Washington Wizards 2013 - 2014 Season Thread - Thanks for a great season!

extraordinary swag · Apr 20, 2014

Great win, we beat them at their own game and dominated the 4th quarter. Props to Wittman for the rotations, he usually would overdo the substitutions but it looks like he's tightening it up for the playoffs. Good sign

We should be in every game as long as we play smart basketball. Bulls offense is really terrible

dt43 · Apr 20, 2014

I've been trying to tell people Noah can't guard Nene. Period. He's the x-factor

Wall and Beal couldn't shoot a rock in the ocean and we still won.. that's pretty scary if you're the Bulls.

Some people might try to make a big deal out of the fact that Wittman sat Wall for Miller.. but that's EXACTLY why we went and got Andre Miller!! You have your young star PG playing his first playoff game, on the road, against a super-intense team.. in that situation there's no better backup to have than Andre Miller. I expect our young guys Wall and Beal to play better moving forward, now that they got the jitters out and they're confident.

Much credit to Wittman for having these guys to play defense, we basically beat the Bulls at their own game.

INTLplayers · Apr 20, 2014

great win guys!

j3rm00 · Apr 20, 2014

chrispcb15 · Apr 21, 2014

What a win...and what a factor NENE makes, he's going to the be the reason we win this series. What he and Gortat do is they both know how to shoot the midrange and what happens is Noah is forced to check Nene on the midrange and it leaves the Paint wide open. NENE can pass too, Gortat is a great rebounder, you have your shooters on the outside, Ariza, Webster, Beal, and john's speed going into the paint and kicking it out to a shooter is going to be a problem, not to mention the Veteran experience you get from a Miller, Al, Gooden, Gortat and Nene. Beal and Wall both had sub par games and we still got the W, that shows you right there that we have more weapons to use for the next game. Bulls have no offense, we have offense and a solid defense. I say we win it in 5....maybe even a sweep, Wizards now have the momentum, but expect the Bulls to fight hard.

mrtarheel · Apr 21, 2014

Wow impressive win. I thought we had a good shot a winning, but i thought it would be more of a struggle. Unless something crazy happens the Wizards should win this series

jking0821 · Apr 21, 2014

So glad we won. Nene :smokin

what a game. He came to play.

It was nice to see us not fold too when we had a terrible second quarter. Jimmy Butler really shut down Beal i thought, and we need to hit more free throws. Overall i really don't think we played really well but our defense showed up in the second half.

Lets win this

mrtarheel · Apr 21, 2014

Gilbert

jjs07 · Apr 21, 2014

Quote from Wall:

Wall on playing in the postseason: "It's very intense. I've watched it going to a couple of games, but it's a lot different when you're on the court. There was one segment when I couldn't really breathe when I was going up and down the court."

Link

That's kinda what I figured. His nerves must have been out of control. I think everyone expects him to be much better going forward. Same can be said about Beal.

Also, can anyone remember Ariza (in his career) EVER showing that much emotion on the court. That was awesome to see. I love watching this team.

I hope Otto is taking good mental notes of what's going on out there. Next year, assuming things go right, this will be HIS time.

jsindaa · Apr 21, 2014

Way to go wiz kids!

uncalled4boy · Apr 21, 2014

Need To Keep Up The Intensity On D. The Offense Will Come. :hat

hypebeast5 · Apr 21, 2014

JJs07 said:
Quote from Wall:

Wall on playing in the postseason: "It's very intense. I've watched it going to a couple of games, but it's a lot different when you're on the court. There was one segment when I couldn't really breathe when I was going up and down the court."

Click to expand...

Link

That's kinda what I figured. His nerves must have been out of control. I think everyone expects him to be much better going forward. Same can be said about Beal.

Also, can anyone remember Ariza (in his career) EVER showing that much emotion on the court. That was awesome to see. I love watching this team.

I hope Otto is taking good mental notes of what's going on out there. Next year, assuming things go right, this will be HIS time.

I figure Beal will continue to struggle as his game is heavy on jumpers, nerves and jumpers dont mix well

Hopefully Wall gets his under control, there were a couple of times i was expecting him to take it in transition and he didnt

RayCashhhh · Apr 21, 2014

There was definitely nerves involved with BB and John, Bradley's shot was off and Wall was tentative at times. When they go a combined 7-25 against a playoff team, 9 out of ten times we'll lose. This time the rest of the guys (Nene, Andre, Ariza, Gortat towards the end) stepped up as they have all year and got the job done. The Bulls better be scared, we beat them at their own game and our top two offensive weapons had off nights.

I don't like this long delay between games tho, game 2 is on Thursday?

Gives Thibodeau too much time to make adjustments. I expect Chicago to act like madmen on defense next time.

b fresco · Apr 21, 2014

howfly2 said:
There was definitely nerves involved with BB and John, Bradley's shot was off and Wall was tentative at times. When they go a combined 7-25 against a playoff team, 9 out of ten times we'll lose. This time the rest of the guys (Nene, Andre, Ariza, Gortat towards the end) stepped up as they have all year and got the job done. The Bulls better be scared, we beat them at their own game and our top two offensive weapons had off nights.

I don't like this long delay between games tho, game 2 is on Thursday? Gives Thibodeau too much time to make adjustments. I expect Chicago to act like madmen on defense next time.

Nah, Game 2 is TOMORROW. Game 3 is at home on FRIDAY night, I have tickets and look forward to a home win.

Can't say anymore than what's already been said. Last night was a MUCH NEEDED CONFIDENCE inducing win. This is our series to take.

jjs07 · Apr 21, 2014

A lot of people forget...Wizards had a top-10 defense this year. What they did in the final 20 minutes or so of the game was ridiculous. They were playing like men possessed.

*9:30 start tomorrow night is gonna kill me...

broncos19dm · Apr 21, 2014

Great win

dt43 · Apr 21, 2014

Wall was definitely nervous. He wasn't as aggressive as usual and you could tell he was trying not to screw up. Also his jumper was WAY off, some of his jumpshots looked like he was back in his rookie year :lol

As he settles down, his own offense will come. What I liked is that him and Beal both moved the ball (Beal finished with 7 assists and no TOs) even though their shot wasn't working. Also they both brought maximum defensive effort. A lot of young guys completely disappear when their shot isn't falling (for example Demar Derozan in the Raptors-Nets Game 1) but John and Brad continued to impact the game in other ways

And @DJs I don't know how to link to the specific play, but look at the team defense we played on Hinrich's last shot attempt (botom of the list).. just beautiful:

http://on.nba.com/1gN7lca

abovelegit1 · Apr 22, 2014

I think part of the reason Wall was seemingly nervous was how they were defending the pick and roll. Thibs is undoubtedly aware that the set is the Wizards' most effective/efficient play and so he looked to take away the lane. Wall will need to make the adjustment on how he navigates that set. He can't play to what the Bulls want - keep the ball moving. There were some excellent possessions where the Bulls were rotating perfectly, but the ball movement was too good. Not too worried about Wall's shot - he's naturally streaky and will have both awful and great shooting games. I feel like you can sort of tell what kind of shooting game he'll have based on the first quarter.

I'm not going to get too excited yet - Thibs will make adjustments, and Wittman will need to make counter-adjustments. That said, if the Bulls' offense just can't get going, it won't really matter.

jjs07 · Apr 22, 2014

I love the NBA...but being fully invested in a playoff series because your team is in it, is a COMPLETELY different experience as a fan. In watching the game the other night and seeing the intensity, there is no way Otto Porter was remotely close to being able to contribute right now. Next year is a different story, because I do think Otto will carve out a role for himself in the rotation. ****, just look at the nerves both Wall and Beal were dealing with. It's no surprise to me that our vets were the key to that win.

Welp, I got faith in the squad tonight. I hope they come out with the same defensive intensity they showed for the majority of the 2nd half on Sunday.

*DT - the vid won't show on my computer here at work, but I'm going to give it a watch when I get home later on today.

*edit*

Did you all see the shirt give away for game 3 at VC? They want to make it so it's a R/W/B backdrop based on the level you're sitting in. It looks cool, but I would have had Red in the 100's, White in the 2/300's and blue up top. They did the reverse. I hope that VC is a nuthouse for game 3/4. This team deserves a good backing from the fans.

AgentZero · Apr 22, 2014

JJs07 said:
Did you all see the shirt give away for game 3 at VC? They want to make it so it's a R/W/B backdrop based on the level you're sitting in. It looks cool, but I would have had Red in the 100's, White in the 2/300's and blue up top. They did the reverse. I hope that VC is a nuthouse for game 3/4. This team deserves a good backing from the fans.

Yeah I saw that. I didn't know they were trying to to do it by level. I was assuming it would be like what the Thunder do with alternating stripes, just with three colors. The shirts look cool, wish I could add one to go along with my whiteout shirt from '08.

INTLplayers · Apr 22, 2014

^^I thought that's what they were doing, red lower level, white for middle & blue up top. I thought I saw a few tweets saying that.

either way I'm going to game 4 on Sunday and they have rally towels instead

..oh well will still grab a shirt anyway :lol

I can't deal with these dudes in the Bulls thread, don't even bother going in there DT

b fresco · Apr 22, 2014

#NTSummit Pic at game 3? lol.

Def hope i get a red shirt since i'll be in the uppers, smh. Loafed and didn't cop lowers on the presale.

jjs07 · Apr 22, 2014

AgentZero said:
Yeah I saw that. I didn't know they were trying to to do it by level. I was assuming it would be like what the Thunder do with alternating stripes, just with three colors. The shirts look cool, wish I could add one to go along with my whiteout shirt from '08.

xcg11pinoYx said:
^^I thought that's what they were doing, red lower level, white for middle & blue up top. I thought I saw a few tweets saying that.

either way I'm going to game 4 on Sunday and they have rally towels instead ..oh well will still grab a shirt anyway

I can't deal with these dudes in the Bulls thread, don't even bother going in there DT