vs. <font color="blue">Washington Wizards (39-33)</font> vs. <font color="orange">Charlotte Bobcats (28-46)</font> Date: April 3rd, 2007 Time: 7:00 P.M. Eastern TV: CSN+/NC8 Place: Charlotte Bobcats Arena <font color="blue">Wizards Starting Lineup</font> (G. Arenas, D. Stevenson, J. Hayes, A. Jamison, E. Thomas) <font color="blue">2006-07 Wizards Stats</font> Leading Scorer: Gilbert Arenas - 28.9 PPG Leading Rebounder: Antawn Jamison - 8.1 RPG Leading Assist Man: Gilbert Arenas - 6.0 APG Points Per Game: 105.6 Field Goal Percentage: 45.2% 3-Point Field Goal Percentage: 34.6% Rebounds Per Game: 41.3 Assists Per Game: 20.1 Backcourt <font color="blue">Gilbert Arenas</font> PPG: 28.9, RPG: 4.7, APG: 6.0 <font color="blue">Deshawn Stevenson </font> PPG: 10.8, RPG: 2.7 APG: 2.5 Frontcourt <font color="blue">Jarvis Hayes</font> PPG: 6.3, RPG: 2.6, APG: 0.8 <font color="blue">Antawn Jamison</font> PPG: 19.8, RPG: 8.1, APG: 2.0 <font color="blue">Etan Thomas</font> PPG: 5.4, RPG: 5.2, APG: 0.4 <font color="orange">Bobcats Starting Lineups</font> (R. Felton, M. Carroll, G. Wallace, W. Herrmann, E. Okafor) <font color="orange">2006-07 Bobcats Stats</font> Leading Scorer: Gerald Wallace - 17.5 PPG Leading Rebounder: Emeka Okafor - 11.7 RPG Leading Assist Man: Raymond Felton - 7.1 APG Points Per Game: 96.3 Field Goal Percentage: 44.1% 3-Point Field Goal Percentage: 34.9% Rebounds Per Game: 30.4 Assists Per Game: 21.9 Backcourt <font color="orange">Raymond Felton</font> PPG: 14.0, RPG: 3.6, APG: 7.1 <font color="orange">Matt Carroll</font> PPG: 12.5 RPG: 2.9, APG: 1.3 Frontcourt <font color="orange">Gerald Wallace</font> PPG: 17.5, RPG: 7.0, APG: 2.6 <font color="orange">Walter Herrmann</font> PPG: 6.7, RPG: 2.3, APG: 0.5 <font color="purple">Emeka Okafor</font> PPG: 14.7, RPG: 11.7, APG: 1.1 <u>Keys To The Game</u><font color="blue">Bench Production</font> ? With Caron Butler out, it is extremely importantly to take the load off Arenas and Jamison with like they did on Sunday. The bench combined for 53 points and 22 boards. The Wizards don't want to put themselves in a situation where Arenas needs to shoot up bad 3 pointers every possessions, so the bench is important. <font color="blue">Shut Down G-Wallace</font> ? It's never right when you let someone score 40 points, grab 14 boards, steal 6 times and block 4 shots. Well, that's what happened the last meeting, where Gerald Wallace raped us up the butt. Yet again, Caron Butler is out, so it's important that Gerald Wallace is contained down-low and make sure he doesn't get any put-backs. <font color="blue">Take Care Of The Ball</font> ? The Bobcats are a very scrappy team who likes to hustle and run and being away from home, the Wizards can't afford to slack off. Charlotte will easily take advantage and get as many points off turnovers as possible, so the Wizards need to be focused. Every game until the playoffs are important as terms of seeding. <font color="purple">Shut The Big Duo Down</font> ? With Caron out, the ball will be shot mostly upon Gilbert Arenas and Antawn Jamison, 2/3 of that trio. The Bobcats need to take advantage of these 2 games, but can't do if Gilbert has his hibachi on. <font color="purple">Paint Presence</font> ? Pending on how much Haywood is going to play, the Bobcats need to feed the ball in the post with their frontcourt, pound the boards and earn every inch against the Wizards. <font color="purple">Stay Out of Foul Trouble; Keep Them Off The Line</font> - Several of key Bobcats players have gotten into foul trouble against the Wizards in the last meeting, and this looks like a game that will go down to the wire. The Wizards are money at the line almost every time, and that's the last place the Bobcats want to be sending them. If they don't want to let this game slip from their hands, they need to play cleanly.
Lets hope gil has his hibachi on. Im more worried about the game in charlotte cuz at home he's usually great.
How do we let the Bobcats score 122 points? That is pathetic not to mention every other aspect of the game was fine for both teams. The Wizards shot a fine 45 percent on the floor, Arenas had 33 points. The Wizards had 2 extra rebounds, the Bobcats killed us in the assist total, but the Wizards didn't lose this game at all. The Bobcats worked the pick n roll, got open looks from downtown, got in the paint way too easily and just simply scored more points than us. What I can't seem the to figure is how Hayes played 35 minutes while Songalia played only 21, when Hayes shot only 1-6 on the floor, while Songalia shot 8-9 on the floor for 16 points. Etan Thomas had a great game, he was a monster on the boards, but the only thing was wrong was his presence down-low. He got beat numerous times on the pick n roll and it hurt us. What I can't understand is how Brendan Haywood only played 9 minutes, and how Booth played 3 minutes after scoring 11 points and 11 boards against the Bucks. Honestly, Eddie Jordan needs to be fired I see that Jarvis Hayes is starting over Darius Songaila.
