[MLKG]

I didn't think the officiating was one sided at all, or even that bad. That offensive goaltending was an obvious missed call, but the ball was going in anyway so it's not like it was a big game changer or anything, and the Wiz got a nice makeup call for it the next time the Pistons touched it anyway.

I posted this on the Pistons board but I really think Gilbert Arenas hurts the team with his decision making. I don't get to see the Wiz play a whole lot so maybe I'm very wrong and think Brendan Haywood is a lot better than he actually is. But I thought he was good enough to warrent at least a touch or two. He literally didn't get one entry pass the entire game. Not a single one. Kind of hard to establish an inside presence when your guards refuse to pass the ball.

Washington's offense scores a lot of points, but it just looks so freelance. No rhyme or reason to anything. It's just Arenas and Hughes looking for their own shot and if someone gets open while they are doing so, every now and then they will pass it to them.

Why didn't Kwame play and when is Etan Thomas supposed to come back? The Wiz need those guys defense badly.

[afireinside]

Originally posted by <b>adarsh1</b>!
I've said it before and I'll say it again....EJ has no clue what the hell he is doing. We need a coach here that won't choke away losses like these. How interesting it was to see Sheed burn Jamison everytime when Kwame was just sitting on the bench.

IDIOT EJ FIRE HIM NOW

Kwame is semi-injured. I would rather have this line-up to match the two Wallaces, Prince, Billups, and Rip:

Haywood - Ben
Ruffin - Sheed
Jamison - Prince
Hughes - Rip
Arenas - Billups

[jazzy1]

About what I expected.

Arenas and Hughes tried hard but came up short. We don't go inside at all so everything has to be perimeter. You will never hold a lead unless you can get some interior play going.

Ruffin gave us 2 and Haywood 9.

Meanwhile Sheed and McDyess were getting the Pistons some interior buckets and were get touches which created give and go's and easy looks for their guards.

The Pistons play the right way.

We can't beat quality teams because we have 3 guys who take 60+ shots a night.

I love the way Arenas is playin right now despite all the perimeter play.

On the last play Arenas as expected got beaten 1on1 by Billups. simple case of a good offensive player beating a bad defender, great move, lower the shoulder push Arenas off balance ,Dagger.

Billups destroyed us in the 2nd half. With an assist of Sheed.

[jazzy1]

Originally posted by <b>adarsh1</b>!
I've said it before and I'll say it again....EJ has no clue what the hell he is doing. We need a coach here that won't choke away losses like these. How interesting it was to see Sheed burn Jamison everytime when Kwame was just sitting on the bench.

IDIOT EJ FIRE HIM NOW

I agree Kwame's our best post defender. Sheed burned Ruffin and jamison for late key baskets.

I think Kwame didn't play because he didn't practice yesterday which usually happens when a player misses practice.

EJ is doing a horrible job managing line-ups.

Pulling Arenas with 5 fouls cost us the game. He should have rode with Arenas and the 5 fouls. Billups scored 8 straight points on Blake.

But the Jamison/Sheed match-up cost us dearly.

Why Kwame sat is up to him.

I'm just fed up with this notion of the big 3 its the most bogus notion there is.

Unless we start giving Brendan and Kwame touches in the post the Wizards won't beat quality teams. You gotta get paint scores to take pressure pff the perimeter.

Its simple as that.

The refs didn't cost the Wizards the game silly subtitutions did.

Haywood even if Kwame's hurt should get the bulk of the bigman minutes instead Ruffin plays for long stretches and brings no scoring to the table at all.

Which Gives Arenas, Jamison and Hughes more excuses to hoist shots.

EJ just believes in the bogus perimeter philosophy.

[adarsh1]

EJ should be fired for a coach who is more Interior oriented.

[Shanghai Kid]

The problem is at the beginning of the year Jamison was actually scoring inside. Now he's become a long range jump shooter and his efficiency is going down the toilet.

Arenas and Hughes had to carry us again, and for most of the night they looked unstoppable. I don't mind them taking so many shots tonight cause they were so damn efficient. Hughes absolutely shut down Rip Hamilton and at the same time scored on him in the 4th quarter with ease.

Taking Gil out with a few minutes left turned out to be a backbreaker. Billups licked his chops and scored 8 straight points on Blake. We were literally up by 3 when Gil left and down by 5 when he came back.

Hughes should of been guarding Billups at the end, but alas we never do the smart thing defensively. Also I want to say the refs did nothing for us. They gave us no respect and the free throw disparity in the second half was awful. Our entire starting line-up was in foul trouble, and we have guys who get to the line more than the Pistons players do. Jamison never seems to get FT attempts anymore and Gilbert/Larry weren't getting no love either.

Feels like a game we had won, but I really think Eddie Jordan is one of the worst coaches in the NBA. It's clear and clear that we win games on talent and not on any kind of coaching. Our D stinks and our offense is basically dependent on Arenas and Hughes creating for themselves and everybody. I think EJ must be on the hot seat, if the team loses a few more soon I could see him getting the axe.

[jazzy1]

Originally posted by <b>Shanghai Kid</b>!
The problem is at the beginning of the year Jamison was actually scoring inside. Now he's become a long range jump shooter and his efficiency is going down the toilet.

Arenas and Hughes had to carry us again, and for most of the night they looked unstoppable. I don't mind them taking so many shots tonight cause they were so damn efficient. Hughes absolutely shut down Rip Hamilton and at the same time scored on him in the 4th quarter with ease.

Taking Gil out with a few minutes left turned out to be a backbreaker. Billups licked his chops and scored 8 straight points on Blake. We were literally up by 3 when Gil left and down by 5 when he came back.

Hughes should of been guarding Billups at the end, but alas we never do the smart thing defensively. Also I want to say the refs did nothing for us. They gave us no respect and the free throw disparity in the second half was awful. Our entire starting line-up was in foul trouble, and we have guys who get to the line more than the Pistons players do. Jamison never seems to get FT attempts anymore and Gilbert/Larry weren't getting no love either.

Feels like a game we had won, but I really think Eddie Jordan is one of the worst coaches in the NBA. It's clear and clear that we win games on talent and not on any kind of coaching. Our D stinks and our offense is basically dependent on Arenas and Hughes creating for themselves and everybody. I think EJ must be on the hot seat, if the team loses a few more soon I could see him getting the axe.

I don't blame Arenas and Hughes for tonights game because we had no interior scorers in the game for really big minutes. Haywood sat with the coach most of the night and when he played he never got the ball.

I think we have the talent to be better.

I hate Jarvis Hayes he played better tonight than he has in about a month. But he takes terrible shots and does nothing of value other than shoot.

[Shanghai Kid]

Hayes I think is one of the worst players in the NBA. He can hit some shots every once in a while and that alone seems to allow him to earn millions per year, it sickens me.

We really needed Kwame to guard Rasheed tonight. Jamison was exposed and the fact is you have no shot in a playoff series against Detroit or Indy if you got Jamison guarding Jermaine or Rasheed or any big guy who can score.

[jazzy1]

Originally posted by <b>Shanghai Kid</b>!
Hayes I think is one of the worst players in the NBA. He can hit some shots every once in a while and that alone seems to allow him to earn millions per year, it sickens me.

We really needed Kwame to guard Rasheed tonight. Jamison was exposed and the fact is you have no shot in a playoff series against Detroit or Indy if you got Jamison guarding Jermaine or Rasheed or any big guy who can score.

I heard alittle of the radio broadcast before I got home to watch the game and they were talking about the swelling in Kwame's ankle and they thought he wouldn't play tonight.

So I'm assuming thats why he didn't play tonight. Combined with the fact that he didn't practice yesterday.

I agree with your assesment on Jamison though.

Jamison has really gotten exposed against the really good big 4's in the league. His offense has disappeared against both KG and Sheed and he didn't do all that much against Okafor.

We gotta get kwame healthy and back in the starting line-up.

Looking at the stats the Pistons got 31 shots from their post guys and about 38 from their perimeter guys.

We got 59 from the supposed Big 3 and about 7 from Haywood and Ruffin combined. Thats why we don't hold leads and lose to good teams.

I don't consider Jamison a post player anymore.

[Shanghai Kid]

I wonder if it's actually better for us if we can get a 6 seed and play the Atlantic Division winner as opposed to trying to get a 4/5 seed.

What we know is that the #1 seed is likely going to be Miami. We know we can't beat Miami in a playoff series.

You get the 6 seed and you play the Knicks, and than you play Indy or Detroit who we have a better shot against.

[jazzy1]

Originally posted by <b>Shanghai Kid</b>!
I wonder if it's actually better for us if we can get a 6 seed and play the Atlantic Division winner as opposed to trying to get a 4/5 seed.

What we know is that the #1 seed is likely going to be Miami. We know we can't beat Miami in a playoff series.

You get the 6 seed and you play the Knicks, and than you play Indy or Detroit who we have a better shot against.

I'm lowering my expectations until Kwame gets back to full speed and Etan comes back and can contribute.

The way we're playing right now making the playoffs is gonna be a dicey propostion. Things need to change before I feel totally secure with our standing.

[MJG]

Always interesting to go to a game as opposed to watching in on TV. Lots of work involved in it though; not something I can imagine doing all the time like some season ticket holders must do.

Crowd <b>hated</b> the refs. By some point in the middle of the second half, I thought they started screaming and booing automatically whenever they heard a whistle, before even knowing what the call was. Loudest noise of the night came on that Wallace offensive goaltending no-call. It was loud to begin with, but once they showed the replay on the big screen, it was a massive chorus of boos.

Not much to note about goings-ons before the game. We got to our seats around 6:15, and the only player on the court was Ramos -- what a trooper he is, still warming up despite his injury situation. He was just very lightly running through some motions with two other guys, not sure who they were. He stopped after fifteen minutes or so, and nothing else really happened until the players came out to warm up.

Arenas was the biggest guy to get the crowd going, with Hughes right on his tail. Haywood got a lot of venom from my immediate area when he made a mistake. Might have just been my section, but there were I'd say a good half dozen guys who were licking their chops to rip on him whenever he screwed up. No one else seems to especially interest the crowd either way.

Not much to note on the game really that hasn't been mentioned. We had absolutely zero inside presence tonight, even less than usual. I can't recall even one single big man postup -- no Haywood, no Jamison, no nothing. Reffing wasn't the worst, but it definitely seemed to bounce the Pistons' way an awful lot in the second half. We had zip in terms of stopping Rasheed in the post in the 4th, but that can be expected when the two guys guarding him for I believe every one of his postup scores were Ruffin and Hayes (off switches). Same for Billups.

A note on Hayes -- I think this game perfectly illustrates how horrible Hayes has been. As jazzy said, this was likely his best game in a month. However, what did he do in the game that made it the best? 11 points on 45% shooting with a couple of boards. That should be his night in night out average, not one of his best games of the season. The only player I want off the bench after Hayes is Walker.