WizBlog RSS FeedUNDERMANNED WIZARDS FALL TO HEAT
The Wizards started out Wednesday’s game against the Heat on the wrong end of a scoring run, falling early by as many as 17 points. But the Wizards closed in and took the lead in the second half (a small lead, but a lead nonetheless). In the end, it was too much Shaquille O’Neal, scoring 10 points in the fourth quarter to help put the game out of reach for Washington, who fell to Miami 83-92 at Verizon Center.
“During our pregame, we asked our team to compete at the highest level and to compete with all of their heart, and we did it,” said Coach Eddie Jordan. “We shared the basketball, we played the correct way, we competed, we were physical, we were active and it just wasn’t enough because we didn’t make shots.”
LISTEN: Head Coach Eddie Jordan
DeShawn Stevenson scored a team-high 19 points. Gilbert Arenas added 15 points, while Jarvis Hayes nearly had a double-double (10 points, nine rebounds). Roger Mason came off the bench and reached double-figures for the third straight game (11 points).
“We have to continue to believe in each other and our coaching staff,” said Antonio Daniels. “We will get it back together. It’s not the first time we’ve dealt with something like this. We will be okay. The last thing we need to do is start pointing fingers or getting down on each other. We need to stay optimistic and realize what we need to fix to get back on the winning side.”
Mike Hall, who was signed earlier in the day after the Wizards released James Lang, was inactive for the game. Starters Caron Butler and Antawn Jamison were both held out of the line-up. After the game Jordan indicated that one or both players could return this weekend, but was cautious about expectations.
“I told the team after the game, if the cavalry comes around the corner on Friday or Sunday, it is not guaranteed that we are going to get a win. Quite frankly, the guys are going to be rusty coming back. They are going to have to find their rhythm, but hopefully they will find it quickly.”
February 28th, 2007 at 10:30 PM
Antawn’s out. Caron’s out. Gilbert is laying down enough bricks to build a school gymnasium these past three games. Is it his shoulder? His knee? What else is there to say? The Wizards are spiraling out of control, and they can’t stop it. I wouldn’t be surprised to see them below .500 by the end of March. I don’t think they can beat the Celtics right now. Even when they get wide open looks, they respond with bricks. Frustrating.
February 28th, 2007 at 11:40 PM
christopher - relax, last I heard Antawn and Caron weren’t expected to miss a lot of time. Gil will find his shot and those guys will be back soon.
Way too many “Ship Is Sinking” fans out there - everyone needs to look at the big picture.
March 1st, 2007 at 12:20 AM
I was at the game tonight so I saw everything live. It seemed like Wizards were playing to counter Arenas’ bad shooting instead of playing to beat the Heat. Several times the team would come close and just couldn’t go over the hump.
Sometimes I feel that Gilbert plays way too much to the crowd instead of playing smart. He would come down the court and jack a shot when his teammates have no idea that he would take a shot so quickly. If Arenas is open, take it. No coach would tell a shooter to not shoot an open shot. If the shot isn’t there, the Wizards need better ball movement to get the open shot.
The current losing streak is pointing directly at Arenas as a main reason why. It is difficult to ignore Gilbert’s shooting stats.
Against
Heat: 3 for 18, 0 for 8 (3 pt)
Nets: 7 for 25, 3 for 12 (3 pt)
Wolves: 4 for 22, 1 for 11 (3 pt)
Bulls: 11 for 20, 2 for 5 (3 pt)
I thought Arenas would be able to take on more load due to no Jamison and now no Butler. It appears that Agent Zero is human afterall and he’s breaking down. Ship isn’t sinking, but the Wizards are losing home court advantage. I don’t want another postseason of “what ifs” like last season.
March 1st, 2007 at 2:04 AM
I hate to admit it, but I have to agree with the second anonymous poster. Gilbert has been awful for most of February. I just looked up the top 50 scorers in the NBA on NBA.com. Gilbert has the worst shooting percentage out of all of them, an abysmal 41.7%. His shot hasn’t been falling for a long time, and he’s hurting his team with all of his bricks.
I do want to say something positive, though, so people don’t think I’m always complaining. The Wizards played good defense against the Heat tonight, much better than I expected. It was just a shame that they couldn’t turn their defensive stops into more points due to their poor shooting.
March 1st, 2007 at 8:09 AM
Have any of you notice that when the ball goes to Arenas the flow usually comes to a halt. He holds it for a couple of seconds to see if he can get a shot off.
We need to depend more on the other guys. We can’t live or die with Arenas. Even when his shot is falling, we’d be better off moving the ball faster.
March 1st, 2007 at 9:13 AM
Tough loss. But, we can take away some positives. The bench is beginning to show progress, Jarvis is starting to come alive (shot wise)and we are playing a little better defense. As for Arenas, I think that maybe some external force is messing with his concentration and focus. Maybe it is the arrival of his new child or his shoulder, which is understandable,but he just has not played to his fullest potential of late. If he wants to be mentioned with the Wades,Lebrons and Kobes of the NBA, he is going to have to dig deep and come up big. The bench has stepped it up and the team really needs him to come through big. They could have beat the Nets and the Bulls had he been playing well. I know he is being doubled teamed and what not but if that is the case, his assists percentage should be way up and it isn’t. Gil is my man and I love him to death, but, now is the time that he needs to show that he is indeed worth of the star status he seeks.
March 1st, 2007 at 9:30 AM
You actually think Jarvis’s shot is coming around? He was 4-14. Last night tells you everything: he is a very streaking shooter. He starter 0-4, had a 4-5 streak in the middle, and 0-5 in the end. That is not good.
March 1st, 2007 at 10:22 AM
I hate to say it but everyone already knows the main reason to the four game losing streak that the Wizards are going though. Gilbert’s shooting!! Yeah we have two of our best players down but the other guys have picked up their game. I really think the Wizards could have won at least three of the last four games if Gilbert wasn’t jacking up shots. I really tired of hearing about Gilbert’s shoulder and knees. (He is not going to shoot through a shooting slump if he is hurting) If he is hurting maybe he should sit down and rest. We need the big three at 100% come playoff time. So rest all of them at the same time. There’s no need to go out there and shoot jumpers when you know that you get most of your points by driving to the basket and from the foul line. Plus in an offence like we have now we really need someone to run the point guard position like you suppose to. I love Gilbert’s game but he is not your ideal point guard. Maybe Daniels can come in and pass the ball around and maybe look for an open shot. Just a thought!
Millie Mill
March 1st, 2007 at 10:40 AM
We’re a jump shooting team without our best jump shooters in the game..it was killing me last night that NO one wanted to attack the basket, and when they did, it was so tentative that the the heat rotated right to us and it was over..block..strip..it was sad to watch.
That said, I’m not worried yet. Gimme some tough juice and I’ll be happy.
March 1st, 2007 at 11:30 AM
craig - how can the wiz attack the basket when shaq would be standing there and swat their shots? did you see jarvis hayes, haywood, blatche, and even arenas getting owned by the big aristotle when they tried to attack the basket?
March 1st, 2007 at 11:46 AM
Gilbert is too heady right now to be the superstar that he wants to be. Kobe might have a couple of off nights, but never 4 or 5 in a row. There’s no reason that the Wiz shouldn’t be winning, even without Caron or Antawn, because Gilbert should be scoring 30 points in their absense and stepping up like the star players. Instead, he’s just hucking 3’s and bad look shots in an attempt to shoot himself out of the funk. He needs to take it to the hole and draw fouls to build his confidence. Where is Eddie Jordan? Show some balls and bench Gilbert already. Give him a break and send him a message.
March 1st, 2007 at 12:10 PM
MAKE SOME SHOTS!!!!!!!!!!! I HATE IT when we loose to the Heat. Just reminds me of all the other games we lost to the Heat. Could someone actually give me a count of how many times the wizards TRIED to drive in or take a shot from 20 feet in during the 4th quarter? It felt like single digits when I was watching the game.
March 1st, 2007 at 12:21 PM
Nothing better than seeing us down 5 points with 2 minutes to go and JARVIS jacking up a quick 3. I rather have Lang on our team.
March 1st, 2007 at 12:50 PM
In defense of Jarvis, he was open to take the 3 unlike someone else on the team that takes the 3 just because he feels like it.
Like i said yesterday, if the shot is open and you have the range to shoot it, take it. If the shot is not there, don’t force it especially during crucial moments in the game. Roger Mason is a great example of only taking shots when he’s open. He doesn’t force things.
I can live with Arenas shooting bad for 10 games. I can’t live with the team playing stupid basketball for 10 games. I am sure the coaching staff feels the same way I do.
March 1st, 2007 at 1:07 PM
I hope Gilbert reads these posts and get mad. Prove us wrong even. Just step up your game like we know you can! We really could have won the last three games because the bench gave us good game. It was Gil who was missing a lot of shots. We were in it almost to the end but just could not close it out. Like the other posters stated, if Gil is hurt then don’t let him play hurt because it lessens our chances to win. As for missing Caron, hey, Deshawn was right there with him and he brought his offensive game. I am in now way dumping on Gil because he is still the man in my book. I am only saying, when you want the spotlight and the acclaim you have to play to that level or you will be judged. Fair or not.
March 1st, 2007 at 1:47 PM
I’m sorry but Gil IS the reason we have been losing cause:
Team only gets about 80-90 shots a game and Gil is taking 20-25 of those shots. thats about 25% of all shots.
When he misses 15-20 of those shots, thats a potential 30-40 pts not recieved.
I think this should be the rules.
1) If u miss ur first five 3’s then NO MORE 3s!!
2) If gil FG% in a game is 30% or less by 10 shots (3 of 10) then he needs to STOP shooting and make plays like a real PG
3) If he cant make plays after he stopped shooting BENCH him.
4)Unless its a fast break ball MUST be passed at least 3 times.
5) NO CONTESTED SHOTS unless ur hot or the shot clock is running down.
If we followed these simple rules we could win.
On the bright side our bench is gettng WAY BETTER. They have confidence and many more minutes.
Also these same rules apply to any other shooters.
PLEASE coaches get this under control before our season is done (NO PLAYOFFS IS A POSSIBLITY) and before our players start fighting and they wont resign. This team is top calibur and just as talented as any team. we just need displine.
March 1st, 2007 at 2:50 PM
If we played under those rules, we wouldn’t be the Wizards. We take quick shots. It’s been that way for 3 years, and probably will be that way for some time.
March 1st, 2007 at 3:07 PM
Anonymous, WELL SAID!
Especially the part about passing the ball. Too many times I see them come down the court and take the first shot when had they passed it, someone else who had a clear look could have taken the shot and scored the points.
Come on Wizards, LETS GO ALL IN AND PLAY AS A TEAM. The talent is there but where is the will? This means being unselfish and doing whats best for the team first. You win or die by teamwork or lack thereof and right now, if the hole is not plugged, the boat is going down. We still have time to turn it around. Every player should get at least one touch before the ball is shot. Period.
March 1st, 2007 at 3:07 PM
hey now everyone calm down.
eddie has encouraged gil to take more shots. has everyone forgotten that. yea he has a hurt shoulder and all but half of the time when he passes out of double and tripple teams his teammates are putting up bricks as well. he’s doin the rite things and making the right decisions half the time. and he splits the doulble or tripple teams from time to time to keep the defense honest and bc his team mates arent responding w. makes.
eddie even aknowled that fact. that and the fact that there have been a lot of no-calls his way. he do not forget that we have been in all of these games downt he strectch for the most part. the ship is not sinking yet guys. we will still win the division and the rest will come into play once all of our pieces get healthy. we have been playing much better defense as far as rotating in the paint and over all containment and help defense. the one phase we need to work on is recovering and guarding the 3.
eric.. feel free to bak me up on this and calm a lot of the arenas bashing down. lol
March 1st, 2007 at 5:29 PM
Cmmon Wiz! At least counter the bad shooting by playing some Defense! The Nets made 16 three-pointers the last time they played each other! I also blame the coaching for not making defensive adjustments.
March 1st, 2007 at 7:36 PM
I am really surprised by the moves that Eddie Jordan has made this season.
All of a sudden he decides to go with the young guys during the playoff run and the starters out with injuries.
Just some of the moves at center an other positions throughout this season have me shaking my head. It’s easy to ignore when the team is winning, but when they start losing it’s harder to forget.
Having Arenas put up huge numbers can also mask some of those situations. Now that Gilbert is in a slump as well…sorry, but I am really confused by this team and this coach right now.