Bugs'
March-11th-2005, 11:55 AM
Wizards Report
By Brian A. Sereno, WashingtonWizards.com
March 10, 2005
Haywood
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HEY, WOULD YOU KEEP IT UP, HAYWOOD?: With his career-high sixth double-double of the season on March 8 in New York, Brendan Haywood extended a stretch of recent play that qualifies as the best of his four-year professional career. Haywood has scored in double-figures in six consecutive games and nine of the last 13 overall. His streak of six straight double-digit outputs is the longest such streak of his career. During the recent 13-game stretch, Haywood has connected on 58-of-92 (.630) field goal attempts and has made at least half of his shots in each game. Haywood is averaging 11.2 points and 7.0 rebounds per game in the last 13 games and a career-high 9.6 points and 6.9 rebounds on the season. The North Carolina product is averaging a career-high in almost every major statistical category, and has seen his scoring average rise for the fourth consecutive season.
Haywood in 04-05 Previous Highs
Points Per Game 9.6 7.0 (2003-04)
Rebounds Per Game 6.9 5.2 (2001-02)
Off. Reb. Per Game 3.1 2.4 (2003-04)
Blocks Per Game 1.66 1.47 (2002-03)
Steals Per Game .80 .42 (2003-04)
Minutes Per Game 27.2 23.8 (2002-03)
Field Goal % .558 .515 (2003-04)
386: Antawn Jamison’s NBA-best streak of consecutive games played came to an end on March 8 in New York. Jamison missed the game with right knee tendinitis after playing in 386 consecutive games. Prior to his recent DNP, the last time that Jamison missed a game was April 19, 2000 in the Golden State Warriors’ final game of the 1999-00 season. Jamison passed the iron-man title to Toronto’s Morris Peterson, who had appeared in 256 consecutive games when Jamison’s streak was snapped.
THE BIG THREE AND THE DYNAMIC DUO: While Antawn Jamison’s absence from the line-up in the Wizards’ last game robbed Washington of one-third of the league’s highest scoring teammate trio, and temporarily halted their quest to become the first teammates to average at least 20.0 points in a season since Tim Hardaway, Mitch Richmond and Chris Mullin in 1990-91, Gilbert Arenas and Larry Hughes were left to extend their lead in a different category. The Wizards’ backcourt, whom Celtics’ Head Coach Doc Rivers called ‘the best backcourt in the league’, ranks as the highest scoring guard tandem in the NBA, easily outdistancing their rivals with a combined 47.1 points per game average.
HIGHEST SCORING BACKCOURTS
Hughes
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Arenas
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TEAM PLAYERS TOTAL
WAS Gilbert Arenas (25.4) and Larry Hughes (21.7) 47.1
LAL Kobe Bryant (28.4) and Chucky Atkins (13.7) 42.1
CLE LeBron James (25.5) and Jeff McInnis (14.5) 40.0
PHI Allen Iverson (30.3) and Andre Iguodala (8.7) 39.0
NYK Stephon Marbury (21.0) and Jamal Crawford (17.8) 38.8
LARRY ‘HUGE’: Larry Hughes promised that he would come back from his 20-game lay-off even better than he was before, and the Wizards’ guard has delivered in his return. Hughes has averaged 26.0 points, 6.3 rebounds and 3.0 steals per game since his return from the injured list and is still the only player in the NBA to average at least 21.0 points, 6.0 rebounds, 5.0 assists and 2.5 steals per game this season. The Wizards have won nine of their last 11 games with Hughes in the line-up.
IN KING’S FOOTSTEPS: In his quest to become the first player in Washington to average at least 25.0 points per game in a season since Bernard King (28.4) in 1990-91, Gilbert Arenas is currently averaging a career-high 25.4 points per game. Arenas is 7th in the NBA in scoring, and is bidding to become Washington’s first player since King (1990-91) to finish in the Top 5 of the NBA in scoring.
GO-TO GUYS: The Wizards are making it increasingly harder on opposing coaches to guess who might get the ball for the Wizards in end-of-the-game situations. Washington has won five times this season when it took the lead on their final shot, and all five shots came via a different player. Brendan Haywood got it started with a three-point play with seven seconds remaining to beat the Knicks 106-104 at MCI Center on December 10. Gilbert Arenas made his Golden State homecoming a memorable one with lay-up with less than a second remaining in a 103-101 win at the home of the Warriors on December 20. Larry Hughes converted a driving lay-up with .6 seconds on the clock for a 105-103 win in Milwaukee (1/14), and Antawn Jamison had the fourth fantastic finish with a running hook with .4 to play in the Wizards 95-93 victory in Indiana on January 22. Most recently, Laron Profit tipped an errant Juan Dixon shot in with 3 seconds remaining to beat the Bobcats in Charlotte on March 5th. Four of the Wizards’ five game-winning shots came on the road.
ANOTHER COMEBACK WIN: The Wizards trailed the Charlotte Bobcats by 14 points on March 5th before rallying, in true Wizards’ fashion, for yet another comeback win. Of the Wizards’ 33 wins to date, one-third have come in games in which they once trailed by at least 10 points. Washington’s 11th double-digit comeback win was its first since February 9th when the Wizards rallied from an 11-point deficit to down San Antonio.
THE ROAD AHEAD: As MCI Center plays host to the 2005 ACC Tournament this week, the Wizards are taking their Playoff chase on the road. Washington plays eight of the next 10 games on the road with dates in Boston, Atlanta, Milwaukee, Denver, Utah, Los Angeles (Clippers), Seattle and Portland through the end of March. Of the aforementioned teams, only Boston, Denver and Seattle currently own a winning record. The other five teams had a combined 104-193 (.350) record through games played on March 8. The Wizards only remaining home games in March are against the Los Angeles Lakers (3/14), Utah Jazz (3/19) and Atlanta Hawks (3/30).
IF THE SEASON ENDED TODAY…: Washington would be the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference Playoffs and would have home-court advantage against Cleveland in the first round of the Playoffs. The Wizards are currently 1.0 game ahead of Cleveland in the race for the 4-seed, and 3.5 games ahead of Indiana, who occupies the eighth and final spot in the Eastern Conference Playoff standings.
MAGIC NUMBERS: The Wizards are 20-4 when holding the opposition below 100 points…11-1 when Jared Jeffries scores at least 10 points…14-8 when Antawn Jamison records a double-double…12-7 when Gilbert Arenas scores 30 or more points...13-3 when at least five players score at least 10 points…5-0 when six or more players score in double figures…6-1 when all five starters score at least 10 points.
By Brian A. Sereno, WashingtonWizards.com
March 10, 2005
Haywood
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
HEY, WOULD YOU KEEP IT UP, HAYWOOD?: With his career-high sixth double-double of the season on March 8 in New York, Brendan Haywood extended a stretch of recent play that qualifies as the best of his four-year professional career. Haywood has scored in double-figures in six consecutive games and nine of the last 13 overall. His streak of six straight double-digit outputs is the longest such streak of his career. During the recent 13-game stretch, Haywood has connected on 58-of-92 (.630) field goal attempts and has made at least half of his shots in each game. Haywood is averaging 11.2 points and 7.0 rebounds per game in the last 13 games and a career-high 9.6 points and 6.9 rebounds on the season. The North Carolina product is averaging a career-high in almost every major statistical category, and has seen his scoring average rise for the fourth consecutive season.
Haywood in 04-05 Previous Highs
Points Per Game 9.6 7.0 (2003-04)
Rebounds Per Game 6.9 5.2 (2001-02)
Off. Reb. Per Game 3.1 2.4 (2003-04)
Blocks Per Game 1.66 1.47 (2002-03)
Steals Per Game .80 .42 (2003-04)
Minutes Per Game 27.2 23.8 (2002-03)
Field Goal % .558 .515 (2003-04)
386: Antawn Jamison’s NBA-best streak of consecutive games played came to an end on March 8 in New York. Jamison missed the game with right knee tendinitis after playing in 386 consecutive games. Prior to his recent DNP, the last time that Jamison missed a game was April 19, 2000 in the Golden State Warriors’ final game of the 1999-00 season. Jamison passed the iron-man title to Toronto’s Morris Peterson, who had appeared in 256 consecutive games when Jamison’s streak was snapped.
THE BIG THREE AND THE DYNAMIC DUO: While Antawn Jamison’s absence from the line-up in the Wizards’ last game robbed Washington of one-third of the league’s highest scoring teammate trio, and temporarily halted their quest to become the first teammates to average at least 20.0 points in a season since Tim Hardaway, Mitch Richmond and Chris Mullin in 1990-91, Gilbert Arenas and Larry Hughes were left to extend their lead in a different category. The Wizards’ backcourt, whom Celtics’ Head Coach Doc Rivers called ‘the best backcourt in the league’, ranks as the highest scoring guard tandem in the NBA, easily outdistancing their rivals with a combined 47.1 points per game average.
HIGHEST SCORING BACKCOURTS
Hughes
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Arenas
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TEAM PLAYERS TOTAL
WAS Gilbert Arenas (25.4) and Larry Hughes (21.7) 47.1
LAL Kobe Bryant (28.4) and Chucky Atkins (13.7) 42.1
CLE LeBron James (25.5) and Jeff McInnis (14.5) 40.0
PHI Allen Iverson (30.3) and Andre Iguodala (8.7) 39.0
NYK Stephon Marbury (21.0) and Jamal Crawford (17.8) 38.8
LARRY ‘HUGE’: Larry Hughes promised that he would come back from his 20-game lay-off even better than he was before, and the Wizards’ guard has delivered in his return. Hughes has averaged 26.0 points, 6.3 rebounds and 3.0 steals per game since his return from the injured list and is still the only player in the NBA to average at least 21.0 points, 6.0 rebounds, 5.0 assists and 2.5 steals per game this season. The Wizards have won nine of their last 11 games with Hughes in the line-up.
IN KING’S FOOTSTEPS: In his quest to become the first player in Washington to average at least 25.0 points per game in a season since Bernard King (28.4) in 1990-91, Gilbert Arenas is currently averaging a career-high 25.4 points per game. Arenas is 7th in the NBA in scoring, and is bidding to become Washington’s first player since King (1990-91) to finish in the Top 5 of the NBA in scoring.
GO-TO GUYS: The Wizards are making it increasingly harder on opposing coaches to guess who might get the ball for the Wizards in end-of-the-game situations. Washington has won five times this season when it took the lead on their final shot, and all five shots came via a different player. Brendan Haywood got it started with a three-point play with seven seconds remaining to beat the Knicks 106-104 at MCI Center on December 10. Gilbert Arenas made his Golden State homecoming a memorable one with lay-up with less than a second remaining in a 103-101 win at the home of the Warriors on December 20. Larry Hughes converted a driving lay-up with .6 seconds on the clock for a 105-103 win in Milwaukee (1/14), and Antawn Jamison had the fourth fantastic finish with a running hook with .4 to play in the Wizards 95-93 victory in Indiana on January 22. Most recently, Laron Profit tipped an errant Juan Dixon shot in with 3 seconds remaining to beat the Bobcats in Charlotte on March 5th. Four of the Wizards’ five game-winning shots came on the road.
ANOTHER COMEBACK WIN: The Wizards trailed the Charlotte Bobcats by 14 points on March 5th before rallying, in true Wizards’ fashion, for yet another comeback win. Of the Wizards’ 33 wins to date, one-third have come in games in which they once trailed by at least 10 points. Washington’s 11th double-digit comeback win was its first since February 9th when the Wizards rallied from an 11-point deficit to down San Antonio.
THE ROAD AHEAD: As MCI Center plays host to the 2005 ACC Tournament this week, the Wizards are taking their Playoff chase on the road. Washington plays eight of the next 10 games on the road with dates in Boston, Atlanta, Milwaukee, Denver, Utah, Los Angeles (Clippers), Seattle and Portland through the end of March. Of the aforementioned teams, only Boston, Denver and Seattle currently own a winning record. The other five teams had a combined 104-193 (.350) record through games played on March 8. The Wizards only remaining home games in March are against the Los Angeles Lakers (3/14), Utah Jazz (3/19) and Atlanta Hawks (3/30).
IF THE SEASON ENDED TODAY…: Washington would be the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference Playoffs and would have home-court advantage against Cleveland in the first round of the Playoffs. The Wizards are currently 1.0 game ahead of Cleveland in the race for the 4-seed, and 3.5 games ahead of Indiana, who occupies the eighth and final spot in the Eastern Conference Playoff standings.
MAGIC NUMBERS: The Wizards are 20-4 when holding the opposition below 100 points…11-1 when Jared Jeffries scores at least 10 points…14-8 when Antawn Jamison records a double-double…12-7 when Gilbert Arenas scores 30 or more points...13-3 when at least five players score at least 10 points…5-0 when six or more players score in double figures…6-1 when all five starters score at least 10 points.