WizBlog RSS FeedSONGAILA’S INSIDE GAME LEADS LITHUANIA PAST FRANCE
In his best game so far in EuroBasket 2007, Wizards forward Darius Songaila scored 17 points on seven of 10 shooting and led Lithuania with seven rebounds in a crucial victory against France, 88-73, Monday evening in Madrid, Spain. Lithuania, already qualified to the quarter finals, stay unbeaten (4-0 vs. qualifying teams; 5-0 overall) and remain top in Group F of the tournament.
Touted as a “must see” match-up between the best two point guards in the European tournament Tony Parker (11 pts, 6 ast) and Sarunas Jasikevicius (14 pts, 7 ast), it was Songaila who got the job done by beating out the undersized forwards Boris Diaw and Florent Pietrus (older brother of Mickael), not to mention that the energetic Ronny Turiaf had trouble guarding him and eventually fouled out of the game in just nine minutes of play.
Songaila started the game by scoring the first four points on two jumpers and then was superb on his inside game by making several layups and getting rebounds (game-high six defensive rebounds).
Forward Darius Songaila: “France moved to a small line up and it took us some minutes to figure out how to play against that. By then they were back in the game, but we took off quick and won another game.”
Here is his stats line:
| STATS |
Min
|
2P FG
|
FT
|
REB
OR/DR/Tot |
PF
|
TO
|
ST
|
PTS
|
||
| Songaila |
23
|
7/10
|
3/4
|
1
|
6
|
7
|
3
|
2
|
2
|
17
|
September 10th, 2007 at 7:29 PM
The guy can flat out shoot. And rebound as well as bigger guys.
September 11th, 2007 at 12:25 AM
It’s going to be very nice to have him start off this season healthy. With Mr. Songalia healthy, the addition of Pesh, Mr. Blatche’s hopeful improvement, and already having Mr. Thomas and Mr. Haywood we may just be pretty ok in the middle this year? I see where Philidelphia signed Mr. Booth.
September 11th, 2007 at 10:34 AM
I wish we would have kept Booth. I really liked the guy. None the less, I wish nothing but the best for him in Philly..
September 11th, 2007 at 5:14 PM
Since Calvin Booth is gone is it possible to sign Kelvin Cato, Vitaly Potapenko, Kevin Willis, Ryan Hollins for 1 million or should we sign the best available free agent for 1 million? What you guys think?
September 11th, 2007 at 5:29 PM
I forgot too add Dwayne Jones 6 ft 11 in. weight 250lbs from the Cavs who is a free agent. He is a good shotblocker and rebounder. No offense though. What about michael olowokandi? hit me somebody hit me. is he a never was never will be?
September 11th, 2007 at 10:32 PM
I’d like to have any of those guys, with the possible exception of Kevin Willis. He can apply for Social Security, can’t he? But we’re already in luxury tax land by at least $400,000 (presuming Taylor and Hall make the team). I don’t think they’re going to sign a 15th player.
It’s beginning to look like Blatche is our 3rd center (and in the rotation once Thomas goes down again).
September 11th, 2007 at 11:25 PM
SIMPLY FANTASTIC DARIUS YOU ARE DEFINITELY SHOWING ME SOMETHING. I HAVE TO
ADMIT I WAS NOT OVERLY IMPRESSED WITH YOU LAST SEASON . IF YOU COME OUT STRONG OFF THE BENCH AND BE A FORCE IN 2007/2008 SEASON THEN YOU MIGHT BE A GOOD CANDIDATE FOR 6 MAN OF THE YEAR AWARD WHICH MEANS MONEY AND RECOGNITION! I HOPE YOUR HEALTH HOLDS UP AND PLAY WITH A PURPOSE AND PASSION THEN YOU WILL BE SUCCESSFUL! GOOD LUCK !!!!
September 12th, 2007 at 1:43 AM
again aundra cracks me up. I can never claim wizards biggest fan cause there’s his/ her posts that remind me i’m not (due to the fact I don’t write in caps permanently.) I think it will be hard to watch games and not think of aundra super excited when we make good plays.
September 12th, 2007 at 9:17 AM
Good article in the Post this AM re. Songaila. Maybe he should be our backup center. He’s as big as Thomas. Maybe he should be our starting center.
September 12th, 2007 at 9:35 AM
Euro Basket 2007 is not the NBA. Songailia is healthy which is good for the Wiz. This means hopefully he can come to training camp and find his role on the team. Personally I see him mostly as Antawn’s backup. One thing I don’t see him as is playing center. He might be able to get away with it in Europe but not in the NBA. If he is playing Center then that means BH and ET got into it again. If Marcus Camby can play Center for Denver then i don’t see why OP and AB don’t get the nod before Darius at the 5 spot.
September 12th, 2007 at 12:14 PM
Another vote of confidence in our wrangling centers by Wizards management.
??
Maybe they like James Lang again?
September 13th, 2007 at 12:43 AM
LOL Bruce… Aundra is a very passionate poster.
Neal…. Mr. Thomas is 6′ 10″ and Mr. Songalia is 6′ 9″ , but, Mr. Thomas has a good deal more “beef”. I see Mr. Songalia as a very good back up at the 4, but, I don’t even see him playing center in a small ball format. That spot will probably be taken by Pesh or Andre.
September 13th, 2007 at 11:21 AM
BRUCE O AND GRIFONRACING YOUR PART OF THE FRAT NOW !
WHAT’S YOUR OPINION ON WHAT WE NEED TO GET TO THE BIG SHOW!!
WHO WILL MAKE A IMMEDIATE IMPACT OFF THE BENCH THIS YEAR!
WHAT WILL THE WIZARDS DEFENSE AVERAGE AS FAR AS POINTS,STEALS AND TURNOVERS!
HOW CAN THE WIZARDS MANAGEMENT GET THE FANS TO COME OUT TO EVEN WEEKLY GAMES FOR A SELLOUT !
WHAT WILL IT TAKE FOR OUR WIZARDS TEAM TO START FAST AND IN STRONG THIS YEAR!
I BELIEVE THIS IS OUR YEAR! WADE HAD HIS YEAR AND WON A CHAMPIONSHIP.LEBRON HAD HIS CHANCE LAST YEAR AND MADE IT TO THE FINALS.
NOW IT’S OUR TURN TO SHOW CASE OUR GOOD!!!
September 13th, 2007 at 4:24 PM
I figure we’ll be a lot stronger off the bench at all three front court positions. We have Blatche and Songaila playing more minutes, plus McGuire and Pecherov instead of Hayes and Booth. If Young develops quickly we would also be stronger at the SG position.
September 14th, 2007 at 12:15 AM
At first, I thought we needed a “servicable” big. As I look at things as they stand… we really don’t look too bad. We have three guys that are 7′… two of which can move pretty well, and the other has a ton of experiance. That’s not even considering Mr. Thomas. I think we have enough capable players at the 4 to make almost any other team drool a little. The 1, 2, and 3 positions have very good players on the first team. Unlike before, when I thought our “unknown” would be in the middle, I now think how far we go this year depends on the growth of players like Mr. Young and Dmac. Barring injuries to key players I see us advancing to at least the second round of the playoffs.
September 14th, 2007 at 7:27 AM
Whenever you have new, young and talented players it should make for an entertaining season. Lets hope we’ve done something to address defense, rebounding and the pace of the game when Gil is sitting.
Except for Hayes, the guys we’ve replaced didn’t get many minutes. Lets hope that McGuire soaks up all of Hayes’ minutes, that Blatche earns 15 minutes a game, and that Pecherov and Young live up to their 1st-round potential. Combine that with the exciting play of Gil, Caron and Antawn and, yes, we might have some fun this year!
September 16th, 2007 at 9:48 AM
blatche got his 20 minutes alot last year and I don’t think thats going to change. If you look at his stats last year he started getting 20 minute games mostly in the second half of the season. He struggled offensively against CHI, MIN, MIA, IND, SA, TOR but did better than 50 percent fg in other efforts where he had more than 3 shots or played more than ten minutes. The teams I just named have KG, JO, Bosh, Tim Duncan at the power spots so I figure he was defending more and chicago and miami have ben wallace and shaq. Blatche will be solid before his contract with the Wiz is done.
September 17th, 2007 at 10:33 PM
I think our eggs are in a better basket than they were with Kwame anyway…lol