The Magic of the Wizards

There are a few teams so rotten that no team with Playoff aspirations should ever lose to them. The New York Knicks, snakebit by their astoundingly stupid general manager, Isaiah Thomas, are one of those teams. The entire Wizards squad would have to die on the plane up to New York for them to lose to the poor Knicks. Yes, they lost to them in Madison Square Garden ages ago, when the two teams met last, but the Knicks have disintegrated completely since then (losing eighteen of their last twenty games), while the Wizards have improved immensely (including their last nine home games).

This game was a gimme.

Washington got off to an easy early lead with fast breaks the Knicks didn't even seem to notice, much less do anything about. Gilbert Arenas was hot right off the bat, going 7/8 including two threes in the first quarter.

Etan Thomas traveled, which led to two points for New York. No sweat, though; the Knicks had seven turnovers in the first quarter. Most of them led to baskets for Washington. If ever a team looked helpless, it was the Knicks.

Fabulous pass from Antawn Jamison to Gilbert cutting back door. Just lovely. One of several nice interior passes for the Wizards.

Only one play looked good for New York in the first twelve minutes: the trey Stephon Marbury made with .07 left in the quarter. Every little bit helps, right?  He had to do what he could; he was all New York had going for them.

Score at the end of the first quarter: 38-27, Wizards.

The second period began with a three-second violation on Etan. He made up for it with great defense on the other end and then two points the next trip back.

The Knicks tried to pick it up on the defensive end, but the effort brought only more New York turnovers. By midway through the second, however, they'd cut the lead to eight. Undoubtedly knowing how silly it is that the Knicks should have any chance of winning this game, the Wizards collected themselves and extended their lead to thirteen....and then more. Eventually this looked like a practice session at MCI Center; they barely seemed to notice the Knicks were even there anymore. A reasonable reaction, that, since even the Knicks didn't seem to notice they were there either.

Half-time score: 71-45, Washington. The only questions were: Would the Wizards bother to play with any energy in the second half? Would the Knicks have given up entirely?

The third quarter started with Antawn getting kneed in the nuts hard enough to keep him on the floor for a while. Coach Jordan called a time out. Special icky note to the announcers, who made cracks at Jamison's expense. Particularly nasty was the one about it taking him a while to get his voice back down a couple of octaves.

Offensive foul on Caron Butler, then another. A turnover. The quarter wasn't starting well; the Wizards looked sluggish and out of sync. Coach Jordan called another time out, but this one wasn't for sympathy; he was pissed off. When the Wiz retook the court, they'd been thoroughly straightened out.

Arenas for three. Man, he was hot from the three-point line!

Washington was back to going hard--whatever Eddie said in that time out sure lit the guys up.

Then word came that Marbury--New York's only hope--wouldn't return. He'd hurt his left shoulder in the second quarter, and he was done for the night. New Knick Steve Francis, as worthless as he was in Orlando (and as useless as he's been overall since he and Cuttino Mobley were split up) came back in. No help there.

At this point it became fun to count New York's turnovers. Fifteen when I started keeping track.

Andray Blatche came in for Caron, who had four fouls and wasn't playing as well as usual anyway. Andray didn't do much to fill in, but it's the Knicks, for goodness sakes, so it didn't matter much. Excellent time to get a young player some experience.

Gilbert took an offensive foul for slapping Steve Francis' hand as Francis was guarding him a tad too closely. It should've only been a hand-check, but at that point it didn't make any difference. (Listening to Stevie whine, though, you'd have thought the game rode on that call.) Coach Brown just shook his head.

18th Knicks turnover.

Gilbert went out with forty-five seconds left in the third quarter. Donell Taylor took his place. Again, what better time for young players to get some time than in a blowout like this?

Score after three: 93-66, Washington.

Andray Blatche showed he still needs a lot of work during the fourth. He had a tough time with rebounds, and forget him as a scorer. Special negative note to him fouling Jamal Crawford on a three-point shot. He is awfully new, however, and he just needs some decent playing time. None of these mistakes look deadly.

21st Knicks turnover.
22nd, 23rd, 24th, 25, 26th, 27th, and 28th Knicks turnovers. My God.

Final score: 110-89, Washington. Wow, what a whipping. Good for the Wizards, of course, but the Knicks have got to do something. We're not supposed to have to pity the opponents.

Sidelines: Next game is Tuesday against the Memphis Grizzlies. Should be a win.

April 4th will be the third and final matchup between these two teams. It's in DC, so if you want an opportunity to watch the Wiz slaughter somebody, guaranteed, grab tickets to that one.

This is the eighth game this season in which Gilbert has scored 40+ points. Why didn't Coach Jordan let him play during the fourth at all, though? He could've beaten (instead of merely tied) his career high. He got forty-six points--but only two assists. That's not good, no matter how you slice it. The guy is a point guard.

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