by Holly MacKenzie / @stackmack
Hearing that Flip Saunders is more disappointed in Andray Blatche than he’s ever been in a player in his coaching career isn’t fun. What is this guy doing? He’s so talented, you think he’s taking the playing time/pressure/trust in stride and is starting to make strdies with his game and getting a grasp on his talent and the NBA game and then the guy tells his coaching staff he doesn’t want to be put back into the game.
From Bullets Forever:
Blatche took issue to Saunders’ treatment, after which Saunders said if he didn’t want to be coached, he wouldn’t play. According to Saunders, Blatche said he didn’t want to play and repeated the phrase when assistant coaches approached him three different times.
“In my fifteen years [of coaching], I’ve never seen anything like it,” Saunders said. “I’m more disappointed in him that I’ve ever been with a player in my coaching career.”
“He can be pissed at me, but you never leave your teammates hanging out to dry like that, no matter what, especially when you’ve lost 11 games in a row and have a chance to win a game,” Saunders said. “Uncalled for.”
I can only imagine how frustrating it is to hear that when you’ve been working with a young guy this long to try and get him to realize that he has all of the tools and even someone to help him figure out the puzzle, but the pieces won’t fall into place until he decides he wants them to.
While the Wizard/Bobcats went into overtime after Stephen Jackson missed at the end of regulation, the Bobcats were fired up in overtime and outscored Washington 13-4 to get the 95-86 victory. Gerald Wallace finished with 17 points and 19 monster rebounds. Stephen Jackson had 16 points but needed 19 points to get them and Boris Diaw also scored 17 as the Bobcats outrebounded Washington, 61-42. JaVale McGee led the Wiz with 14 points and 12 rebounds while Mike Miller added 15 in the loss.
In New York, Carmelo Anthony scored 36 points on Danilo Galinari who requested to guard him, but Danilo finished with 28 points and got the W, as the Knicks hung on to take the game, 109-104. Chauncey Billups scored 25 points to go with six assists and Arron Afflalo and JR Smith each added 11 for the Nuggets. The Knicks had 23 points off of the bench from Al Harrington and 12 points and 16 rebounds from David Lee. Toney Douglas added 16 points and seven assists.
In Detroit, Danny Granger went off for 32 points and took some hard fouls from the Pistons before getting them back by heating up on the court. Loved his 3-pointer with Tayshaun Prince hanging off of him as he also had the foul. 4-point plays have become the Jamal Crawford speciality, but they are always fun. Brandon Rush scored 20 points and Earl Watson added 13 assists for Indiana. Prince had 14 points, nine rebounds and six assists for Detroit while Kwame Brown pulled down 15 rebounds off of the bench. Really.
In Dallas, the Mavs got the 106-96 win for Jason Kidd on his 37th birthday. Dirk Nowitzki even got to get started on the celebrations early, getting ejected for arguing with the officials in the third quarter. While the Mavs led by as many as 16, the Clippers lead by one to start the final quarter before Dallas used a 22-3 to pull ahead, thanks to the birthday boy. Kidd scored a season-high 26 points to go with six rebounds and 12 assists. Jason Terry scored 14 off of the bench and Nowitzki had 18 before he was ejected. Drew Gooden scored 26 points and grabbed 20 rebounds in his former stomping ground as Chris Kaman scored 22 and Rasual Butler added 16. Baron Davis had 11 points and 13 assists in a game where the Clippers lost despite outscoring Dallas 29-14 in the third.
37 years young for Kidd. He and Nash are holding it down for the veteran point guards.
It felt super quiet in the league last night, besides the disappointing news from the Wizards regarding Blatche. Here’s hoping he gets his issues sorted out quickly.
Utah is in town tonight and I’m looking forward to watching a team that is disciplined on both ends of the floor. When Jay Triano was asked if he could envision himself coaching as long as Sloan has, he quipped, “I just want to live that long.”
