.354 from the field
.203 from three point land
91.7 points per game
No matter how you look at the numbers, it’s clear the Washington Wizards struggled in the opening week of the NBA season, a fact reflected in their 0-3 record. The team looks disjointed on offense, taking bad shots and turning the ball over with impunity. And by giving up 105+ points per game – good for 26th in the league – the defense isn’t any better.
The Big Three are each struggling in their own way. Antawn Jamison is shooting under 30% from the field, Caron Butler is averaging 5.6 turnovers per game and Gilbert Arenas is 1-17 from behind the three point stripe. Things are so bad that everyone’s favorite whipping boy, Brenda Brendan Haywood has been the lone bright spot, putting up double-double numbers in the first three games. He’s also tied for sixth in the league in rebounding going into Wednesday night’s action.
Tonight the team will, in the immortal words of Emmitt Smith, look “to get back to paydirt so they can right size the ship right now” when they face the 3-1 Nets in New Jersey, where the Wiz have lost 13 of their last 14. Washington hasn’t played since Saturday, so hopefully Eddie Jordan has used this week’s downtime to make the requisite changes to the offense, because the old one wasn’t working so well.
Agent Zero hasn’t practiced all week and had his knee drained Wednesday, but is listed as probable tonight. It will be interesting to see how he (and the knee) responds to the team’s second stretch of three games in four days. The Wizards face Denver at home on Friday in a primetime ESPN tilt, followed by a Sunday matchup in Atlanta with a Hawks team that surprised the Phoenix Suns last night.
