Category: Washington Wizards Blog

The Washington Post (Ivan Carter) reports (via blog):  When Etan Thomas went down with a torn MCL in his left knee, many assumed that rookie center JaVale McGee would see an increased role. To this point, that still hasn’t really happened. McGee, who started 13 games earlier in the season and has flashed talent while showing that he’s still a raw young guy with plenty to learn, played 14 minutes against Milwaukee, 16 minutes at New York, four minutes at home against the Knicks and five minutes yesterday at Golden State against a team that doesn’t employ a traditional center. Clearly, interim coach Tapscott still feels more comfortable starting Andray Blatche at center and playing Darius Songaila long minutes at that spot. Blatche put up 22 points and nine rebounds in 33 minutes yesterday while Songaila posted six points, two rebounds and two assists in 15 minutes.

Here is Washington Wizards interim head coach Ed Tapscott:

On Nick Young’s recent play (25.8 ppg, .717 fg% in last four games): “Nick has hit a spot where he’s got his rhythm back and he feels good about what he’s doing.  He knows we’re going to run some plays for him so he doesn’t feel pressed and he knows he’s going to get minutes.  When all of a sudden you get minutes and plays called for you, you can be selective, and better shots mean more minutes.  People now are going to game-plan for him.  He has to be prepared for one of those games where they have someone trying to deny him, and instead of getting 33 points he gets 16 and still feels like he has a good game because he helped open up the floor for other people.”

On last night’s game versus the New York Knicks: “The Knicks try to make you play fast, and like I said last night they did a better job of imposing their play-style on the game.  We played well offensively.  We scored a lot of points.  Normally 122 points wins you a lot of basketball games, but we didn’t play very well defensively.  They imposed their style of play on the game much more effectively than we did.”

On today’s practice: “Today we decided to go with more of a mental practice than anything physical because we’re going to play the same team (tomorrow night).  With their pace, you want rested legs.  Now the real key is figuring out how to impose our style of play on the game with more effectiveness.”

Hers is Wizards small forward Caron Butler:

On last night’s game versus the New York Knicks: “It was a lot of up-and-down fast tempo play.  It was a tough loss obviously, but hopefully we can redeem ourselves tomorrow night in our building.”

On Nick Young: “He’s on a roll.  He’s scoring at a rapid pace.  Scoring 33 points in three quarters is unbelievable.  Just to come out and be aggressive the way he has, assert himself early and establish a rhythm is unbelievable, and it shows a lot about him as a player.  Now you’re seeing him explore with his ability.  He’s getting the ball and he’s being real creative.  He’s doing some stuff on the fly, and that’s what makes a special player.”

And here is Wizards guard Nick Young:

On his recent play: “I’m feeling good.  The difference has been my confidence level.  Coach is running plays for me, and seeing my shot go in is always good.  Gil (Arenas) has been staying after practice with me, so I’ve been getting extra shots and working out with him.”

On if teams will start game-planning for him: “The more Antawn and CB (Caron Butler) get going (other teams) are not going to worry about me (as much).  If we get them going early, I can come in and be that spark off of the bench.”