Wizards Vs Bobcats Pre Season Opener 7/10/12

I was there in 231 with my girl. Blockparty, my girl asked about you and what the "B's" were for, lol. But everyone's observations were right on point. I think the introduction will change to a different theme this year though, they used preseason/training camp footage last year for the preseason game against the Hawks last year too.

I saw the guys giving out the lower level tickets, very good move I agree. There was another guy directing the Cats Crew on who to give them to, and it seemed like he was focusing on families with kids before anything else.

I like that the first play they ran was to Mullens in the post. He hit a nice turnaround jumper too. If he can be a threat down there that really helps us a ton.

A couple of times they tried to go to Haywood in the post and he had the ball stolen or turned it over almost every time. With our centers, hopefully that is just a preseason option.

The pick and pop with Mullens in the 4th freed him up a couple of a times. He also looked a lot better on switches defensively than last year.

Dunlap played Sessions and Kemba together for a stretch, but had Sessions off the ball. I think that can work, but I'd rather have Kemba off the ball than Ramon.

The absolute best thing to me - When Washington made a run and cut it to 6 in the 4th, I started getting that dreaded feeling I got a lot last year. But Dunlap called a timeout, we came out and ran a good set and scored, stopped them twice in a row, Mully hit two threes in a row, and the game was over.

didn't see the game but was curious about what i saw in the box score and what folks there saw.

1. washington's best 3 players didn't play and their best forward off the bench also didn't play. what could we gleam from this other than we beat their 2nd team
2. haywood was mentioned as a key player but his box score is absolutely horrible (24min/2pts/3reb/0 oreb/ 4TO/1st/1blk/4fouls)
3. kemba had a not geat line for a pg
4. it seems the bright spots were mullens, hendo (steady from last year), mkg and gordon

For a team that set a low mark in futility last year, every win counts!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Chef

didn't see the game but was curious about what i saw in the box score and what folks there saw.

1. washington's best 3 players didn't play and their best forward off the bench also didn't play. what could we gleam from this other than we beat their 2nd team
2. haywood was mentioned as a key player but his box score is absolutely horrible (24min/2pts/3reb/0 oreb/ 4TO/1st/1blk/4fouls)
3. kemba had a not geat line for a pg
4. it seems the bright spots were mullens, hendo (steady from last year), mkg and gordon

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1. Yes, Washington had some no-names out there(to me, at least). And the Bobcats were treating this like a very important game. The body language indicated that they all want to turn this thing around.

2. Haywood anchored a strong defensive effort. What the boxscore doesn't show is how much of a pro he is at rotating and providing a massive wall of resistance. Multiple times a Washington player would drive in and just put up a bad attempt or lose the ball because Haywood was too big to get over/around for the release. And then MKG or someone else would collect the rebound/loose ball, but it was really Haywood making the play. Also, I think another guy here mentioned Haywood's constant communication on defense. The big fella is a pro and knows how to use his big body and length. He is the 7-footer that we WISH Diop could have been all these years. We got off to a great start defensively, really setting the tone, and without Haywood we wouldn't have done that so well. The Bobcats could press, trap, disrupt, get in people's grills on D, and that was all enabled by Haywood's presence around the lane.

3. To me, Kemba played within himself and looked like more of a traditional point guard, putting others first. I can remember maybe 1 questionable shot attempt by him at the most. He picked his spots well. It was all about a team effort and a balanced attack out there. And I do mean an ATTACK. Kemba was with the program. If you think about it, Kemba going 3-5 with 3 assists in 22 minutes is kind of refreshing compared to some of those volume-shooting 33% nights last year.

4. Yes, those 4 were bright spots. But I would also throw in Sessions, Haywood, Tyrus, and Dunlap:

Sessions brought an ability to break down the opposing defense that we simply did not have last year. To me he looks like a far superior point guard to Kemba right now, as he SHOULD be at this point in his career.

Haywood for the reasons mentioned above.

Tyrus scored 8 points with only TWO shot attempts, with 3 blocks in only 15 minutes of time. He attacked from the perimeter and drew fouls on more than one occasion. What an efficient infusion that was off the bench! And the Bobcats outscored the Wizards by 7 points during his 15 minutes. He was much better than the emaciated, sorry Tyrus of last year. Hopefully he's turned a corner.

The crowd was small and you could hear Dunlap's voice pretty well. He speaks with authority, and he really has these guys competing. So far, so good.

Thanks for reading!

Haywood did have a +/- of +11 in his 24 minutes. Sometimes guys luck into that stat, but in this case Brendan really did a lot to earn it.

I'd like to throw in a couple of notes about Tyrus. For one he was all over the court and diving into the stands at least 3 times that I can think of... and as someone mentioned before he was driving to the basket and drawing fouls. I was really impressed with his effort yesterday.

I was sat right behind the Bobcats bench and each time TT came to the bench he was asking for a heating pack for his upper thigh which I think after a while was just bothering him to much to play anymore.

Also I'll echo what the above poster was saying about Coach Dunlap talking to the players. Another thing I noticed is when they made a bad shot attempt or wild pass they would apologize to him (I noticed Mullins, MKG and Kemba do this) and Dunlap would just settle them down and (it appeared) to give them some advice.

Really enjoyed yesterdays game and it will be fun to watch these guys gel as a team and be competitive this year. Oh and I also got to meet Cho yesterday. He was speaking to a couple of guys in front of me right before the game and I introduced myself, etc. Really nice guy.

Awesome insight in this thread. Thanks a lot, guys.