The Official Washington Basketball Thread: Wizards, Mystics etc

[G.A.C.O.L.B.]

Regarding the regular season... maybe its the players who were at fault and not Wittman. Didn't Pierce allude to that in an earlier in the week interview?

I even posted they had a Lakers like "hit the switch" mentality... earlier in this thread.

I know Pierce said they were holding back their super effective small-ball lineup for the postseason. Which is amost...genius...on Wittman's part if true.

[StillUnknown]

Regarding the regular season... maybe its the players who were at fault and not Wittman. 

 

Wittman allowed Webster to play minutes almost until the end of the season. He also stuck with Butler way past his expiration date. He's graduated from horrible to competent, but has also been the beneficiary of favorable 1st round matchups. I commend him for having the team prepared for the playoffs, but I'll be damned if swallow any revisionist history about his failings in the regular season. This team should have been the 3rd seed easy. Randy finds ways to turn failure into luck though, maybe thats his gift.

Edited April 27, 2015 by StillUnknown

[Fergasun]

How much time did Butler and Webster see in the playoffs? Even Seraphin has been limited... he kept them engaged during regular season, and may get some reward if they are called upon.

[CrypticVillain]

Hawks and Nets tied at 2-2. I tried to tell y'all. 

I found my exact post...
 

I doubt they are going to win the series, but the Nets are playing Atlanta tough. They won today. I don't think we can even pencil in Atlanta right now. 

Still think Atlanta will win, but man...

[pjfootballer]

Verizon center going to stay busy. Caps win.

[G.A.C.O.L.B.]

Verizon center going to stay busy. Caps win.

Heard Pierce, Wall, Gortat and Butler were sitting there right on the ice, in jerseys banging on the glass like crazy.

Would love a pic of that. I'll find one in the AM.

Edited April 28, 2015 by G.A.C.O.L.B.

[Skin'emAlive]

Pierce, wall, beal, and gortat were definitely there. Saw them behind the glass.

Edited April 28, 2015 by Skin'emAlive

[StillUnknown]

Heard Pierce, Wall, Gortat and Butler were sitting there right on the ice, in jerseys banging on the glass like crazy.

Would love a pic of that. I'll find one in the AM.

 

[Destino]

We've said it a million times.... this team is easy to cheer for.

[Popeman38]

First time in DC sports history that Wi and Caps both advance to 2nd round.

MOVIN ON UUUUPPPPP

[No Excuses]

We gon kick some Hawk ass.

[Destino]

First time in DC sports history that Wi and Caps both advance to 2nd round.

MOVIN ON UUUUPPPPP

DC Rising!

Now we just need the redskins to get with the damn program.

We gon kick some Hawk ass.

I feel like I've seen this movie already.

Oh the Pacers are struggling to beat the mediocre Hawks?! Hahaha they suck we'll crush them.

[StillUnknown]

we can't beat the Hawks

 

 

fortunately Brooklyn might do that for us.........

Edited April 28, 2015 by StillUnknown

[Going Commando]

This Hawks team doesn't have a Paul George. And we're better than we were last year. We can beat them. It'd be a tough series but we can do it.

Man, when is the last time the five seed got the sweep and the one seed was in a dogfight that will at least go to six? We flipped the script.

And if Brooklyn wins we get home court against the eight seed... We'd beat them in five games at the most.

Set the stage for an absolutely epic ECF against a Cavs team that has less experience than we do and suddenly became short handed. Wall versus Irving. Pierce versus LeBron. That is a dream scenario.

GO BROOKLYN!

[Destino]

If the hawks lose do we vote again on coach of the year? lol

[Rocky21]

This Hawks team doesn't have a Paul George. And we're better than we were last year. We can beat them. It'd be a tough series but we can do it.

Man, when is the last time the five seed got the sweep and the one seed was in a dogfight that will at least go to six? We flipped the script.

And if Brooklyn wins we get home court against the eight seed... We'd beat them in five games at the most.

Set the stage for an absolutely epic ECF against a Cavs team that has less experience than we do and suddenly became short handed. Wall versus Irving. Pierce versus LeBron. That is a dream scenario.

GO BROOKLYN!

Slow yer roll brother. I want to think about this but I'm gonna go with a Go Nets! for now.

[TradeTheBeal!]

Brooklyn might be a tougher matchup right now.

[Going Commando]

Brooklyn might be a tougher matchup right now.

 

It's a measure of how badly the Hawks have played in the past four game that thoughts like these are creeping in.  On RealGM there is a thread asking who we should prefer to play between the two and people are actually having to give it thought.

 

Put it this way, I would much rather play a Home Court series against the 38 win eight seed than a road series against the 60 win one seed.  We would kill Brooklyn.

Edited April 28, 2015 by stevemcqueen1

[CrypticVillain]

What time we play tonight?

 

Oh yeah, that's right. Silly me. lol

[TradeTheBeal!]

Aren't the Hawks 9-11 in their last 20 games? And are we not historically strong on the road?

It's not as clear-cut as it looks. That said...Go Nets!

[BRAVEONAWARPATH]

Click to read the rest

http://grantland.com/the-triangle/winners-and-losers-in-the-nba-playoffs/

 

WINNER: The Revived Wizards

 

What a turnaround. Two weeks ago, the Wizards had stalled out. The young core consisted of John Wall, a legitimate star, and Bradley Beal, a second banana who hadn’t gotten better — or healthier. Otto Porter was on the fringes of the rotation — a Vine punch line. The rest of the team consisted of colorful fogies and two pricey starting bigs on the decline. The Wiz had no one else relevant in the same age band as Wall and Beal, and no one even just a few years older. That mishmash was the price of missed draft picks, poor player development, and get-rich-quick moves.

 

And then the first round happened. Randy Wittman flinging off the dunce cap and using Paul Pierce at power forward drew most of the attention, but two other story lines carry larger fundamental importance to the Wiz: the play of Porter and Gortat.

 

Porter’s emergence as a quality two-way player could realign the entire long-term trajectory of the franchise. They would have a real core, not just a duo in need of reinforcements everywhere. Porter enveloped DeRozan on defense; DeRozan shot 34 percent with Porter on the floor and 47 percent otherwise, per NBA.com. Porter still makes all the typical young-guy mistakes on defense, but the Wizards have realized he has the length and quickness to recover immediately:

 

Porter hit jumpers, murdered the glass, and made slicing off-ball cuts for easy buckets.

 

Edited April 28, 2015 by BRAVEONAWARPATH

[Rocky21]

Thanks for the link Brave. Great read. I also got this there - "Gortat punched Barney in the freaking face. He shot 74 percent, finished everything near the bucket, aced his pick-and-roll dance with Wall, patrolled the interior, and dished assists at a career-best rate." :-)

[Going Commando]

I love Zach Lowe.  Dude puts in the work to write excellent columns and he's Grantland's best analyst.  But there are a couple narratives in that piece that bug me as inaccurate.  For instance, the line about Gortat being expensive and on the decline.  His contract is an excellent deal and he was better this year than last year.  His minutes dropping was a product of the team having better big man depth, and not playing in the fourth quarter was entirely a Randy being stupid thing.

 

Also Beal is getting better.  But you have to have watched him every game for the last two or three years to see the growth because it isn't showing up in his numbers.  He's still not consistent yet.  But his game has grown.  For one thing, Beal could not attack the rim or run so much PnR as the ball handler before this year.

[pjfootballer]

Where is the gif of 4 raptors falling down on the court or did I miss that?

[actualone]

They need to go to a Nats game, maybe it will help