Doctrine of Rapid Dominance

Sorry, this is Pookey-length. This will be the only game I go to this season, though, so you won’t have to sit through any more of these.

I don’t have league past (don’t even have cable) and I’m living here on the east coast these days, so this was the only game I’ve seen from start to finish this year. All of my impressions from this season have come from box scores, recaps, blogs, and highlights. So here are my impressions from the my first full game of the season:

Martin: This guy plays smart. He might just be the smartest player we’ve had since Doug Christie. Twice he followed his man around a big man holding the ball, quickly turned when the big man was looking away and slapped the ball away. Neither resulted in a steal (one went out of bounds and the other was recovered by Washington), but both disrupted the flow of the Wizards’ offense. On both sides of the court, Martin made a number of intelligent little plays that got great results. You have to love how much work he puts into learning the game.

On the other hand, he never really seemed to be trying all that hard. The first play of the game, he lost his man under the basket after a few jukes and gave up a layup. On both ends of the court, it seemed like he wasn’t running or cutting at full speed and wasn’t working as hard as anyone else on our roster. I hope this is somehow because of his ankle (like, the injury is lingering and he is worried that if he cuts too hard he’ll sprain it again). He sure seemed like a hard worker early on.

Hawes: Loved him. He needs to get stronger (if he were stronger, he could have converted a few three point plays that ended up being two free throws). His jump hook looks ugly (but hey, if it’s working at a good percentage as TZ demonstrated the other week, who am I to complain?). But I loved the mix of inside an outside play and I loved his heart.

His technical seemed totally forgiveable. He had just gone through a play where he absorbed a lot of contact, but at that point in the game, the refs were allowing a good deal of contact. The ball was loose and a Wizard kicked it (could have been intentional, could have been unintentional). Hawes kicked it (clearly intentional, called by the refs) and got upset that his kick was called and the Wiz kick (and possible foul) weren’t. But he didn’t approach the refs and jaw at them endlessly instead of getting back on D (a “Brad Memorial Technical”). He had a two second outburst while he was getting back on D and got called for it. I can live with two-second outbursts while getting back on D.

Thompson: Like I said, this was my first entire game this season. I had read his lines and read what all of you have said about him. There was definite good there, but I was a touch disappointed— maybe my expectations were too high. My favorite thing about him was his nose for the ball (best hands I’ve seen on our team in the last couple years). Some of his 14 rebounds were tough. There were a couple of dead plays (right after a foul was whistled) when people were still going for rebounds and he grabbed difficult boards in traffic— didn’t count in his total, but impressed me. He played with heart, too.

However, two plays in particular stood out to me as disappointing. One was in the first half off an offensive rebound. The other was in the second half after catching a nifty pass. Both times, he was about five feet from the basket with no defender within three feet of him (and no one right under the basket— clear path). Both times, his weight was on his back foot, he had to stop and gather himself before moving toward the basket, got fouled and didn’t get up a shot that came close (both were shooting fouls, but if a big man is alone that close, you should either score or have something at least close to being a three point play). And he wasn’t close on a jump ball vs Songaila. Is it timing or is it lower body strength?

Also, he seemed pretty frequently lost on defense. I wasn’t surprised when I read the ESPN box score and saw that he had the worst +/- on the team this game.

Greene: Loved him. I didn’t love that he was playing power forward and trying to defend Antawn Jamison (who tore him up down low), but that’s not exactly his fault (Natt, could you please put him in at the 3? If not, could he go in to work against the other team’s backup 4 and not their best player?). He gave great effort on the defensive end, passed up a couple of long jumpers to drive closer to the hoop, and plays with an exuberance that you have to love as a fan. He still has a ways to go, but it was a joy to watch him.

Udrih: Very pleasantly surprised. He wasn’t Nash, but he played a darn good game for a guy having a bad season and just coming back from an injury. There were two really big moments in the last two minutes when we were within striking distance but a ways down. He penetrated deep into the key, a guy came in to help from the right side, and he flipped a pass to the open 3-point shooter whose man had just come in to help. The first was a Kevin Martin 3 that missed (Udrih still made the exact right play). The second was the Garcia 3 that started our second comeback. I don’t remember our last point guard who would have been able to penetrate so deeply twice at such key junctures of the game then feed good 3-point shooters in good position. White Chocolate? Have we had anyone else since then?

McCants: After the percentages and numbers he was putting up during his first weeks, I expected to love him. And with a nickname like Tenacity, he has to be a fan favorite in the making, right? Wrong. I think I counted six mental mistakes in his first minute in the game (a missed defensive assignment, a lack of awareness going for the defensive rebound [a Washington player falling out of bounds threw it off of McCants to keep posession], a miscommunication passing in the open court to advance the ball, a miscommunication passing on the offensive end, and a blown defensive assignment back on the other end). Before this game, I was mildly in the “Why don’t we re-sign him this offseason?” camp. I just left that camp, but I’m glad that the people making decisions watch more games than I do.

Nocioni: Great effort. It’s hard not to love a guy who’s diving for loose balls and clearly giving it everything he has.

Garcia: The man has a knack for seizing the moment. Our mini-run in the last two minutes would not have happened without Garcia. I absolutely don’t mind paying him the full mid-level even if he never starts and never averages more than 12 or 13 a game.

Riding the subway home, I heard a ten-year-old kid talking to a metro security guard. “Did you go to the game?” the guard asked. “Yeah,” the kid said. “Who won?” “The Wizards, but I don’t think they should have. I mean, it was 105-102, and one of the kings shot a 3, but the refs said it was only a 2. I’m glad they won, but it should have gone into overtime.”

That was gratifying to hear, because as a Kings fan watching the replay on the jumbo-tron, I had no idea how that play could be reviewed and possibly be called a 2. There was clearly wood between his toe and the black line.

If Javale McGee were on the Kings, we would all love him. He’s a skinny but really athletic big who plays with the same expression on his face that Donté has on his. A few calls went against him and he didn’t sulk or let the frustration affect how he played. When McCants hugged him on the break and McGee made a circus shot anyway, you could tell how much all of his teammates loved the guy. He’d be like last year’s Mikki Moore with better hands, upside, a future, and a rookie contract. If Washington is looking to unload salary this summer but wants to keep their draft pick, I would be thrilled if they’d give us McGee to take Etan Thomas’ contract. I might take Nick Young also (he’s what McCants would be if McCants were a few inches taller, a bit smarter of a player, and not a thug), but I’d be thrilled if they’d give us McGee.