addByline("Zach Rosen", "WashingtonWizards.com", "ZacharySRosen");
DC Family,
After the WNBA got the regular season started on Saturday (nice win, Mystics!), the NBA regular season will resume this week. The Wizards will open up their eight seeding games against the Suns on Friday. But before we get there, let’s look back at Saturday’s scrimmage!
In the morning, the Wizards watched film and headed over to one of Disney’s practice courts attached to the main court, The Arena, for shootaround. These are typically less than an hour long and focus on the game plan. After shootaround, Coach Brooks and five players were given these fire WNBA orange sweatshirts and we did a quick photoshoot for the post below.
We returned to the hotel for lunch and had some time for ourselves, in which I watched my hometown Milwaukee Brewers beat the Chicago Cubs, 8-3. I went down to the hotel’s convention center area around 4:15 P.M. to get tested and get ready for the game.
I stood outside the hotel entrance and took photos of our first batch of players heading over to HP Field House for the game. When we arrived there, the Heat and Jazz were on the floor, which meant we had to go warm up on that same practice court where we had shootaround. That required vans to take players and coaches over to the other court, four individuals at a time. I hopped in one of them with Isaac Bonga, Thomas Bryant, and Ish Smith and captured content where the day had started.
Despite the additional logistics and location changes, the gameday experience went much smoother than our first scrimmage against Denver. I felt much more comfortable knowing the facility and where I was allowed to go as the team’s content representative. We’ll see how Monday goes, however, since it’ll be a different arena we haven’t played at yet (Visa Athletic Center).
The in-game experience was cool to see, as it was considered a home game for the Wizards. The in-arena sound system played “Welcome to D.C.” as they would back at Capital One Arena, and had familiar music, features, and graphics similar to home games. The game entertainment was strong, and it was cool to see some of the visual fan concepts in action.
On the court, I thought the Wizards played extremely well. We saw a breakout game from Isaac Bonga against two of the top players at his position in the league in Kawhi Leonard and Paul George. Also, Rui Hachimura, Thomas Bryant, and Jerome Robinson all had strong games against. Despite the result of the game, as Scott Brooks said after the game, it was a mental win for the young Wizards.
I also wanted to mention that today is exactly 100 days until Election Day. We launched a campaign with Make Your Vote Count to encourage people to register to vote. It’s a project spearheaded by our Wizards and Mystics players, alongside the support of Monumental Basketball and the entire company. Please take a minute to watch the video below and make sure you register to vote by clicking here!
Life in the bubble remains totally manageable and fine. I have no complaints outside of not being able to see loved ones and friends. We're getting in a groove now and are over halfway to the minimum date we'll be here. Everything feels normal and the new food setup has made a difference.
On Saturday, I frankly forgot to take a photo of the menu, but we were served four meals instead of three since we had a game. The beef Bolognese pasta after the game was top notch, as was the fish. Luckily for you all, I did remember to get a photo of Sunday’s menu.
Sunday breakfast menu
• Scrambled cage free eggs
• Breakfast sandwich with eggs, meat, & cheese
• Citrus maple glazed turkey sausage
• Potato barrels
Sunday lunch menu
• Mixed greens with roasted pepper ranch dressing & balsamic vinaigrette
• Tri color roasted potato salad
• Sweet creamy coleslaw
• Chipotle peach BBQ pulled pork
• Mesquite grilled chicken with caramelized onion & apple chutney
• Steamed broccoli & cauliflower medley
• Herb panko baked Tillamook mac & cheese
Sunday dinner menu
• Kale & collards tossed with raspberry vinaigrette and sliced red onion
• Cauliflower, egg & garden pea salad with yogurt dressing
• Baked penne pasta with alfredo sauce
• Lemon pepper roasted airline chicken breast with caper berries
• Baked cod with citrus gastrique
The week ahead will be a crucial one for the Wizards. After Monday afternoon’s scrimmage against the Lakers, the team will have three days to get ready for the Suns on Friday.
On the content side, we’ll have a podcast with Troy Brown Jr. about his vlog, leading this young team, and much more dropping on Monday. His fifth episode of Ballin’ in the Bubble will come out Tuesday, though he did put out a funny moments video earlier today. We also have a few more fun surprises up our sleeves.
Until next time, take care.