(November 19, 2008) The Wizards lost  94-87 last evening in a game that, again, saw the Wizards - within a week’s time - losing to the Miami Heat.

They say recognizing the problem is half of the solution.  Coach Eddie Jordan recognizes the problem.

“We can’t expect players to do something they don’t know how to do.” 

“We’re undermanned”, said head coach Eddie Jordan. 

“This team was built for [Gilbert] Arenas to lead, and all-star forwards to carry the wings.”

Admittedly, the Wizards don’t have that.

With three players making the injury report (Arenas, Haywood, and Daniels) the Wizards must constantly come up with a new plan of action for each game to compensate for the team’s weaknesses.

It seemed that did happen in the first half as the Wizards began to play Miami close after falling behind by six points in the first quarter.

Andray Blatche’s five foot bank jump shot, and Neil Young’s seventeen foot fade away, excited the crowd and offered hope. 

The Wizards were able to keep in close scoring proximity and tied the Heat five times in the second quarter (33-33, 35-35, 39-39, and 41-41).

Third Quarter Quandary

The game began to unravel for the Wizards as they saw the Heat take off on a scoring run, gaining ten unanswered points within the first ten minutes of the third quarter.

Dwayne Wade hit an eighteen foot jumper off a pass from Mario Chalmers, while Udonis Haslem added a fifteen foot jumper to Michael Beasley’s twenty-two footer.

Despite solid play by Wizards veteran, Caron Butler, who had 25 points on the night (most in the third quarter), and Antawn Jamison who finished with twenty-five, the Wizards found themselves in turnover turmoil. Among the turnovers:  traveling, stepping out bounds, losing the ball, and lane violations.

Turnovers the Heat gladly took advantage of, putting them up 73-69 at the end of the third quarter.

"They make threes, and Wade makes a play, and we just couldn’t do it (score)", Coach told media in a post-game interview.

Coach Jordan (again) sites the lack of games played by the Wizards as a piece to the team’s almost winless season.

“We haven’t played games.  We played them (Heat) last Thursday, then we play them again (last evening)."

"There’s three days again where we hadn’t played a game.  That’s part of being down in numbers, and personnel, and man power.” 

“You’re gonna struggle”, the seemingly frustrated coach added.

“You’re not going to have a good rhythm about yourself.”

The Wizards will have a chance to find that rhythm as they have three games scheduled this week: Atlanta (11/19), Houston (11/21), and New York (11/22).

Not playing enough games aside, Coach said it best about how the Wizards can pull out a much needed win.

“We could play better, we could not turn the ball over, and we could make plays”, said Jordan.

Offering Up Another Suggestion

We checked out ‘Game Time’, the official game program of Washington Wizards.  In it, the players share with fans what their favorite movies are.   

Coincidently, both Darius Songaila and Dee Brown list Gladiators as their favorites.

At  1-7 on the season, the Washington Wizards are going to have to become more like ‘gladiators’ to take this team to a level of consistent winning, and playoff possibility.