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Highest Plus/Minus: Antawn Jamison (+25)
Lowest Plus/Minus: Nick Young (-2)
Best Five Man Unit: Dee Brown, DeShawn Stevenson, Caron Butler, Antawn Jamison, JaVale McGee (+11 to start the 3rd Quarter).
Worst Five Man Unit: Antonio Daniels, Nick Young, Caron Butler, Darius Songaila, JaVale McGee (-3 to star the 4th quarter).

Four Factors:

As most of you know, Mike and I are college students so right now is a pretty hectic time for both of us as we deal with projects, final exams, and everything else that comes with the end of the semester.  So rather than having one of us post some half-baked thoughts for the recap of last night's win, we decided to combine our half-baked thoughts together to hopefully come up with something that's hopefully fully baked. -Jake.

• Last night just goes to show that for all the talk that DeShawn's numbers were down because he had to be more of a creator than a finisher, DeShawn does his best job of creating more opportunities for the rest of the team when he's hitting threes and stretching the defense, opening up more room for everyone else to operate. Since DeShawn joined the team back in 2006, the Wizards are 15-3 when Stevenson hits 4 or more three-pointers. -Jake
  
• For all the talk of Dee Brown pushing the pace, our defense played a big role as well.  We held New Jersey to one shot consistently despite them missing a lot and were able to get out in transition on those misses.  That's key.  Dee will push the ball, but he can't do it out of his own basket. -PM
  
• A reason for concern: We only shot 11 free throws.  The shots were falling tonight because of New Jersey's pathetic disinclination to play defense.  That won't happen against most teams.  Same with assists -- we had 33, but as impressive as that is, it happened because we made shots. -PM
  
• In the recap of the Hawks game on Saturday, I mentioned that Antonio Daniels hit two three pointers for the first time in over a year on Saturday. In hitting two three pointers last night, Dee Brown ended a streak that dated back to April 11, 2007 without hitting more than one three pointer in an NBA game. -Jake
  
• Dee Brown may have very well had his best game as a Wizard last night. 8 points, 7 assists, 3 rebounds, and 2 steals is a very solid line for Brown. It's nice to see him bounce back from his less than stellar performance on Saturday. -Jake
  
• One quibble: Caron Butler's minutes.  He doesn't need to get 37.5 minutes in a blowout win. -PM
  
• This stretch of games is going to be a real litmus test for JaVale McGee. Seeing him go up against Brook Lopez, Greg Oden, Andrew Bynum, and Joakim Noah is going to give us an idea of where he stands in relation to some of the other good, young big men in the NBA. He held his own against Brook tonight, but he's going to need to take it to another level against Oden and Bynum. -Jake
  
• Love that Vince Carter went back to his shot-jacking, low-efficiency ways.  I did like the way Devin Harris looked though.  If only we kept him in 04. -PM
  
• Winning cures all ills. -Jake
  

As you all probably know, I'm a student at George Mason so I spent tonight checking out the GMU-Liberty game tonight on MASN.  I could lament on the tough loss tonight, but I'll spare you that rant.  Instead, let me talk to you about the player that's going to be the next big thing in college hoops: Seth Curry.  You may know him as the son of Dell Curry and little brother of Stephen Curry.  He plays at LU so I got a good look at the kid tonight and after one viewing I can tell you this:

The kid is legit.

It's downright scary how similar the two of them are.  Honestly, if I didn't know better I'd swear that they're twins.  Seth isn't where Stephen is at right now, but when you compare their numbers from their freshman seasons, some eerily similarities are revealed.

The numbers show it, and once you get a chance to see Seth Curry in action, you'll believe it too: Seth has the potential to be just as good as Stephen. 

I really don't think I can overstate how similar their games are. 

I don't think it will be long until this photo becomes to basketball...

...what this photo has become to football.

Our fearless leader Ernie Grunfeld seems to believe so.

Grunfeld believes that even without Arenas and starting center Brendan Haywood, the Wizards have enough talent to be a .500 team.

"We're better than we have performed," Grunfeld said when asked about the decision to fire Jordan, the third-winningest coach in franchise history.

I think that we'd all agree that there's some truth in that.  Save for two blowouts at the hands of the Magic and a sloppy loss at Miami, the Wizards have been competitive in every other game they've played this season.  In fact, in of those losses, they've either held the lead or been within one possession of tying the game.  Let's take a look back at those losses:

• Lost to New Jersey by 10, despite holding a lead in the 4th quarter.  At the time it seemed like a bad loss since most people thought the Nets would be one of the worst teams in the league.  In hindsight, it doesn't look nearly as bad given that the Nets are currently 9-7, but it was still a game the Wizards could've had.  Last lead: 8:05 left in the 4th quarter.
  
• Lost to Milwaukee by 8 in OT.  The Wizards had control for most of the game, but a late 10-1 run forced an extra period and the Bucks rode the momentum to a win in extra time.  Out of all the wins that the Wizards have given away, this one probably stings the most.  Last lead: 2:16 left in the 4th quarter.
• Lost to New York by 6.  New York had the lead for most of the game, but a Caron Butler layup gave the Wizards the lead with less than a five minutes to go.  Then the Knicks scored 12 of the last 15 points.  Last lead: 4:41 left in the 4th quarter.
• Lost to Atlanta by 4.  A DeShawn Stevenson jumper gave the Wizards a 4 point lead with 1:05 to go, but two treys from Joe Johnson gave the Hawks the lead for good as the Hawks would go on to score 8 points in the last 65 seconds.  Last lead: 0:27 left in the 4th quarter.
• Lost to Houston by 12.  If you can believe it, the Wizards actually held a 9 point lead with less than 9 minutes to go and still managed to lose by double-digits.  Apparently Tracy McGrady can still hit threes when he's left open.  Last lead: 3:56 left in the 4th quarter.
• Lost to New York by 5.  Of course, this was the game that the Wizards lost despite the Knicks only suiting up 7 players.  I'd say the consensus among most Wizard fans was that it was a game that Wizards should've won given the circumstances.  Not everyone agrees, however:

   

  Sean: You obviously didn't watch the Wizards, this season nor the past three playoff years. Eddie Jordan's Princeton offense was nonexistent. He was possibly the worst defensive coach in the league. His genius strategy of giving up the most 3s in history was classic. How do you lose to the Knicks who dress seven guys?

  Justin: There's no bigger cliche in the inbox of sportswriters than the fan who writes in to say, "You obviously don't watch Team X." Please. I watch all the teams. I talk with scouts about them. I talk with coaches, general managers and players about them. I am happy to recognize that legit disagreements come up among observers. But don't try the I-know-more-than-you-because-you-don't-watch-my-team angle. It's bunk.

  I would say you need a Princeton offense primer. They run some variation of the Princeton offense 99 percent of the time. Ask any scout. I have. As for losing to the Knicks, that's not hard to do when you are missing your starting point guard, your backup point guard and your starting center. The Wizards had to start Dee Brown and JaVale McGee. That's why they lost.

  I'll agree that sportswriters don't get enough credit for the hours they spend watching film and gathering insights from people in the know.  I'll also agree that the Wizards run the Princeton about 99 percent of the time.  But I just don't see where he's coming from with the last part.  Sure, the Wizards were without their two best point guards and their top center, but the Knicks were without their top shooting guard, top center, and they didn't have the services of one of their top two point guards because he refused to play.  Plus, the Wizards had two All-Stars and a full bench to compensate for their roster issues, the Knicks didn't. 

  Should that game have cost Eddie Jordan his job?  Maybe not, but I think it's a game that he should've won.

  Anyways, despite all that, the Wizards had a chance to win, late in the game but as you would proably expect given the theme that's been established, a late run by the Knicks did them in.  Last lead: 7:18 left in the 4th quarter.

For those of you keeping score at home, that's six losses where the Wizards had a lead in the fourth quarter only to end up losing.  Plus the Wizards have had three games this season (at Detroit, vs Miami, and vs Atlanta) where the Wizards had either tied the game or come within one possession of tying the game in the fourth quarter.  That's nine games where the Wizards have had a chance to win in the 4th quarter but come up unsuccessful.

Now you can blame those close losses on bad late game execution, bad coaching, or just plain bad luck, but I think it's going to be hard for the Wizards to keep losing 9 out of every 10 close games they play this season, especially once Gilbert Arenas comes back.  Will better late game performances and the return of a superstar be enough to get the Wizards back into the playoff hunt?  I doubt it, but I also doubted the Wizards would be able to make the playoffs last year without Agent Zero, I doubted that JaVale McGee would be able to contribute in his rookie season, and I doubted that I'd ever see the words "Stealth Booger" written with any sense seriousness attached to them. 

It's goinig to take an amazing run over the last 68 games to get into the playoff chase, and our current record doesn't lend itself to a lot of optimism about the rest of the season.  It may seem bleak, but let's not close the door on the team just yet.

Box Score
Game Flow
Post Recap
Times Recap
Truth is glazed and the Wizards are basted
Peachtree Hoops

Highest Plus/Minus: Antawn Jamison (+14 in 37:35)
Lowest Plus/Minus: Juan Dixon (-16 in 7:00)
Best Five Man Unit: Antonio Daniels, Nick Young, Antawn Jamison, Darius Songaila, Andray Blatche (+4 for the start of the 4^th quarter)
Worst Five Man Unit: Dee Brown, DeShawn Stevenson, Caron Butler, Antawn Jamison, JaVale McGee (-9 to start the game)

Four factors:

Last night's game more or less followed the script that we've seen far too often this season: Wizards find themselves in a early hole at the end of the first quarter, start to make a comeback in the second, struggle at the start of the third, make another comeback to get close and then they can't finish at the end.  I think this quote from the Wizards Insider recap really says it all:

Well, as a Wiz vet said to me a few minutes ago in the locker room: "Same old (stuff)."

Obviously, there's been a lot of tough losses this season and you can see that it's starting to wear on some of the players.  The key right now is to focus on execution and keep things upbeat, because the last thing we need right now is for the players to start thinking beforehand that they're going to mess things up late in the game.  The last thing a 2-12 team needs is self-fulfilling prophecy working against them.

Other thoughts from last night's game:

• At this point, we all know what Darius can and can't do as a player.  We know he's not going to get a bunch of blocks or dunks, but he can make some shots and he work well within the frame of the offense.  Last night he did a good job of playing to his strenghts.  Other than Andray Blatche, Darius has benefited the most from the coaching change, in this blogger's opinion.

• I admire the thought of Andray to go and use his long arms to try and poke the ball away from the other team when they grab a defensive rebound, but he really needs to stop doing it.  He's gotten way more fouls doing that than he has steals.
• There are three ways to get open three point shots in the NBA:
  • Work the ball around, force the defense to over-commit and leave a man open beyond the arc.
    
  • Play against the Wizards.
  • Be DeShawn Stevenson.  Teams will give you all the space you want to shoot a three when you're only making 26.9% of them.
    
• Antonio Daniels hit two three pointers last night!  The last time AD made two triples in the same game was November 24, 2007.  The rest of Daniels' game was also solid, I don't think it will be long until we see him back in the starting lineup.
• The rebounding was very good last night.  I know the Hawks were without Josh Smith and Zaza Pachulia, but the Wizards didn't get any rebounds from JaVale McGee, Dominic McGuire, or Etan Thomas and they still managed to win the rebounding battle.  I'll take it.
• To be honest, I didn't know a whole lot lot about Solomon Jones before tonight's game, but I was impressed with his performance tonight.  Getting 5 blocks in 15 minutes has a way of getting people to notice you.
• I believe the Wizards have benefitted more from technicals from players in street clothes than any other team this season.  Joey Dorsey got T'd up in that infamous Summer League game in July and Josh Smith got a tech last night for arguing from the bench.  At least one thing has been going our way this season.

With 68 games left on the schedule, it's still going to be a long time until the Wizards ______ the season.

On defense, we can't ______ close-outs.

On offense, we can't ______ when we get high percentage shot attempts in the paint.

And as the record clearly shows, we just can't ______ games.