| 25 November 2009
The stage was perfectly set.
A nice 4th quarter comeback, deficit progressively trimmed (from 90-79 to 98-94, then 100-97, 104-102, finally 106-105), a turnover by Arenas in their last possession with Wizards up one ---> Sixers ball with 27.8 seconds left.
But Lou Williams' last three rimmed out, despite the good look he had, and we lost the game, 108-107. Sixers' record now is a poor 5-9 (.357) and improving it in the next game, at Boston, doesn't seem likely.
I watched the game replayed after I came back home after a business trip. I got mad in the third quarter, when Nick Young and Antawn Jamison literally toyed with us, scoring a combined 16 consecutive points and giving Washington a 74-59 lead.
Young (averaging 2 ppg before last night...) got the start because Mike Miller was out, Jamison (17 pts in the third, half of his 32) stepped up in Caron Butler's absence. Wizards were also missing Crittenton and Mike James.
The funny thing is that our comeback was led by... Jrue Holiday. He was P-H-E-N-O-M-E-N-A-L, checking in with 9.40 left in the game (sort of desperation move by Jordan, let's be honest) and putting up 11 points - with three threes - , 6 rebounds (!!), 1 assist, 2 steals, zero turnovers and one blocked shot (!!!!). Sixers outscored Wizards 28-18 with the rookie at the helm, in a weird lineup that included also Willie Green, Rodney Carney, Thad Young and Jason Smith.
Yes, Iguodala and Brand were sitting, Elton the whole quarter, while Andre got in only for the last possession, drawing a foul with 11 seconds to go, before Lou Williams misfired on the three. The second unit that put us back into the game would have deserved a W, I must say, we just couldn't complete a very nice job: Wizards were also lucky, with a couple of bounces going in the right (for them) way down the stretch.
I'll make the rest of the recap quick, because the Celtics game is starting soon, and we just learned that Lou Williams will be out with a broken jaw. (more after the jump)THREE ANSWERS
1) Yes, Holiday can play, when he's not given 4 minutes. We already knew this, but somebody perhaps forgot it. Now he will apparently start against the Celtics, replacing Lou. Nice move, I don't care if Rondo will eat him alive.
2) speaking of which, yes, Dalembert is still alive. Nice game. I must say I would have played him even more, since we had troubles rebounding the ball. Jason Smith (that I am a fan of) played pretty well but with him we are clearly weaker under the glasses, giving up too many offensive boards. Jamison got EIGHT, Haywood five. It costed us a lot.
3) no, Iguodala's outside shot is not falling. He's 13/49 from the field in the last three games, a whopping 26%... which would push any player to take the ball to the rim more: instead, he's continuing with the 18-20 footers, that regularly clank... he surprisingly hit all of his eight free throw attempts, wow !!
THREE QUESTIONS
1) Why it took so long to give Holiday minutes? Not only yesterday, I mean, I'm considering all of the 14 games !
2) Why did Green get 17 minutes? He's shooting 4/18 in the last four...
3) how is it possible that we are DEAD LAST IN THE NBA IN DEF REBOUNDS and 28th in rebounding (39.5 per game) ??? With Dalembert, Brand and Iguodala (top rebounding guard) ?? As much as I always criticezed (and will always criticize) Dalembert for his shortcomings, I think that when he's not having foul troubles, he should play 27-30 minutes, only with this purpose.
REASONS
Why we lost the game
Missed the last shot, obviously. Didn't box out well and let them too many 2nd chances. Iguodala and Brand were in an off night offensively. Allowed Jamison to score on at least four IDENTICAL drives (right).
To be optimistic
Maybe our coach finally realized Holiday is a player and will give him REGULAR minutes - reguardless of Lou Williams' injury, I mean. Comeback was exciting.
To be worried
We lost to a scrappy team, our seventh loss in the last nine games... Kapono is in a slump and risks to fall out of the rotation. Lou Williams, that was finally playing well, and seemed to have found consistency, is out. It happened the same with Speights, injured just when was kicking asses: not exactly good signs, uh ?? Four games under .500 is already a pretty big hole, climbing will be tough.
The Washington game got emotional after we got the news that Wizards' owner Abe Pollin passed away. Here is a nice article by David Aldridge about him. RIP mr. Pollin.
