Yesterday evening I had the
distinct pleasure of going to watch the Washington Wizards host the Los Angeles
Clippers. Unfortunately, 3 of the best 5
or 6 players did not play. On the other
hand, I paid $5 for my ticket, so I think I got my money’s worth.
7:05PM – We walk in (the we being myself and two of my
roommates) just in time to see the Wizards intro video. John Wall is obviously
introduced last. His eyes look…blazed…and he doesn’t look terribly happy. Not that it’s a live feed, but he just
clearly isn’t trying.
1st Quarter (times indicate how much time
remaining)
10:50 – The Verizon Center does this “stand until we score”
thing. In case you were wondering what
that meant, they encourage the crowd to stand and cheer until the Wizards score
their first point. Roughly 33% of the crowd is standing, and when the first
ball goes in there’s a collective sigh of relief from everyone.
8:40 – Wall picks up his 3rd assist of the
game. Pretty impressive, especially
considering how well Washington has to shoot in order for Wall to get 3
assists. Also, every time he gets an assist the announcer presses a button that
prompts a recorded “Wall with the dime” that sounds like it is straight out of
NBA Jamz ‘99 for the N64.
5:00 – I just realized the true value of watching a game in
person – bench reactions are awesome.
For starters, it seems a bit odd that the team sits in the corner while
rich people sit near mid-court. But at
this point the Wizards got a steal and were off on a break. A foul stopped the break, but someone threw
it down anyway. Even though they all
knew (well, I think they all knew) that it didn’t count, the Wizards' bench
still erupted.
3:00 – One thing I’m trying to pay attention to this game is
what I think all the talk about a Clippers-Celtics trade would entail. Jamal Crawford just drained a deep 3 with a
hand in his face. If the Celtics do anything, I’d target Crawford, not Eric Bledsoe.
Is that maybe asking too much? Perhaps. Do the Celtics think either Paul Pierce
or Kevin Garnett would be worth that much? Absolutely.
2nd Quarter – The Wizards ride good shooting and
a few “dimes” from Wall to a 24-16 lead after 1 quarter of play.
In between quarters they have a video of Jordan Crawford and Bradley
Beal naming as many types of candy as possible in 20 seconds, and a fan tries
to guess which person can name more.
Beal won (as did the fan), 8 to 7.
Crawford ultimately lost because he got stuck and all he could come up
with was “Cheetos?” or perhaps more appropriately, "CHEETOS!"
10:25 – A Wizards turnover leads to an uncontested Bledsoe
dunk on the sweeper kid who didn’t anticipate a turnover (rookie mistake) and
couldn’t really get out of the way fast enough to avoid the ball after Bledsoe
threw it down.
Side note – I finally decided to look it up and found out
that Blake Griffin is sitting out this game.
So no Chris Paul (knee), Bradley Beal (wrist), or Griffin
(hamstring). Good thing I’m sitting up
so high that I cant tell who is playing anyway.
9:35 – During a timeout I have flashbacks to watching the
Lancer Dancers in high school. Except
this is a paid dance team. And they are wearing less clothing. Although not
significantly less…
4:05 – Nene (I think Wall loves having Nene and Emeka
Okafor, two somewhat reliable guys around the rim and guys who are decent interior
passers, to pick and roll with) puts in the most forceful layup I have ever
seen on Lamar Odom. And then glares at him with that “yeah I just layed one up
on you” face.
3:08 – Jamal Crawford scores 6 points in a row on three
straight possessions to cut the lead to 5.
I’m not a huge fan of his game, but he can absolutely score.
1:49 – Okafor airballs his second free throw. This would not turn out to be the best free
throw moment of the game, but it was hilarious.
0:01 – Wall takes the ball hard to the rack and scores. The
crowd is as loud as it has been all night, acknowledging that a healthy Wall
adds 20 wins to their team’s expected total.
He finishes the half with 7 points and 7 assists.
Halftime – Acrobat Li Liu captivated me for her entire 8
minute set. I could balance on one arm
and twirl rings on my legs and other arm if I wanted to. Wizards up 51-46.
9:44 – It has taken me this long to catch on to the fact
that every time the Wizards force a turnover a recorded “Yezzir!” plays over
the loud speakers.
7:26 – The Clippers score 9 straight to cut the lead all the
way down to 3. Classic NBA. I’m sorry, I
meant classic Wizards. Actually, I meant both.
6:47 – They make it 11 straight. Bledsoe has their last 5.
5:48 – After giving up a bucket, Bledsoe throws an oop to
DeAndre Jordan for a ferocious dunk.
5:15 – Bledsoe puts in 2 more to give the Clippers the
lead. To recap, that’s 7 points and an
assist over their last 5 possessions.
Look, I think Bledsoe is good. And I also think he thinks he’s worth
more than he probably is. There are
places that could use him (Dallas, Detroit, Memphis), and I suppose Boston
thinks they’re in that category without Rondo. But for much of this game he
dribbled too much, got stuck too often, and wasn’t in control of the game the
way you’d like your point guard to be.
Granted, he’s trying to fill the shoes of the greatest floor general in
the league, and in moving to Boston he’d be trying to replace a top-3 point
guard as well. But with a healthy Griffin
the big-man rotation gets clogged if Garnett is added, and while Pierce's
experience and scoring would be most welcome, it’s not like the Clippers are
lacking in depth. Bledsoe-Butler for one
of them? Or Bledsoe-Jordan? Is that really enough to tempt the Celtics (winners
of 4 straight) into giving up one of those two guys? If you’re Bledsoe, do you really want that
anyway?
3:15 – Sorry for the rant.
The refs just made a terrible call (Trevor Ariza got blocked going for a
dunk). Then without anyone knowing why,
the Clippers inbounded the ball and just headed back the other way. I’m not even sure the refs changed the call.
I think they just went with it.
0:20 – The Wizards just ran one of the worst
2-or-even-3-on-1 fast breaks I have ever seen that resulted in Lamar Odom
fouling, even though he had basically defended everyone at once.
End of 3rd Quarter – The “G-man and his secret
service” do a trampoline dunk show. That’d be a fantastic way to make a bit of
extra money.
8:40 – Wall, still playing a reserved number of minutes,
gets out on a fast break off a jump ball and takes two guys to the bucket. Again, the crowd cheers in anticipation for
the future. We decide we should probably be rooting against the Wizards so we
can continue paying $5 for tickets.
5:25 – TV timeout means it’s time for the “dance cam”. Hilarity ensues, and the guy who wins was
some overweight white dude who started to take his shirt off when he won.
Needless to say they cut away from that immediately. Coming out of the timeout the Wizards put
together a nice little 6 point spurt, started by Nene banking home a free throw
(still not the funniest free throw moment of the evening).
3:26 – Wall commits his 3rd foul. This half he
has 2 points, 2 fouls, and 0 assists. Also notable: since my rant Bledsoe has
been very quiet.
2:39 – Wall scores two more to stretch the lead to 8 on a
step back jumper.
2:26 – A steal and outlet leads to a wide open Wall who
throws it down. It’s almost like he
heard me writing.
1:38 – The Wizards do this hilarious thing were if an
opponent misses two free throws in a row in the fourth quarter, everyone in the
building gets a free Chik-Fil-A sandwich.
Odom steps up for his first free throw – the crowd is kind of loud and
engaged. He misses! The crowd applauds, then realized what that means. Suddenly the building is electric. By far the loudest it has been all
night. Odom’s second free throw bounces
around….and falls in. The collective sigh (by everyone, at this point Clippers
fans just wanted free food too) was the loudest single moment during the game.
0:49 – Nene sinks two free throws to push the lead back out
to 8. Though I certainly do not trust the Wizards with this lead, the D6 bus
headed back towards our place was coming soon, so we head for the exit. Fortunately I have one of those intelligent
phones, so I was able to track the rest of the game.
It is great to know that, at least for the rest of this
season, I can buy a $5 ticket 2 ½ hours in advance and go see any team that is
in town. It was certainly disappointing
not to see Beal, Griffin, or Paul. And
unfortunately, as the playoffs draw closer, more teams will likely be resting
top players against the Wizards. But who cares. $5 to a professional sporting
event is awesome. I’d definitely pay $5
to go see anything that involved Alex Morgan.
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