The Magic of the Wizards

Back Into Sixth Place

Tue, 07 Mar 2006 15:11:23 GMT

After a couple of inexplicable losses, the Wizards won one that should've been a gimme and was. Beating the Sacramento Kings day before yesterday gave Washington a half-game lead over Philly for the sixth spot in the East, a much nicer place to be than the seventh, when you think about the Playoff matchups.

Antawn Jamison scored thirty-one points and was the Beast again. Gilbert Arenas and Caron Butler did it up proper as well, and though Mike Bibby and Ron Artest performed well, they couldn't keep up with the best three-man team in the League.

"What we wanted to do was get that losing streak snapped," Arenas said. Sounds a little different from the guy who blithely commented the other day that he's not really concerned about road losses. Guess he's figured out the Wizards don't get to play all their games at home.

Final score: 117-107, Washington. Nice win.

Sidelines: Next game is Tuesday at home in the newly named Verizon Center--gotta love the telecommunications megers!--against the Boston Celtics. The Wizards whipped the Celts bad last time they met, and there's no reason they shouldn't do it again. Televised on League Pass and CSN.

Jarrett Jeffries sprained his ankle in the fourth quarter and left the game. Hope he's okay for Tuesday.

Trivia: Eddie Jordan coached the Kings back in the late 90s. Didn't do very well with them--but he didn't have a very good team to work with, either.

Wizards Blow Home Court Against Indiana

Fri, 03 Mar 2006 19:38:47 GMT

How 'bout them home losses, Gilbert? Do they not matter now, either?

I wonder if Gilbert Arenas feels like a properly smacked ass now. After his ill-considered remark about not being concerned over road losses, his team comes home and promptly loses. Not just any loss, either--a loss to the Indiana Pacers, costing Washington the Playoffs advantage with them.

Final score: 99-93, Pacers. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

Sidelines: Next game is Friday in Philly against the 76rs. I'd like to think there's no way the Wizards can lose this...but it is an away game, and we know those don't matter, right? Televised on ESPN and CSN, 7:30 p.m., Eastern.

Quit whining over the officiating! Spend your time and thoughts on the game, not over what you think are bad calls. This is the second game in a row--and second loss in a row--the Wiz have bitched and moaned about the refs and lost their concentration.

What's with 19-31 free throw attempts?! Make those freebies, and the game would've ended differently.

Andray Blatche and Caron Butler both had the 'flu. Caron played anyway...badly, but he played.

Wed, 01 Mar 2006 16:51:52 GMT

Two of the Wizards picked up some props this past week. Good stuff.

First, Gilbert Arenas was named Eastern Conference Player of the Week. 'Bout time, too.

Second, both Arenas and Antawn Jamison were taken to play for Team USA in the upcoming Olympics. With Steve Nash unavailable--he'll undoubtedly play for Canada--the two remaining top point guards, Arenas and Chauncey Billups of Detroit, will share duties. Jamison will go as a forward.

Finally, Gilbert attended the launch of We Can--Together, a new fitness program aimed at DC's kids. Also in attendance were Wizards owner Irene Pollin and Mayor Anthony Williams. For further information on this anti-obesity program, please go to:

http://aol.nba.com/wizards/community/arenas_cr060228.html

The Grizzlies Break the Streak

Wed, 01 Mar 2006 16:08:26 GMT

Washington had a three-game winning streak going, but the Memphis Grizzlies broke it. This looked like a Wiz win before halftime, but Pau Gasol--upset by his team's inability to beat a Garnett-less Minnesota the day before--took it upon himself to turn things around. He did it with worrisome ease.

The Grizzlies shot 67% in the third, while their defense held the Wizards to around 36%. A 9-0 run in the fourth put the game away, giving them a ten-point win.

Final score: 108-98, Memphis. I'm not pleased with Gilbert Arenas' post-game comment: "We played well tonight. We just didn't pull it off. But we're not really concerned about what we're doing on the road right now."

What on Earth do you mean, you're not really concerned about losing on the road?! Sure, protecting the MCI Center is key, but the Playoffs are going to be awfully short for Washington if they can't get road wins.

Sidelines: Next game is at home on Wednesday vs. the Indiana Pacers. The Pacers whipped the Wizards in Conseco Fieldhouse--but, of course, that was an away game. Let's see if Gilbert's "as long as we win our home games we'll be fine" attitude gets a victory.

Well, of course you beat the Knicks

Wed, 01 Mar 2006 00:42:39 GMT

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.

Wizards Shut Down LeBron...

Sun, 26 Feb 2006 00:30:22 GMT

...which means Washington shut the Cleveland Cavaliers down. (Forget all the Garnett-forcing-a-trade rumors; if anybody needs to get the hell outta Dodge, it's LeBron James.)

Excellent work by Gilbert Arenas, Antawn Jamison and Caron Butler. Those three are becoming an incredible trio.

Final score: 102-94, Washington.

Sidelines: Wow, what's with Cleveland fans booing LeBron?! Don't those idiots realize he's free to leave their ho-hum city in two years?

The Wizards break a four-game road losing streak. Good.

Muzzling the Wolves

Fri, 24 Feb 2006 09:54:52 GMT

After what had to be a disappointing All Star Weekend, Gilbert Arenas might be forgiven if he'd sulked and moped about a bit. Less effort and interest would be understandable; he got screwed in the selection of the All Stars, and the Weekend itself was a screwing of great proportion.

But he didn't. If anything, he came back from Houston more energized and rested than he's been in quite a while. Perhaps this time off the regular schedule gave him the time he needed to keep from looking as though he were ready to drop--like he's looked the last month and change.

The game didn't look good at first. The Wizards dug themselves a seemingly insurmountable hole--nineteen points--but managed to pull themselves out of it to win by
twelve against the Minnesota Timberwolves. Boosted by Arenas' thirty-four points, five rebounds and five assists, the Wiz grabbed a win that looked impossible during the first half. Bet Kevin Garnett still doesn't know what hit him.

"Phenomenal," Wizards forward Antawn Jamison said of Arenas. "He's playing the way he's been playing all year." Not really--earlier in the year Gilbert might've gotten the points, but the assists and rebounds wouldn't have been there. He's finally settled into being a consistently effective scoring point guard along the lines of Jason Kidd. Lovely to see.

Kudos to Caron Butler and Jamison as well; both were solid for most of the game. Especially during the second quarter, all three stars rocked with a 29-5 run that sealed the game. The rest was just gravy.

Final score: 90-78. That's eight straight wins in the MCI Center.

Sidelines: Next game is Friday the 24th against the Cavaliers in Cleveland. The Cavs are so inconsistent as to be impossible to predict. I'm going to go out on a limb here and lightly pencil this one in as a loss, but it could go the other way.

Nice to get a victory after going into All Star Weekend with two losses.

Brendan Haywood was benched as punishment for getting into a scrape with Etan Thomas. Guess he must've been the aggressor since Etan wasn't also benched. Michael Ruffin started in Brendan's place and contributed nine points and nine rebounds. Not bad at all.

Gilbert's All Star Minute

Mon, 20 Feb 2006 13:03:28 GMT

Okay, maybe ten minutes, tops.

With Flip Saunders as the Eastern Conference coach and four of his Detroit Pistons on the team, it was tough for anybody not named Shaquille O'Neal to get much playing time during the All Star Game. We saw glimpses of other guys here and there, but even crowd favorite (and former All Star MVP) Allen Iverson was seldom seen and barely noticed.

For someone nearly unknown outside the DC area, like Gilbert Arenas, court time was almost non-existant. (Remember Utah's Andrei Kirilenko's whopping five minutes a couple of years ago? Neither does anyone else.) Combine being an unknown in the company of superstars with his iffy status as "selected rather than elected," and you've got the perfect excuse for Saunders to not play Arenas more than the absolutely-required-by-courtesy five or so minutes.

Of course, it didn't help that Gilbert was hopeless. He bricked his few shots and assisted nobody. The first-timer nerves he (understandably) had last year carried over to this game, and he sure didn't go out of his way to impress anybody.

Ah, well. The point of all this was that Arenas deserved to be at the All Star Game. David Stern made right the fans' and coaches' oversight and got Gilbert to Houston. Anything else is just gravy.

Gilbert/3-point shooting contest

Sun, 19 Feb 2006 17:49:46 GMT

Raja Bell of the Phoenix Suns had a family emergency, so he was unable to take part in the All Star Weekend's 3-point Shooting Contest. For the second time this year, Gilbert Arenas got the call to replace somebody who couldn't make it. (Maybe he should start renting himself out for dinner parties.)

Gilbert doing the Wizards proud

Against great three-ball shooters like Ray Allen and Dirk, this should have been a disaster. As that idiot Charles Barkley said at least half a dozen times (as though he were imparting great wisdom), Gilbert is a scorer, but not necessarily a great shooter. Dirk and Ray--and Quenton Richardson--should have put him away easily.

Only it didn't happen that way. Dirk got a grace call when he was allowed to have his last money ball, even though the replay showed the ball still in his hands when the clock ran out. That put him into a tie with Gilbert for second place behind Ray Allen, so all three went into the second round.

...where, suprisingly, Gilbert beat Allen handily and came close to catching Dirk. Considering the relative scores of Arenas and Allen in the second round, this competition should've been Gilbert's. Still, in an event you wouldn't think he could compete in, he rocked. Second place in a three-point contest against guys like that is damned good.

Wizards Trade Rumors

Fri, 17 Feb 2006 22:25:07 GMT

Why look so intense? You'll miss the shot anyway. Sexy, but not over-competent

Don't know what to think of this:

"Struggling Washington seems a likely candidate to make some moves with Antonio Daniels, Etan Thomas and Brendan Haywood having indifferent seasons."

The Chicago Tribune

Depends on how much stock you put in The Chicago Tribune. I can see both Daniels and Etan on the block, but Brendan Haywood's not having an "indifferent season." He's improved immensely over the past twenty or so games, and I find it hard to believe the Wizards are going to find somebody better available.

Personally, I think Daniels has improved too, just not to the point where he still wouldn't be better for Washington if he were somewhere else. Etan? Well...He's gorgeous, but he's not producing at the level the Wizards need him to. Trade him off as well.

Shout it, big man!

That leaves Haywood. He often strikes me as a tad clumsy, but he's certainly getting the job done. Keep him. Screw The Chicago Tribune.