October 24th 2024: Redemption begins

Week 1, Game 1/82

October 24th 2024

v Boston Celtics

102 – 122

Starters: JP, Bub, Bilal, Kuz and Sarr

2nd Unit: Bub, Corey, Kyshawn, Bilal, JV

Highlights:

Jordan Poole

Fast paced

Ball movement

Rebounding

Lowlights:

Shots not falling for the rest of the team

Awareness of shot clock

Turnovers

Scouting Report:

Jordan came out immediately on fire. He was aggressive offensively putting up five quick points then proceeded to go on a heater. Jordan scored 17 points and had 2 steals in 8 minutes. At hat point he was 6/7 FG and 5/6 3FG, that man was on fire. The ball movement I've seen from the team was great especially compared to most of the games in the preseason. In preseason I saw too many cases of selfishness with the ball which I was nervous about rolling over into the regular season. Something I liked immediately was Jordan being the primary ball handler, other players did brin up the ball but it was mostly Jordan's responsibility which is what I was hoping for. Preseason they were giving everyone else opportunities to handle the ball to see what their capabilities were.

As I always say a lot of times you don't get a full picture of the game unless you actually watch it, there are so many things that you will miss just by stat watching. For example If you look solely off of stats you will see that Jordan only had 4 assists which is not bad, if you've actually watched the game you see how many shots he created including open looks for his teammates, 16 potential assists to be exact but unfortunately the shots just weren't falling so the numbers will not reflect that.

I hate to feel like I'm jumping on Kuz every post but there were a lot of questionable decisions from him that made me want to scream. At this point I'm not sure what's going on and if his head is just not in it, if he's out of shap or a mixture of both. I've seen people saying that he is not in shape which is disappointing to me because he's spoken several times about being a leader of the team and leading by example. Part of leading by example is coming into the season ready to play. I also saw an interview on Friday after practice where he noted that they were very quiet on the court defensively and that's something that they need to improve on. Now he's one of the team leaders so if he felt like the court was quiet why not say something.

I did see a lot of bright spots from each of the rookies, there were some low moments but its to be expected. Firstly it was not their night when it came to shooting. Jordan did get them open looks but they weren't able to cash them in. They also were playing the reigning champion Boston Celtics so obviously their defense was ready for the rookies. Bub ended the game with 3pts, 3 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 blocks and went 1/6 FG. Kyshawn ended the game with 4pts, 3 rebounds, 2 assist, 1 steal and went 2/6 FG. Alex had 2 points, 5 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 blocks and went 1/7 FG.

I figured when I saw the starting lineup that it was going to be difficult for them due to having 2 rookies and a 2nd year matching up against the current champs. Also it's their first game so they might have had jitters the biggest take away from them all three of we're not afraid to shoot. Of course shots will fall so I'm not too worried about the misses. I saw a lot of good decision making from them and they were all active on defense. We all know that you can control how you are on defense but sometimes offensively it's just not your day. When looking at the entire roster it seemed like it was only really Jordan's game. Everyone else struggled but I think if they could maintain how they were in the 1st 18 minutes or so throughout the entire game they would have been able to keep it a lot closer. Overall i'm impressed with Jordan's performance. I think he made all the right decisions, he was getting himself going but also working to get the team going but the shots were just not falling. He was also coaching the young guys on the floor showing his level of leadership.

Game 2/82

October 26, 2024

v Cleveland Cavaliers

116 - 135

Starters: JP, Bub, Bilal, Kuz and Sarr

2nd unit: Bub, Corey, Kyshawn, Bilal, JV

Highlights:

Jordan Poole

Bilal career high pts

Lowlights:

Kyle bad shots

Too agressive on defense leading to fouls

Leaving Cavs shooters wide open

Rookies defense cannot handle Cavs

Shots not falling

Scouting Report:

As soon as the game started, Kuz came out on a mission to get his with zero interested in getting anyone else involved. I'm not sure if its because of his struggles throughout preseason and the first regualr season game so now he's trying to force it. It's like he was playing with something to prove and it was backfiring making it worse. Some of this is a continuation from what I saw from him last year. I was hoping he would come into the season singing a different tune but as of now that is not happening.     

Once again everybody came out aggressive on defense but I think the similar to last game the defense was pretty good but in some cases the offense of the Cavs was just better. There are some players that are just like that and there's nothing you can do about it when they are hot. Defense is a choice and sometimes all you can do is get a hand in their face and hope for the best.. Sarr is extremely promising on defense and held Evan mobley 0/5. In reverse Mobley kept Alex 1/5, a pretty balanced match up. With the amount of rookies there is always going to be a lot of issues due to an experience but as the season goes on we will see less of those.

The man of the hour Bilal Coulibaly, he scored a career high 23pts, 6 rebounds and 1 assists. He was pretty efficient as well going 9/16 FG and 4/9 3FG. He was also really good on defense but the shooting and playmaking shined. He scored 13 in the forth quater, picking up where Jordan left of offensively since Jordan didn't play,

Overall I saw progress from the first game to the second. Jordan has been consistent a crossed the board, of course I'm happy with that. A lot of the issues like turnovers and defense matchups I attribute to youth. There was a lot of careless turnovers but both the Celtics and Cavs have offensive and defensive threats so it was a tough tasks especially for rookies. The effort on defense impressed me because playing defense is a choice. Offenively will also get better once the team continues to play and get more comfortable with each other and just playing in general. Even with the down moments I do see some potential with this team and I am not sure how many games they will win but I think they more they learn to play together, they can be conpetitive in every game.

Stephanie bka SDot

*Photo and Video Cred: Washington Wizards Instagram and Monumental Sports Youtube.

Turnovers and fouls were a really big problem and will be a learning curve for the young guys to see how aggressive they can be. Jordan coaching the rookies in the moment which but also help them tremendously with their development. Similar to last game a lot of the team was struggling with shooting. Jordan got them back in the game there was a 2 point