Re: Arenas unstoppable, but Wizards don't defend. http://msn.foxsports.com/nba/story/6284532As illustrated by their 147-141 overtime win over the Lakers on Sunday night, there's a reason why the Wizards are always within hailing distance of playing .500 ball. They only play half of any given game. Offense is their thing, and the devil with defense.<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>DefenseNot much to discuss here.Late in the game, Kobe was usually doubled whenever he was involved in a S/R. On one occasion, the Wizards' big switched on Kobe and tried (unsuccessfully) to hold him up until help arrived from the weak-side wing. Otherwise, the Wiz went under every screen, including double-screens and staggered-screens. This tactic gave the Lakers a license to fire up treys, which they did, shooting 19-44. For the most part, the only aggressive straight-up defense was played by Stevenson. All the other guards and wings sought to steal entry passes, lurk on the edge of passing lanes and occasionally attack a careless dribble (Butler was especially adept at this last maneuver).Heywood was an overwhelmed shot-blocker of last resort (he had Washington's only two swats). And that's all, folks.In truth, the ball club's name should be the Washington Wizars, because there's no "d" in their game. But sometimes bad defense is even worse than no defense at all: In the closing seconds of regulation time, the Wiz led by five and the Lakers had possession. The game clock was so short (24.1 seconds remaining) that the obvious strategy was to let any Laker (meaning Kobe) who drove the ball into the lane score untouched. Ah, but Jamison didn't get the message. He unsuccessfully challenged Kobe's driving layup, and in so doing committed a dumb foul. Kobe dropped the resulting free throw, and this "extra" point eventually enabled the Lakers to push the game into overtime.For sure, their trio of explosive scorers makes Washington a highly dangerous ball club. They're always a threat to trump their woeful defense by scoring as though their basket was 5-feet wide. However, for the Wiz to surpass the .500 mark and to advance deep into the playoffs, Arenas must be Superman. Too bad the likes of Detroit, Miami (when Shaq returns) and the Bulls play kryptonite defense.Charley Rosen is FOXSports.com's NBA analyst and author of</div> Good article as always. I've been saying the same thing for a while, it's why this team/group of guys will never improve.
Re: Arenas unstoppable, but Wizards don't defend. Why does Charley Rosen have to bring negative things with this amazing and exciting win? I mean, we all know that the Wizards arent the greatest defensive team ever, but we have some pretty decent defensive players on our team. Haywood is underrated defensively, if you ask me. He has an enormous wingspan and can affect many shots. Stevenson always stays tight with his man on defense, he just smothers him. And he is very good at defending the deadly pick and roll play.
Re: Arenas unstoppable, but Wizards don't defend. <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Zards @ Dec 18 2006, 07:21 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Why does Charley Rosen have to bring negative things with this amazing and exciting win? I mean, we all know that the Wizards arent the greatest defensive team ever, but we have some pretty decent defensive players on our team. Haywood is underrated defensively, if you ask me. He has an enormous wingspan and can affect many shots. Stevenson always stays tight with his man on defense, he just smothers him. And he is very good at defending the deadly pick and roll play.</div> If you read the article he said Stevenson was pretty good. Rosen writes about games he watches, he wasen't picking on the Wizards, thats just by coincidence the game he reported on.
