Wizards Win!!

I don't have time for an actual post about this occasion, as I am currently writing a senior thesis on baseballs 2013 Hall of Fame class, so don't mistake the brevity for lack of excitement. It seemed like the first win was never going to happen, but then the Portland Trailblazers stepped into the Phone Booth (the Verizon Center…keep up) and were the only thing cooler than cool. And now the Wizards are 1-12(!!!!). 

Things can only go up from here if you are the Wizards, so let’s hope for a few more wins more frequently. If I have to wait 13 more games for the next Wizards victory…something about Wayne Brady doing something? I can’t remember.

I’ll leave you with a quote from the most powerful writer in Hollywood today: “There’s no [win] like the first. –Nicholas Sparks.

Nicholas Sparks is never wrong.

The 2012-2013 Washington Wizards > 2009-2010 New Jersey Nets?

Randy Wittman is sad

I watched the end of the Wizards play the Hawks last night. Whether or not we should have won this game isn’t debatable. We should have, but not because of a Martell Webster buzzer beater after time expired. We should have one that game because we played better than the Hawks for most of the night.

Nenê was back yesterday for the first time this season. It would have been easy to write the narrative where a crappy Wizards team starts to win after getting its, arguably, second best player back. And I'm sure that everyone from the Washington Post or Times was putting together a story just like that. But then Kyle Korver hit a three point shot from what memory tells me was half court (though it was probably 3ft behind the line) and put the Wizards to bed.

To say that Nenê’s foul on Devin Harris with 3.7 seconds left in the fourth was what caused the Wizards to lose this game is unfair. To completely ignore it, however, also cannot be done. The Wizards were in a position to win this game until they fouled the Hawks twice in the last five seconds of the game and essentially handed the Hawks a shot at overtime. It’s this undisciplined play that Wizards fans have become accustomed to seeing thus far in 2012, and what accounts for the Wizards league rankings of 22^nd in turnovers and 26^th in fouls per game (22.7).

To say that the Wizards are unbelievably difficult to watch and support on a nightly basis is an understatement. But that is the nature of fandom. You take the sweet with the bitter and the good with the bad. The 2012-2013 Wizards are bad. They are 0-10 right now, and have become just the 13^th team in NBA history to begin a season with 10 straight losses. The New Jersey Nets currently hold the record for the longest losing streak to begin a season with 18 straight, which begs the question for Wizards fans: Can we break this record? (Do we want this record?)

It is (probably) not a record that the Wizards want to be associated with. But then again, as I’ve said before, in the NBA you either compete or you tank. (#ShabazzSweepstakes) The Wizards are well on their way to tanking and, as a Wizards fan, it feels right. The Wizards have a few pieces, though they still need a few things, and the only way they are going to get them is through the draft. (Or Free Agency but who really wants to come play for the Wizards?)

But for now all we have to occupy ourselves with is the passionate pursuit of imperfection. Can the Wizards break the Nets streak of 18 games in a row? Let’s look:

11/24 vs Charlotte: Can we win this game? Absolutely. We lost to them earlier in the season and they have nearly matched their 2011-2012 win total, but their team is definitely not more skilled than the Wizards and this game will be relatively close. Do I think we should win this game? Yes. Will we? Ehh…probably not.

11/26 vs San Antonio: One of my friends likes to say that he is offended how much A.J. Price plays for an NBA team. I am not quite that offended, though if you think he can do anything against Tony Parker you are wrong. The Spurs have one of the best offenses in the league, the best coach in the league, and a scarily deep bench. The Wizards have none of these things. Blow-out-city.

11/28 vs Portland: They really aren’t that good. Last night they played all 13 guys who suited up, which tells me that Terry Stotts (the head coach) has no idea how to utilize his team. The Wizards have similar problems. Here is a Randy Wittman quote after the Wizards lost to the Pacers on 11/19: “I don’t know who to start, who to play, who not to play…” I may not be involved in professional basketball on a personal level but even I can tell you that those words don't sound good. (#ShabazzSweepstakes) The Blazers match-up really well against the Wizards, and though they may not have an identity yet, the Wizards aren't going to do much in Portland. Sorry.

11/30 at New York: The Knicks are actually good this season but they have one of the NBA’s shortest benches (Rasheed Wallace plays 15+ minutes a night!). The talent level  on these two teams are not as far apart as it may seem- forget about Carmelo- so I think that this game is likely to be more competitive than people think. If Carmelo plays an inefficient game (not likely) the Wizards can win, otherwise the Knicks just score too much for the Wizards basement dwelling offense to keep up.

12/4 vs Miami: Maybe if Lebron gets the flu. I hear it’s going around.

12/7 at Atlanta: We just lost a heartbreaker to these fools. If we don’t get our first win from Charlotte this is definitely going to be win numero uno. Or the Wizards could collapse down the stretch and lose again. Really the 2012-2013 Wizards are confusing. They are good for most of the game and fade down the stretch, or they start slow and work their way back only to blow it at the end. The 2012 Wizards are like Meek Mill’s newest CD. You go in thinking that it might be okay because you heard that song “Amen” and it was pretty good. But then you hear the rest of the album and decide you should have bought Kendrick Lamar’s CD instead. Stupid is as stupid does I guess.

12/8 vs Golden State: If Golden State was in the Eastern Conference they would be a Playoff team. They aren’t. What they are is young. They shoot threes; they grab some rebounds, and they have a pretty terrible defense. The Wizards defend the three point shot like able bodied NBA players should (top 5 in three point percentage against), which bodes well for their chances here. The Warriors also don’t have a dynamic Point Guard, something that gives the Wizards problems. If you don’t think that they are going to beat the Bobcats or the Hawks, this is going to be the Wizards first win. It’s too good of a match-up for the Wizards not to win this game. But I feel like I’ve said this before…

12/11 at New Orleans: The Hornets are pretty terrible. If Anthony Davis comes back from his ankle injury in time for this game then the Wizards chances of winning are diminished, but not significantly so. Subtracting Davis, the only Hornet who would start for another team is Ryan Anderson, and that team probably wouldn’t be very good. I think the Wizards win this game, but at some points I wonder if the Wizards are really bad enough to lose all of these games. Then I crack open the Sam Adams and I don't care as much. 

12/12 at Houston: The NBA’s 4^th leading scorer (for now), and 4^th leading rebounder receive paychecks from the Rockets and yet they are 5-7. This team is big; they can shoot threes, and are wildly inconsistent. The Wizards are going to lose this game because no one on the Wizards can stop James Harden, but by no means will they be overmatched.  

My prediction for this stretch is 3-6. We are not going to break that Nets record this year, no sir. I still think that we are headed for that No. 1 pick in June, which is good because my Shabazz Muhammad UCLA jersey is already in the mail.

Redskins-Cowboys Preview

I thought about writing a Redskins-Eagles recap. It wouldn't have been in good taste so I decided to shelve it. The pen is mightier than the sword, you know? I was going to compare the Eagles Offensive Line to the Convicts' in "The Longest Yard" (You Tube doesn't have the clip, but it's the part near the end when Adam Sandler's teammates realize that he is throwing the game and refuse to block for him), but I felt like too many people were already going to criticize the Eagles and I didn't want to be one of those people. I want to take the high road. I feel kind of bad for them. The Eagles are that team- and there is one every season- whose players quit on its coach before ultimately quitting on each other. Bets going into the season would have picked the players on the Kansas City Chiefs to quit on Romeo Crennel, the Eagles players have stepped their game up (or down) to a whole new level. I think when your fans make a video like this, it really speaks to how much of a dissent there is against Andy Reid in Philadelphia.

So, yeah, the Redskins dominated a rookie Quarterback last week and won handedly. Whatever. The Redskins play the Dallas Cowboys on Thursday. That's really the only game that matters.

Dallas is 5-5 on the season, and in the midst of the NFC playoff race. A win for the Redskins would be sweet because not only would it hurt the Cowboys chances of making the Playoffs, it would significantly bolster the Redskins'. As it stands right now the 'Skins are two games out of the division lead and the New York Giants are reeling. They had lost two games in a row before a much needed bye week last week, and now they must deal with the (red hot) Green Bay Packers on Sunday Night Football. Tom Coughlin is 13-21 in November and Eli Manning has zero touchdown passes and four interceptions in his last three games so the Giants lead in the division may not be as strong as many think. If the Redskins win this game, and then next week against the Giants on Monday Night Football, it puts them in a very favorable position in the division. Will it happen? Well, they definitely need to beat the Cowboys first.

The Redskins just snapped their three game losing streak by taking the Eagles behind a woodshed and beating them to the tune of 31-6, while the Cowboys backed into a win against the Cleveland Browns in an overtime game that they almost certainly should have lost. So though one may consider the Cowboys "hot," they are only hot inasmuch as winning two in a row against Eagles and Browns makes one hot, which is to say that the Cowboys aren't very hot. The Cowboys record against Playoff teams this year is 1-5, with their only win coming in the first game of the season against the Giants. Otherwise they have beaten three of the five worst teams (Panthers, Eagles, Browns) and squeaked one out against a pre-Muscle Hamster Buccaneers. There is something to be said about beating the teams you are supposed to beat, but at some point in order to prove they are a Playoff team they will need to actually beat a Playoff team.

Playing Thursday games presents a series of challenges to NFL teams. For one, it's a short week and teams do not have a lot of time to prepare for each other. But if this is a disadvantage for one, it's also a disadvantage for the other. More significant are the impacts on player safety and injuries that these short weeks have on the players. They are fatigued, and when they are fatigued they play sloppy; when they play sloppy their technique suffers; when their technique suffers players get hurt. Thursday afternoon Thanksgiving games have been a tradition for many years now, and the players really enjoy them (Darren Woodson said as much this morning on Sportscenter), but Thursday night games every week... NFL games are brutal contests where our country's strongest and most athletic men literally clobber each other for money. Shortening the time in-between games makes injuries that much more likely and, to some extent, expected.

Injuries will always be a factor in NFL games, but on Thursdays these issues tend to compound and result in lack luster games that become battles of attrition. This short week will likely affect the Redskins more than the Cowboys because of pre-existing injury issues. Brandon Meriweather, who had missed the first nine games of the season with a left knee injury, hurt his right knee in the third quarter of the Eagles game. He is likely to play on Thursday but may not be 100%. London Fletcher is more of an issue with his ankle injury and is a game time decision (courtesy of the Washington Post). If these two don't play the Redskins have little chance of stopping the Cowboys offense. Or, I should say, have less of a chance.

The Cowboys rank 7th in the NFL in passing yards per game, while the Redskins give up the 4th most passing yards. If Meriweather doesn't play it could be a long day for the 'Skins secondary, especially if Dez Bryant shows up. Dez Bryant has been a beast for most of the season (57 rec, 735 yards, 4 TD's) but has steppe it up of late, averaging 89 yards over the past four contests and scoring 2 TD's. The Cowboys are going to throw the ball a ton this game, and if DeAngelo Hall plays the way he usually plays (poorly), combined with the rest of this weak secondary the Redskins simply aren't going to win.

The key to this game for either team is going to be turnovers. Tony Romo has thrown 13 interceptions on the season, the third worst in the NFL (only the Chiefs and Philip Rivers have thrown more), and the Cowboys as a team have a -9 turnover differential. The Redskins on the other hand have a differential of +10, one of the best in the NFL. This is due in large part to RG3 taking care of the ball uncharacteristically well for a rookie, having only thrown 3 interceptions on the season.

For the Redskins the game comes down to two things: first, can they pressure Tony Romo? If they can they will hurry his throws and force him into mistakes (remember, the only thing worse than a hurried Tony Romo is a Playoff Tony Romo). And second, Robert Griffin III needs to manage the game effectively. Last week against the Eagles RG3 posted a perfect Passer Rating of 153.8, just the second rookie ever to do so. He threw for 200 yards and 4 touchdowns, and added 84 yards on the ground. If he can come close to duplicating either of these statistics, the 'Skins can cut down and force a few turnovers, and the 'Skins can cut down on their penalty woes (13 for 80 yards), they stand a decent chance of beating the Cowboys and keeping their slim Playoff aspirations alive.

If I was being forced into picking a team I would pick the Cowboys. That being said, I feel pretty strongly about a Redskins upset. Feel free to put all your money on Red.

Hail.