Game 6: Cavs at the Phone Booth

Game 6: Cavs at the Phone Booth May 2nd, 2008 · No Comments

First, this to get you in the mood…

It’s do or die — again — for the Bullets as they try to do what they haven’t been able to do the last two years — prevent Cleveland from eliminating them from the playoffs in their own building. Washington hasn’t been knocked out of the playoffs on the road in 20 years, since Detroit did it in the late 1980s. Since then, the DAGGER! has always fallen at home. Nothing would give Lebron & Co. more pleasure than to torture the Bullets and their fans by kicking Washington out of the playoffs and doing it in the Phone Booth.

From surfing around the intertubes, I’ve noticed that some Bullets fans are outraged that Andray Blatche has been losing minutes to Darius Songaila in this series. They want to see more of Andray, less of Songaila and/or Antawn Jamison. Here is Eddie Jordan speaking to that issue:

“Darius is playing harder, a little more veteran-like and we can rely on him a little bit more and trust him a little bit more. Andray’s had some spotty moments which a young player will have but you know, we think Andray’s still going to have some minutes somewhere, but we’re going to rely on Darius first.”

This isn’t very controversial to me. I was outraged that Blatche didn’t receive more playing time last year, but it’s not a strong argument to make this year. Blatche is being destroyed by Big Z whenever he has to guard him. He just can’t do it. Z is too physical and too experienced for Bulletproof. He’s abusing the kid in very limited minutes. Blatche simply cannot cover Z right now. He just can’t do it and Jordan can’t send him in to do it. It doesn’t work.

The best option on Z is Brendan Haywood and Haywood has played well most of the time he’s been in the game. He was terrible in game 5, but had played well prior to that. Unfortunately, Haywood has taken himself out of games 1, 2, 5 with foul trouble. When Haywood isn’t in the game, the Bullets struggle mightily to contain Z. Songaila is doing a better job than Blatche because, while he doesn’t have Andray’s height, he’s playing with more physicality and confidence. Blatche is completely overmatched, know it and has let it get to him. [At least, that’s how it looks to me.] Songaila also knows he’s overmatched, but he’s fighting hard [witness the way he outdueled Z for that rebound off the Joe Smith miss at the end of game 5] and playing with more confidence. Right now, Songaila is the better option behind Haywood.

You don’t want Blatche taking minutes from Jamison either. Antawn was terrible offensively in game 5, but he’s still hitting the boards and is much more of a threat to score than Andray. Antawn is a better rebounder than Blatche [check the per-40 stats] and he’s a much better offensive player. He’s also far less likely to commit a turnover than Blatche. Now, some might argue that Andray is the better defender and that’s true. However, a great defender is not needed against the likes of Ben Wallaca or Anderson Varejao. Joe Smith has had his moments in this series, but he’s not killing Washington with his scoring. What the Bullets need from that 4 spot is scoring and rebounding and nobody on the roster is more likely to give them that than Jamison. Until Andray proves that he isn’t a liability against Big Z, he can’t get big minutes in this series.

So, what do the Bullets need to do to win tonight at the Phone Booth and force a decisive game 7?

• Be competitive on the boards, as they were in game 5. Washington doesn’t have to win the rebounding battle — and it is very unlikely that they will — but they can’t be destroyed by a 20-rebound margin and a huge deficit in 2nd-chance points;
• Jamison must do more to score tonight. AJ is still crashing the boards well and Cleveland’s limited options at power forward are not hurting Washington offensively, but the Bullets need more than 8 points on 10 shots from Jamison. The Captawn must hit some shots and cannot just settle for 3-pointers all night. His special brand of weird finger-rolls in the paint must be on display;
• More big-time play from Antonio Daniels. AD was AWOL in the first two games and Washington couldn’t win either of them. Since then, though, Daniels has played well. He runs Eddie Jordan’s offense better than anyone else on the team and his unselfish play enables him to find guys like Roger Mason for open jumpers;
• Someone on the bench has got to score in the double-digits for Washington. Either Roger Mason or Songaila has got to help out with 10+ points tonight;
• Caron Butler is Washington’s best player right now and he must come up big in his own building. The fans adore Tough Juice and will be cheering his every move tonight;
• Stay cool. Haywood and Deshawn Stevenson must keep calm and focus on basketball. For Deshawn, it’s all about hitting a few open jumpers in the 1st quarter. If he can do that, he’ll stay focused on his game and really help Washington. For Brendan, it’s all about not picking up stupid fouls in the first quarter.

And though I really shouldn’t do this, here it is anyway.

Let’s go to the numbers…

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