Wizards ready to set tempo at Dallas

October 6, 7:00 PMWashington Wizards ExaminerGeorge Panagakos

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When the Washington Wizards head to Dallas tomorrow, they will be out Gilbert Arenas (in case you haven't heard) as well as Brendan Haywood.*  Meanwhile, Coach Eddie Jordan now wants defense, after noting how he wanted more offense at the close of training camp.

Thomas Returns as Anchor
Etan Thomas will indeed get a chance to show he is more than defensive intensity this week as he takes Haywood's place at center, but I guess it will depend on what Jordan really wants from his team.  The Wizards won't expect that much offensive production from Thomas, and I expect to see heavy rotation from the bench, not only because of the play level of the preseason, but also because the Wizards roster has a bench that can change the rhythm of a game with quick bursts of points (especially if Juan Dixon ends up as a reserve).  I'm also interested to see whether Thomas is conditioned well enough to keep up with any Dee Brown tempos the Wizards might look to run.  Defensively, Thomas looks better than ever, which will be important when considering the Wizards' PF rotation.

How Tough is the 4?
Who will join Thomas and back Antawn Jamison at PF is up in the air at this point.  Unfortunately, JaVale McGee has no clearance this season as the team's third center, and the Wizards will probably play a combination of Andray Blatche and Darius Songaila (although I still feel Blatche could develop better at the SF with his range), which means Thomas is going to have his hands full once more as the heart and soul of Washington's defense.  Blatche and Songaila should match-up pretty well against Dirk Nowitzki (as well as you can do against a near-seven-footer with a fade-away), but I'm interested to see how the Wizards will defend Brandon Bass, who should bang in the paint more than Nowitzki might.

Match-Up Notes
Last year, the Washington Wizards defeated the Dallas Mavericks 2-0 during the regular season, 3-0 if you include a 90-86 preseason victory last October.  Of those three games, what sticks out to me is a 15 point performance by Jose Barea in just under 12 minutes off the bench.  Another trend is the Wizards defense, which held the Mavs to just 20.5% from the three point arc in their two regular season meetings last year.  Expect the Mavs to try and penetrate the paint to test what Thomas and company can do to prevent inside buckets.

*Special thanks to Doclink; I misheard a radio broadcast yesterday and erroneously assigned Brendan Haywood's health status to Antawn Jamison.  I apologize for the misinformation.