Warriors 100 Wizards 124

Do I really have to blog about this? I almost want to pretend it never happened. I still don't understand how we can come into a game like this and fall straight on our faces. The opposing team was the worst in the league, they just fired their head coach, we just made a trade that gave up an "injured" guy for a solid healthy one (a PG at that)... and what's the result? Warriors 100, Wizards 124. Like I said, I'd love to forget about it and move on but this team did so many bad things, even with Crawford in the lineup, that they all need to be addressed. And here they are:

Where's the D?
This was probably the poorest game we've played defensively all season. I don't think this was a direct result of adding Crawford in there, but there was just literally no effort being displayed out there tonight. The amount of easy layups the opposition got tonight was ridiculous. Sure, we got a ton of blocks, but that does nothing if the opposing goes over and grabs the ball and scores. Amazingly and for one reason or another (I've mentioned effort but that can't be all), the Wizards managed to score 30+ points every quarter! That is unheard of and completely unacceptable. I will also point out that Maggette got destroyed in particular in multiple occasions. This is most likely because he is playing out of position, and if that's the case then perhaps we should reconsider the whole small-ball idea.

Lack of Ball Movement
I was hoping that with the installation of a legit point guard we might be able to see some better ball rotations, better executed plays, and most importantly more penetration and kicks. This team would be incredibly effective Crawford could penetrate the paint and dish to guys like Morrow and Jackson for 3's all night long. I saw very little, if any of this tonight. It seemed like Crawford was somewhat hesitant with the ball in his hands at the top of the key. Countless times when I was hoping he'd penetrate the lane, he'd give the ball up and cut away. This would lead to some sort of ISO garbage play that we're all used to by now. I'm hoping once Crawford gets the hang of the playbook, he'll be more comfortable taking control of the offense, but at this point he's just not up to it.

I'm already trying to forget this game, but the more I think about it, the more this game reminds me of the Memphis games... We just play down to our competition and play with little, if any, heart. I'm getting really irritated with this offense, because I see so few plays and so much isolation. Nelson must be paid to do more than watch and hold the practices, so I'd like to see us starting to eliminate some of the mistakes we've been seeing all season long. Anyway, enough complaining, we play the NBA champions tommorrow and hopefully we come out with the mentality that we actually care about winning this game.

Top Performances
1. Brandan Wright- Honestly, he had the best game tonight, and I don't understand why he's not playing more. He finished with 10 points and 5 boards in 16 minutes.
2. Kelenna Azubuike- He has strung together a couple of good performances, and although I think he needs to look to pass a few more times when he's driving, he's still a solid contributor off the bench. He finished with 15 points and 5 boards
3. Jamal Crawford- Since I'm so disapointed in so many of the performances tonight I'll throw his name in there. He had 7 assists and only 1 turnover. On a night when we had 20 TO's that was nice to see.