Young on fire in Washington win over San Antonio

October 22, 11:43 PMWashington Wizards ExaminerGeorge Panagakos

Previous Next

Comment Print Email RSS Subscribe

Subscribe

Get alerts when there is a new article from the Washington Wizards Examiner. Read Examiner.com's terms of use.

Email Address   Include other special offers from Examiner.com Terms of Use

Nick Young led the way for the Wizards tonight on
hot shooting and hustle (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

The Washington Wizards played a strong three quarters against San Antonio tonight, but collapsed in the fourth in what ended up as a tight 100-95 finish.  The now 2-and-4 Wizards were led off the bench from the return of 6' 6" guard Nick Young, who scored 15 points on 7-for-8 shooting in just over 18 minutes of play.  San Antonio's Tim Duncan kept the Spurs in the game with 20 points and 8 rebounds on 6-for-10 shooting, including a huge 8-for-9 at the free throw line.  Looks like Timmy has been practicing.

The first three quarters of tonight's game were probably the best quarters of Washington's preseason thus far.  In three quarters, the Wizards held over a 50% field goal percentage as a team, with a 79-66 lead. 

The Wizards began the first half with an intensity on the offensive and especially the defensive side they did not show against New Orleans.  They held Tony Parker to just 4 points and 4 assists in the first half, while Tim Duncan finished with 15 points, 5 boards, and 2 steals.  When Duncan is on, there isn't much a defender can do to defend his jump shot, but with about 6 minutes left in the first quarter, Etan Thomas served Duncan a nasty block inside to get the defensive message across early.  And it worked up until the fourth quarter.

"Pop" continues to sport his mountain-man beard
(AP Photo/Darren Abate)

If San Antonio's head coach, Gregg Popovich, can take anything away from tonight, it would be San Antonio's fourth-quarter production.  Their 29-21 performance was sparked by guard Desmon Farmer, who knocked down three three-pointers in the last 2:32 of the game.  Washington's Oleksiy Pecherov made a critical three-pointer in response off a Dee Brown assist with just 43 seconds left in the game.  The Wizards 100-92 lead would prevent the Spurs from stretching the game out any longer, but I'm sure Coach Eddie Jordan is going to have plenty to talk about before the Wizards face Cleveland on Friday.

The Wizards are looking pretty good heading into their seventh and final game of the preseason this Friday against the Cleveland Cavaliers.  Nick Young defied all expectations tonight with his hot shooting, shadowing a 29-point performance between the two All-Star team captains, Caron Butler and Antawn Jamison.  Caron had a huge game, with 3 big steals and 6 assists to boot, and Jamison finished with 6 rebounds.  The critics might not think the Wizards can do it this year, but as Caron said -- when they're healthy, watch out.