around this level, and then get Wall and Beal to reach their potential, you'll have an honest contender. Still a ton of untapped long term upside too in Wall, Beal, and Porter. Sucks that guys like Webster, Nene, and Gortat will be too old to be a part of that core in four or five years.

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Nah, this team will never be a contender if all of these players play up to their limits.

Gortat and Nene are old bigs, and Nene is brittle.

If we had a young big to groom, and can give us 14 and 10 plus solid defense then I could see it. But this group will never get there, imo.

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Nah, this team will never be a contender if all of these players play up to their limits.

Gortat and Nene are old bigs, and Nene is brittle.

If we had a young big to groom, and can give us 14 and 10 plus solid defense then I could see it. But this group will never get there, imo.

What young big giving them 14 and 10 does Miami have? Indy? OKC? San Antonio?

What you need to contend is a superstar and a good supporting cast. If Wall and Beal reach their potential we'll have two superstars.

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Getting healthy has really helped. I'm optimistic with the direction so far. Cautiously optimistic.

How many wins do you see now that the first two months are over?

I'm assuming our health will be about like it has the first two months: stretches of missed games from Beal and Nene throughout the year and some injuries to guys on the bench here and there.

I still see 47 wins. I think we can realistically expect 45 as something of a floor. Unless Wall gets hurt. If that happens we're through.

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Yeah Booker does look a lot more comfortable on offense. He's a quality inside finisher when he catches the ball in close.

 

 

Booker was upsetting me to the nth degree last night because he kept catching the ball, then dribbling once before going up for a jumper or a dunk. By that time, the defense would collapse on him and he'd have to pass it. I was like, just dunk the ball. Especially in the first half.

Five games in seven days starting on the 5th is rough. We finish the week at Indy and home against Houston in a back to back. Both probable losses. But the key stretch is the 8 games in the next two weeks:

@ Chicago. Home stand against Miami, Chicago, Detroit (second game of a back to back), Philly, and Boston. Then another back to back on the road against Phoenix and Utah. The back to backs make the stretch somewhat difficult. Regardless, it's very important that we win most of those games. We need to go at least 5-3 there. Preferably 6-2.

Because we close out the month with a back to back on the road at Golden State and @ the Clippers, both probably losses. Our goal should be to finish January above .500.

 

I'm more confident in this team coming off back to backs than with the rest. It seems to take us to long to get into games after 3+ days off.

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Booker was upsetting me to the nth degree last night because he kept catching the ball, then dribbling once before going up for a jumper or a dunk. By that time, the defense would collapse on him and he'd have to pass it. I was like, just dunk the ball. Especially in the first half.

 

Seraphin does it all the time as well. Its like they take that extra dribble to think about what they're going to do. Either coaches haven't let them know about it or they just don't listen.

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