Well, Gilbert Arenas returned on Saturday night, giving us all a thrill with his 15 points, 10 assists and mere presence in a Wizards uniform for the first time since the second Nixon administration. The Wizards lost that game, 98-96, to the Detroit Pistons, but it was a hard-fought match against a proud and veteran-laden team fighting for a playoff spot. Last nights defense-free 124-115 loss to the Indiana Pacers in Indianapolis was less easy to endure.
Afterward, Tapscott complained of what he called, “my-turn basketball.”
“You know what my-turn basketball is? My turn to shoot,” Tapscott said. “That really disappointed me. Ten assists in a game where we scored 115 points? That’s out of proportion. We had 27 assists [on Saturday], which was good. Tonight was a step back in that area.”
The defense was also disappointing, though we should all be accustomed to that by now. A terrible Pacers team was allowed to shoot over 51% from the field and 45% from 3-point range. Sure, the Wizards were playing the second game in 2 nights and this one was on the road, but that’s no excuse for not passing and making virtually no effort on defense.
Andray Blatche was awful and got himself benched for much of the game. Javale McGee has got to develop better shot selection on a more consistent basis and Nick Young needs to show more fire. Look, the team is running out the clock here, waiting for this torturous season to finally come to an end. I get that. But that’s not an excuse for lack of effort and I saw that in the 3rd quarter against the Pacers last night.
Once again, it was up to the veterans, Caron Butler [31 points, 13 boards] and Antawn Jamison [29 points, 6 rebounds] to rally the team, as they did in the 4th quarter. The deficit was too great, however. [By the way, congrats to Butler and Jamison, who must be enjoying March Madness. Their UConn Huskies and NC Tar Heels are in the Final 4.]
Javaris Crittenton played a career-high 43 minutes and scored a season-high 19 points on 8 of 14 shooting. He only had 3 dimes, though and, like the team’s big men, couldn’t handle the pick and roll, allowing Jarrett Jack and TJ Ford to penetrate and produce points almost at will.
Next game, more of Gilbert.
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