<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Washington Wizards vs. Golden State Warriors Halftime Score: Golden State Warriors 41- Washington Wizards 39 A very good game despite some absymal officiating once again. Chris Taft received two technicals fouls for absolutely nothing. Donell Taylor can't dribble without being called for a travel. It's gotten so bad that the head of the NBA officiating committee, who is in charge of evaluating the real NBA refs, is here to try and help them out between and even during games. You can see him on the sidelines scribbling like crazy, it's really a shame to see these guys try to show up the players who really need the attention with the calls they are making. Wizards Jonathan Givony Andray Blatche- Once again showed some flashes of his phenomenal perimeter game. Handled the ball from end to end and finished in the lane with a clumsy floater, made some very smart passes, but also made a conceited effort to muster something out of his six feet eleven inches. Showed some footwork inside posting up Zarko and finishing with an up and under, did a good job rebounding inside the paint (whether the ?statisticians? noticed it or not is something different altogether) and at least tried to play some defense although he is completely clueless in this area still. He got in the passing lanes to come up with a few steals and altered some shots on the perimeter with his length. The Wizards are playing him once again at both the three and the four. Blatche showed the good and the bad of his game in the 2nd as well. He snatched one ferocious rebound in traffic over Diogu and Zarko and then took the ball coast to coast once again before making a beautiful pass to Randy Holcomb for the basket and 1 (he did this a few times actually). Later on he got a little too excited and took a horrible contested fadeaway from 20 feet out on the baseline that got wedged between the backboard and the rim. On the next play on defense he undercut Chris Taft while he went up for a dunk on what could have been a very dangerous fall. In the 3rd and the fourth he knocked down a couple more jumpers. Late in the 4th Blatche stripped his man on defense, brought the ball up, crossed his man over and went straight to the hoop, drawing the foul from Biedrins. The kid has some serious talent, but he also has a lot to learn. The NBDL will be perfect for him. He only got credit fo 1 assist to go along with 9 points and 7 rebounds, but appeared to have at least 4 or 5 dimes. Peter John Ramos- Started off very poorly while being guarded by the tough as nails Andris Biedrins. Hit the glass only on one hook shot and then came up four feet wide right on a jump shot. Settled down a bit and started showing all kinds of nice moves inside, before nailing the 14 foot jump shot with the greatest of ease. Ramos has some major issues with his rebounding and man to man defense. He gets caught ball-watching too often and makes little to no effort to actually box out. He got into it a little with Chris Taft and was lucky not to get a technical foul like Taft did. Both players came off looking very immature. For the 2nd straight game, Ramos was a non-factor in the 2nd half. He has major problems maintaining a consistent level of intensity throughout the course of the game, looking very lost running up and down the floor in a game like this and making a lot of mistakes defensively and on the glass. He finished with 8 points, 7 rebounds, 6 turnovers and 6 fouls in 29 minutes. Gerald Fitch- Fitch is really good at what he does, which is putting the ball in the hoop. He surely isn?t a PG and Washington?s offense indeed looked very stagnant at times, but it?s not because he?s a selfish player, more because of a lack of experience at the position (he played the two mostly at Kentucky next to Cliff Hawkins). He is very hard to stop from getting in the lane, though, and was money around the rim every single time, either using his quickness and toughness to get to the line or putting it in the basket himself. Fitch slowed down a bit in the 4th in the absence of minutes because of the way Taylor and Hawkins were playing, but still did a pretty solid job here once again, finishing with 18 points thanks to all the technical foul shots after each Diogu foul he had after his sixth. He seems to have a decent shot at making that team. Donell Taylor- Wasn?t shooting the ball extremely well, but used his quickness very well to get into the paint and go to the line. Also made a couple of nice passes and generally continued the strong impression we?ve had of him since the summer league started. The kid has some serious talent, he would have done even more if it wasn?t for some bogus calls by the refs. Solid 2nd half from Taylor as well. He hit the three and then made a gorgeous move to the basket starting at one end and then kissing if off the glass from the other. He was playing the point and making good decisions mixing up his scoring with his passing. He finished with 15 points and 3 steals in 33 minutes. David Hawkins- Hawkins didn?t get a whole lot of playing time because of the way Fitch and Taylor were playing, but he looked very good in the few minutes he did get today. He?s got to be the toughest SOB in this summer league, showing absolutely no fear taking the ball to the basket, playing great D guarding the 1 or the 2, battling for rebounds underneath, but also not being selfish with the ball in his hands despite the fact that he didn?t have a lot of chances to prove himself. If his outside shot was just a little more consistent and he maybe handled the ball a little better?he probably wouldn?t even have to be here. He finished with 6 points and 3 steals in 14 minutes. Warriors Eric Weiss Andris Biedrins- Anrdris is having a tremendous first half of basketball. Paired against a much larger foe, Peter John Ramos, Biedrins has not been impressed. Andris active feet have him flying all over the court and is getting rebounds, blocks, and points because of it. Biedrins had a series where he collected two outstanding blocks, the first on PJR and the second immediately after it on the put back attempt by Hiram Fuller. Andris has great post instincts and very sure hands. At one point he had a pass whipped at his jest at close range and was able to recover without skipping a beat to make his move and get to the line. Biedrins finished the half with 4 points and 6 rebounds to go with his 3 blocks. Biedrins second half was all about rebounding and solid post presence. Biedrins is a plus rebounder on both the offensive and defensive ends because his hands are sure and his instincts are sound. Really knows when to move to what position on the floor to make himself a part of the play, definitely not a napper. He was credited for 9 points and 9 rebounds, but we counted a good 13-14 boards for him throughout the game. Monta Ellis-Monta is still making himself an active presence on both ends of the court and seems to have a real sense for where the ball will be. He?s scrappy and has really grown on me over the first few days, but he needs to temper his enthusiasm for the pull up three. The young kid has the handle and awareness to play the point position, he makes solid inlet passes and has shown the ability to make the more difficult dishes off the dribble. Must continue to refine his decision making, but he?ll have that luxury on a Warriors team that is deep at guard. Made a tough fade-away baseline jumper under duress with time expiring in the first half. Monta finished with 12 points for the half. Ellis had another solid half both shooting and scrapping. Monta continues to show that he?s unafraid to stick his nose into the trees and comes out with some surprising steals and rebounds because of it. The more confidence he gained the better his decision making became, which is strange because usually players take foolish chances when they feel it going too much. Ellis made had one beautiful series where he came up with the steal and instantly advanced it to his runners for the easy score. On the next possession Monta took the ball hard-right and dropped a pretty teardrop floater into the basket with such a soft touch it barely moved the net. Activity is the name of this kid?s game, he?s always trying to do something and that?s never a bad thing. Ellis really showed the Warriors something with the way he played here. He was personally called over for a chat midway through the game with Chris Mullin. He finished with 19 points on 7-20 shooting. Chris Taft-Taft has played a pretty gritty game so far. He mixed it up with PJR early on and got a technical foul for his trouble. When Taft remains active and interested he looks like a player, but his motor is always a question. At one point Taft called for the ball continuously without establishing position and turned right into the double team for the turnover. Taft gingerly jogged up the court like he could care less that play was going on and seemed caught up in the previous play. While this behavior is typical out of many NBA players, Taft is a second round pick and has been questioned for his intensity so he can ill afford to show a lack of hustle. Still, Taft got some tough boards and made some nice post moves under decent pressure so he?s not a lost cause, just a mixed bag. Taft started off the 2nd half pretty well but had to sit out most of it after taking a nasty fall on the floor after an attempted dunk. He hurt his back on the play and was on the sidelines stretching for the rest of the game. He finished with 9 points and 5 rebounds in 15 minutes. Zarko Cabarkapa- Zarko was impressive in the first half against Andray Blatche, a good matchup from a size, length, and style perspective. Zarko made a number of plays from the wing and both created shots for himself and others. Zarko has very good body control and is sure of himself when he makes his move, rarely getting into trouble and wisely sticking to the middle instead of getting trapped on the baseline. Zarko?s overall speed and explosiveness isn?t anything special, but he has a good handle and knows the game well so it isn?t an issue. Zarko finished with 11 points in the half. Zarko continued to run the floor in the second half and good things happened because of it. When running the break Zarko can fill the role of finisher, distributer, and creator. Nice game for him as his outside shot finally started dropping. He finished with 18 points. Ike Diogu-Ike came alive in the second half after a no-show due to foul trouble early. Diogu grabbed tough rebounds in traffic on both sides of the floor and used his body to create space for his shot. Ike also picked up 10 personal fouls in the process, but that was more of an indication of his activity then anything else. Ike didn?t score a ton of points, but he really got after it. He finished with 10 points and 6 rebounds. http://www.draftexpress.com/viewarticle.php?a=1040 </div> They've got the final box scores on warrior site but it's in pdf. Are you kidding me? <font size="2">Washington wins 88-79 </font>
[ Box Score ] <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">The Washington Wizards cruised past the Golden State Warriors, 88-79, after outscoring the Warriors 49-38 in the second half. Randy Holcomb scored 16 of his game-high 19 points (6-8 FG, 7-10 FT) in the second half in the victory. Washington shot 54 percent (15-28 FG) in the second half. They finished the game shooting 43 percent (26-61 FG). Gerald Fitch chipped in 18 points (4-11 FG, 9-10 FT0 and Donnell Taylor added 15 points (3-8 FG, 9-13 FT) in the win. Golden State was led by rookie Monta Ellis who had 19 points (7-20 FG). Zarko Cabarkapa had 18 points (5-12 FG), four rebounds and four assists in the loss. Andris Biedrins had a game-high nine rebounds and nine points. The Warriors finished the game shooting 41 percent (29-71 FG). They committed 23 turnovers resulting in 32 Wizard points off of turnovers. The Wizards take on the Orlando Magic on Wednesday at 3 p.m., while the Warriors battle the Boston Celtics on Thursday at 5 p.m. </div>
They're the guys the Warriors are losing to, that's who! I think the lack of an experienced guard is definitely hurting the team. Ellis is getting better, at least. PDF? Looks like they typed it up on a typewriter and then scanned it in. High tech, there. Taft's "bad body language" may come to haunt him as a rookie, refs are sensitive to that, sometimes.
For last 3 games, all Biedrins, Zarko, Diogu, Ellis and Taft are playing pretty decent balls, and nobody make me worried so far. But, in other hand, why are we getting blown out all 3 games? Maybe, it's because we don't have a PG. Holy, 10 fouls in 22 mins? Gotta love summer league where you don't get fouled out. One thing is for sure, Ellis is not PG. He makes early days of Iverson like a Kidd. But, I am sure he can score, since you just don't shoot 20+ times without knowing what you are doing...
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Zhone:</div><div class="quote_post">They're the guys the Warriors are losing to, that's who! I think the lack of an experienced guard is definitely hurting the team. Ellis is getting better, at least. </div> We ought to know. We couldn't win having two championship teams' backup point guards because either they were too slow to create offense for others or they couldn't stretch defenses enough. Also our guys didn't know how to move off the ball in sync and we had the whole "make it up as we go along approach". They go zone on us, it's all over. I guess that's one way to stop Zarko from getting into the lane. I heard he was on a tear for a while at SF. He can't shoot the 3 very well, so I guess that eliminated his presence once they zoned up on him. Probably also why Monta will take enough of them because the other guys aren't that good at it and his handle is not that great to beat the zone like Speedy could, but good enough to create his own shot. I'm sure the brass didn't want to risk any of our roster shoe-ins after what happened to Taft's back. Hopefully, I'll see a recording of the game to see if I'm right. There might be some out of control players in this league that are trying too hard to impress. <div class="quote_poster">Quoting Zhone:</div><div class="quote_post"> Taft's "bad body language" may come to haunt him as a rookie, refs are sensitive to that, sometimes.</div> Sheesh, I hate how refs are sensitive to everything. They tossed Dun after one T after they were calling an extremely inconsistent game. It seems the only way to get respect is to get up in those refs faces and make them look like an idiot when they replay the game tape in a review session. At least you'll get respect when you know they're wrong. Some play in summer league can get rough with all these guys trying so hard, but refs in the summer league are just ridiculous. They called a tech on Taft for hanging on the rim. Who does that? Meanwhile, you'll hear skin slapping a mile away and they'll assume players giving high fives off the bench. I've seen some summer league games and this is where they put the rookies of the referees. Probably guys from the NBDL like Zach Zarba who's going to call a lamer call than the senior ref 30 feet away from him.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Kwan1031:</div><div class="quote_post">For last 3 games, all Biedrins, Zarko, Diogu, Ellis and Taft are playing pretty decent balls, and nobody make me worried so far. But, in other hand, why are we getting blown out all 3 games? Maybe, it's because we don't have a PG. </div> I just hope nobody gets injured like how Pietrus got dinged up. He had to wear a shoulder sling for the rest of the season and that'll probably be something to worry about because of the nature of that type of injury getting worse. Also, yeah, we just don't have anybody that can distribute the ball in open court play or at least take care of the ball. Points off turnovers against us is ridiculous. Hints we also got some slow transition D too. I'm sure whoever planned these summer rosters is thinking they need to get guards that accomodate Biedrins, Taft and Diogu so they can operate down low and not rely on dribble penetration by guards. <div class="quote_poster">Quoting Kwan1031:</div><div class="quote_post"> One thing is for sure, Ellis is not PG. He makes early days of Iverson like a Kidd. But, I am sure he can score, since you just don't shoot 20+ times without knowing what you are doing...</div> Fisher could shoot 20 times a game (most of them in transition) and I don't think he knows what he's doing. We only think he does because he'll occasionally nail a clutch shot and win it for us by 1 or 2. To think had we shot a higher percentage, passed the ball a little bit more, and not let the opposing point guard sing "Blue Bayou" while waltzing to the hoop, we'd probably win by 8 or 10.
