The Wizards absolutely crushed the Memphis Grizzlies last night at the Verizon Center in the most one-sided NBA game we’ve witnessed in a while. D.C. exploded to a 45-18 lead in the first quarter, and set a new Verizon Center record by scoring 77 in the first half. Gilbert Arenas took his new Kobe-inspired mantra of “quality shots” seriously, scoring his 31 points on just 13 field goal attempts in 33 minutes.
Thanks to injuries to Etan Thomas, Michael Ruffin, and Darius Songaila, Eddie Jordan’s been playing a very tight rotation during the Wizards’ recent, grueling 8-2 run, and decided to let his starters rest midway through the second half. The coach didn’t appease our desire to see some minutes for project big man Andray Blatche, but little-used reserves Roger Mason, Donell Taylor, and Calvin Booth all got serious minutes. The results … made you see why these guys don’t play much. Jarvis Hayes shot a pathetic 0-7 from the field, which still doesn’t quite capture the deplorable decision-making that went into the misses. Booth committed three turnovers in ten minutes. Taylor needed just nine minutes to shoot 1-6. And with a bit more than four minutes left on the clock, the Grizzlies were concluding a 15-0 run that had them within 12 points of victory.
Back came the starters and the game was put away. Fans got a reminder that good as the Wizards have been playing without their usual backups recently, it would be very nice to see some depth return to the team. For now, the team’s focus is on games tonight at Charlotte and Friday night versus Orlando — victory in those contests will likely put the ‘zards on top of the Southeast Division and in position to enjoy some home-court advantage in the playoffs.
Matthew Yglesias a staff writer at The American Prospect, and blogs at MatthewYglesias.com
Photo by Flickr user Peter MacDonald, used under a creative commons license
