Bobcats-Wizards Preview

By MATT BEARDMORE
Posted Jan 25 2012 12:24AM

The league-worst Washington Wizards are hoping a coaching change can help them salvage their season.

The Charlotte Bobcats need to doing something different soon or theirs could be lost.

Playing for the first time since coach Flip Saunders was fired, the Randy Wittman-led Wizards will try to leapfrog the visiting Bobcats in the Eastern Conference standings on Wednesday night in a battle of the NBA's worst teams.

With just two wins in their first 17 games, the Wizards couldn't wait any longer for the team to turn the corner, firing Saunders on Tuesday after he went 51-130 in two-plus seasons.

Even though team president Ernie Grunfeld said the players need to hear a new voice, Wittman, a former assistant, knows it's going to take far more than a coaching switch for Washington to start playing competitive basketball.

The Wizards are averaging 88.6 points, and they're giving up 107.1 per game in their last seven following Monday's 103-83 loss at Philadelphia.

"I'm not the miracle-maker here," said Wittman, who begins his third stint as an NBA head coach, and first since getting fired by Minnesota 19 games into the 2008-09 season. "We've got to change our outlook on how we play. Sometimes, when you have such a young team, players get a little confused, I think, when the word 'development' is used - that they're going to be able to develop just playing. Development has to happen on the practice floor."

However, second-year point guard John Wall and the Wizards won't get much of that this week as they begin a stretch of three games in four nights that ends Saturday in Charlotte.

That will be the Bobcats' lone home game in their next seven contests.

Charlotte (3-15) makes the first of two trips to the nation's capital this season following an awful offensive performance on Tuesday. The team made a season-low 27 field goals, shot 32.9 percent and lost its fifth straight, 111-78 to New York.

Point guard D.J. Augustin was sidelined with an inflamed right big toe, and he's expected to miss at least the next three.

"We just didn't have enough," coach Paul Silas said. "We had really two players that played tonight, that's Kemba Walker (22 points) and Gerald Henderson (15). I think (Derrick) Brown scored a little bit there (15 points) at the end but that was it."

The Bobcats are scoring 85.0 points per game while losing six in a row on the road. Charlotte's last seven-game skid away from home was an 0-9 stretch from Nov. 19-Dec. 20, 2010.

Charlotte's last defeat during that span was 108-75 to Washington.

Playing without Wall (knee tendinitis) in that game, the Wizards avoided a sixth consecutive loss to the Bobcats and fourth in a row at home in this series.

These teams split four games in 2010-11, with each winning once on the road.

Wizards beat Bobcats 92-75 in Wittman's first game

Posted Jan 25 2012 10:55PM

WASHINGTON (AP) Randy Wittman didn't sleep on Tuesday night. Excited and nervous about his debut as Washington Wizards coach, Wittman couldn't wait to get started.

His players couldn't wait, either.

The Wizards led throughout the game and blew out the woeful Charlotte Bobcats 92-75 on Wednesday night.

Washington is still just 3-15, but after the Wizards quickly built a 20-point lead and didn't blow it, Wittman was eager to talk about the win.

Replacing his old friend Flip Saunders, who was fired Tuesday morning, wasn't his choice. Given a contract to coach only through the end of the season by team president Ernie Grunfeld, Wittman said there was no magic in the win.

"There's nothing to critique tonight," Wittman said. "This is tough - the things we've gone through - this is tough."

Nick Young scored 20 points, and Andray Blatche had 17 points and 10 rebounds for the Wizards, who didn't have the benefit of a practice. Saunders' lead assistant has been an NBA coach twice - with Minnesota and Cleveland. His career record improved to 101-207.

He didn't change the starting lineup.

"All these guys get a clean slate with me," Wittman said before the game.

When Grunfeld fired Saunders, he explained that the team needed "a new voice."

Blatche, who had clashed with Saunders on numerous occasions, tried to be conciliatory toward both the old and new coach.

"I can't honestly say we needed a new voice," Blatche said. "We just needed somebody to actually check us - like Wittman did. That's what we needed."

JaVale McGee, whose showboat dunk on Jan. 16 caused a huge rift between he and Saunders, was reluctant to say the team needed a new coach.

"That's Ernie's opinion, and I'm going to let it be Ernie's opinion," McGee said.

Wittman likened his team's fight against mistakes to a smoker trying to quit.

"I've got to help them kick some of those bad habits. That's all it is - we've just fallen into a way that's not conducive to us to win, so when I see them pull out a cigarette, I have to take it out of their mouth," Wittman said.

Washington started off brilliantly against a team with even more problems. The Bobcats, who have lost six straight, are now 3-16 and were missing their top two scorers: Gerald Henderson and D.J. Augustin.

Matt Carroll scored 17 points and rookie Cory Higgins had a season-high 13 for the Bobcats. Tyrus Thomas also had 13 points and blocked nine shots - one short of a team record.

"Talent is what's most important in this league. If you don't have the talent, it's very difficult to win, it's very difficult to execute, it's very difficult to do anything," Charlotte coach Paul Silas said. "Right now, we just don't have that. As I said last night, take three or four of your best players off any team, and you're not gonna play well. Our scorers, our two leading scorers are not playing, how are we gonna score?"

John Wall scored 12 points for the Wizards, who broke a three-game losing streak. Washington had a 31-17 advantage after one. The second quarter was even worse for Charlotte. The Bobcats missed their first seven shots of the quarter and finished 5 for 20 in the period, scoring just 11 points and trailing 48-28 at halftime.

The Bobcats used a 9-0 run early in the third to cut the lead to 50-37, but Washington soon pushed the lead to 25 and led 71-49 heading into the fourth.

NOTES: Henderson was a late scratch with a bruised lower back. Earlier in the day, the team exercised its fourth-year option on him. Carroll started in Henderson's place. Henderson said that he decided not to play after he warmed up. .. Augustin will miss at least three more games with an inflamed right big toe. Silas isn't sure how long Augustin will be out. "It's difficult to know, but the one thing we were concerned about is a fracture and he doesn't have that. So we'll just have to wait and see how long it's gonna take him," Silas said. ... Wizards F/C Ronny Turiaf says he's still a few weeks away from returning after breaking his left hand on Jan. 1. ... Washington hired a new assistant coach, Joe Connelly. ... The Wizards (23) and Charlotte (22) both tied season highs for turnovers.

Notebook: Wizards 92, Bobcats 75

By Rich Dubroff, for NBA.com
Posted Wednesday January 25, 2012 11:26PM

THE FACTS: Nick Young had 20 points and Andray Blatche added 17 to lead the Washington Wizards to a 92-75 win over the Charlotte Bobcats on Wednesday in Randy Wittman's first game as coach.

Washington was just 2-15 under Flip Saunders, who was fired on Tuesday morning, and replaced for the rest of the season by Wittman, who had previously coached Cleveland and Minnesota. The Wizards led throughout the game and led 48-28 at halftime.

Charlotte has lost six straight, and played without its top two leading scorers, Gerald Henderson and D.J. Augustin. Matt Carroll led the Bobcats, who are 3-16, with 17.

QUOTABLE: "I can't honestly say we needed a new voice. We just needed somebody to actually check us-like Wittman did. That's what we needed."
-- Blatche on the coaching change.

THE STAT: The Bobcats' 28 points were just two more than their all-time low for a first half and four more than their worst half in franchise history.

TURNING POINT: Washington led 31-17 after one, and though Charlotte momentarily cut it to 13 in the third quarter, the Wizards quickly padded the led to 25.

QUOTABLE II: "I've got to help them kick some of those bad habits. That's all it is. We've just fallen into a way that's not conducive to us to win, so when I see them pull out a cigarette, I have to take it out of their mouth."
-- Wittman on breaking the team of its mistake-prone play.

HOT: Washington's John Wall was 6-for-9, but had seven turnovers.

NOT: Charlotte's Kemba Walker, who started in place of Augustin, was just 4-for-19 from the field.

GOOD MOVE: Henderson scratching himself after pregame warmups with a bruised lower back. He missed another lopsided loss -- the Bobcats' seventh of 17 points or more.

BAD MOVE: Blatche had five of his shots blocked by Tyrus Thomas, who finished with nine blocks-one short of the team record.

NOTABLE: Both teams tied their season high for turnovers. The Wizards had 23 and Charlotte had 22.

IN THE ARENA: Two teams with a combined 6-31 record drew an announced crowd of 15,286.

NEXT: Bobcats: Friday @ Sixers, Saturday vs. Wizards, Tuesday @ Lakers. Wizards: Friday @ Rockets, Saturday @ Bobcats, Monday vs. Bulls

• Bobcats: Maggette, Williams
• Wizards: N'Diaye, Turiaf

• Bobcats: --
• Wizards: --

• Lead Changes: 0
• Times Tied: 0

• Arena: Verizon Center, Washington, DC
• Officials: #48 Scott Foster, #18 Matt Boland, #77 Karl Lane
• Attendance: 15286
• Duration: 2:10