Ah yes, our seven-man smorgasbord of veterans with faults and unproven youngsters.  Depending on who you ask, this unit may or may not need to be consolidated or upgraded, but for the time being, it's what we've got.

And what, exactly, do we have?  We have two solid starters, one that's an absolute ace offensively and normally a sieve defensively and one that's awkward offensively and an underrated presence defensively.  We have two veterans who are limited, but are trusted by the coach even when they are blocking players who deserve some of their minutes.  Then, we have three young guys, all with the potential of being a difference maker, but all projects that need playing time despite being in different stages of their development.  

You don't have to be Eddie Jordan to have trouble allocating 96 minutes a game to this group.  (Though he's particularly "good" at it).  

There are so many trade-offs to consider.  Play Etan Thomas for his rebounding...but do so at the expense of Brendan Haywood's defense and (maybe) attitude.  Play Darius Songaila for his offensive smarts...but do so at the expense of Andray Blatche's much-needed development.  Play Antawn Jamison 40 minutes a night for his essential all-around contributions...but do so at the expense of providing developmental minutes to Blatche, JaVale McGee and Oleksiy Pecherov, projects drafted to eventually replace him.

96 minutes, seven guys, all power forwards or centers. How would you specifically allocate the minutes? 

Some considerations:

• Last year, only Jamison played more than 20 percent of the team's minutes at a position other than power forward or center.  Otherwise, these guys were exclusively playing the 4 or the 5. 
• In 2006/07, when Haywood played more than 25 minutes in a game, the Wizards were 18-8.
• According to Basketballvalue.com, Darius Songaila had the second-highest adjusted plus/minus on the team last year, behind only Jamison.  
• The highest PER of any reserve on the team last year belonged to Andray Blatche at 15.5.  In 2006/07, that honor belonged to Etan Thomas.
• To review: Though Haywood has never posted a higher defensive rebound percentage than Thomas in a year both played, the team's defensive efficiency has always been better with Haywood on the floor instead of Thomas.  

Good luck!

Editor's Note: Part V of our Summer Project.  Previous profiles are of Robert Pack, Jim McIlvane, LeDell Eackles, and Tim Legler.

This profile looks back on a player from the 2004-05 squad that made it to the second round of the playoffs.  Your writer is JakeTheSnake.

In my closet you'll find three Wizard jerseys.  Obviously, it would hard to really write effectively over here if I didn't own a Gilbert Arenas #0 jersey.  I've also got a Antawn Jamison jersey that I was fortunate enough to get on sale right after Christmas.  Then there's a Wizards jersey with a number 1 on it.  It doesn't belong to Nick Young and sadly, it's not a Rod Strickland jersey.  No, my Wizards #1 jersey is a Jared Jeffries special.  If you don't believe me, here's your visual evidence:

Continue reading this post »

I'll be honest, I really don't how to preface this post, so let's jump past the thin candy shell and right into the ooey-gooey chocolate center of the post shall we?

WHAT THE WIZARDS WOULD BE IF THEY WERE CANDY

Gilbert Arenas = Pixy Stix: The complaints about both are the same: Very sweet, good for a quick thrill, not a whole lot of filling substance.  Yet you rarely see fans of either complain about feeling empty.

Andray Blatche = Twizzlers: Both could benefit from being a little thicker.

Dee Brown = Skittles: In the interest of full disclosure, nothing about Dee Brown's game reminds me of Skittles, but whenever I watch him, he reminds me of a hyper kid running around after eating a whole bag Skittles.

Caron Butler = Snickers: With a Snickers bar, you're getting a nice, diverse package of chocolate, nougat, peanuts, and caramel.  Caron also gives you a little bit of everything and puts it into a sweet package that everyone can enjoy.  (Not to mention, that every so often you see both wrapped in gold.  But let's not talk about the alternate jerseys right now.)

Antonio Daniels = Hershey's: Sure, there's stuff out there that might taste a little better, or have some fancier packaging, but these two give you what you're looking for every single time.

Brendan Haywood = Peanut Brittle: At first look, they both look kind of clumsy.  Brendan isn't exactly Pete Maravich and peanut brittle looks like a rejected batch of semi-processed peanut butter.  But when you get down to it, you realize that both are pretty doggone good.

Antawn Jamison = M&M's: A timeless classic.  And like Jamison's shot, you can find M&M's in just about every variety imaginable.

JaVale McGee = Bacon Bar: At first, they both sound kind of gross (Chocolate flavored bacon?  An athletic 7-footer that has 3 pt. range but struggles with rebounding?) but they're both intriguing enough to make you want to try it out at least once.

Dominic McGuire = Shock Tarts: Need I say more?

Oleksiy Pecherov = Laffy Taffy: They give you some flavor, and they're good for a chuckle.  What more could you ask for?

Darius Songaila = Twix: What? He likes things dipped in chocolate.

DeShawn Stevenson = Everlasting Gobstopper: You can try to wear them down, but you know at the end of the day that they're too durable to let something like saliva or a knee injury keep them from playing.

Etan Thomas = Gourmet Chocolate: It's a decent product, just a little more pricey than it should be.

Nick Young = Airheads: Being the youthful player that he is, Nick Young makes some decisions on the court that make you wonder what's going on in his mind.  But then you remember that one day the maturity will come and then we can stop wondering about his head and we can devote all of our focus to his air.

Previously:

• Etan Thomas
• Oleksiy Pecherov
• Dominic McGuire
• Nick Young
• Andray Blatche
• Roger Mason
• Darius Songaila
• Antonio Daniels
• DeShawn Stevenson

Stats: Per-game: 27.9 minutes, 10.6 points, 7.2 rebounds, 1.7 blocks

Per-36: 13.7 points, 9.3 rebounds, 2.1 blocks

Percentages: 52.8 FG%, 73.5 FT%, 58.2 TS%

Advanced (explanations): 18.3 PER, 15.2 REB%, 17.3 UsgR, 12.9 TO%, 119 ORtg, 109 DRtg, 7 WSAA (Win Shares Above Average)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Pradamaster: Even prior to this season, Brendan Haywood has been unfairly scrutinized for his performance as the Wizards' starting center.  Too many fans confused aesthetics with production, and while Haywood's game has always been awkward, he has always brought a lot of positives to the table.  A look at his plus/minus numbers over the past few years bear out his importance on the defensive end.  On the court, Eddie Jordan was harming the team by treating Haywood and Etan Thomas as equals.  Haywood was the team's best defensive player by a mile, and on a team starving for defensive players, sitting Haywood amounted to cutting off our own legs.  

Hopefully, those days are behind us after the season Haywood had in 2007/2008.  With his sidekick Thomas not in action, Haywood put together easily his best season as a pro.  His strong defense continued, but his offensive game took a quantum leap forward.  Haywood displayed more post moves than he ever had before, dramatically improved his shooting touch with the help of Dave Hopla, and, more importantly, presented himself as a legitimate option rather than simply as someone who collects offensive rebounds.  There was a time when only Dwight Howard was playing at a higher level among Eastern Conference centers.  Who could have expected that after Haywood tore the nameplate from his locker in the 2007 playoffs?

What changed?  There are a few factors at play here.  Which of them one chooses to emphasize will go a long way towards answering the question of whether 07/08 was just a fluke.  For one, there's the lack of Gilbert Arenas, leading to the shift from a high-paced racehorse style to the half-court, grind-it-out system that suited Haywood better.  There's also the absence of Etan Thomas, which sparred Haywood his competition for the center spot.  If one were to focus on those factors, they'd probably be skeptical about whether Haywood can duplicate this past season's success. 

At the same time, though, other things changed that may be more long-lasting.  First and foremost, Haywood's newfound shooting touch should remain.  Dave Hopla is still around, and Haywood remains a tireless worker.  Additionally, Haywood's newfound playing time may be more a result of his improved attitude than Thomas' absence.  He came into training camp knowing the job was not guaranteed, worked his butt off even after the way 2007 ended, and I think it's safe to say he would have won the job even if Thomas was healthy.  Throughout the season, Haywood emerged as a mature locker-room leader, even speaking up against LeBron James in the clip above.  One could look at that as immaturity, but I see a guy repressed for so long finally showing some toughness.

I'm a little worried that Haywood's offense will dip next season with Arenas back in the fold.  Without Arenas, Haywood's shot attempts and free throw attempts per-36 minutes rose significantly, and his usage rate climbed from 13.6% in 07 to 17.3% in 08.   With Gilbert out there, the Wizards run more pick and rolls, and don't dump the ball into the post as much.  Haywood is not a particularly graceful pick and roll player.  He still doesn't have very soft hands, and Arenas and Caron Butler have a tendency to zip the ball to him in poor position to catch it.  Hopefully, Arenas adjusts his game enough to get Haywood more touches.

But even if Haywood's offense comes back to normal, he deserves to play most of the center minutes because of his defense.  He's arguably one of the best one-on-one post defenders in the league due to his length.  He's routinely left alone to cover even the best big men, and his ability to alter shots can deter penetration (which is why I don't get why we keep insisting on protecting the paint at all costs...Haywood can do that himself!).  It made me chuckle a little bit reading Michael Wilbon wonder aloud how we can handle Dwight Howard down the road with this group.  Thanks to Haywood, we're probably better equipped to handle Howard than almost any other Eastern Conference team.

I liken Haywood to Chicago's Bill Cartwright.  Both had their share of detractors because of their awkward games, but both played major roles as starting centers on good teams.  Cartwright was probably a better scorer than Haywood, but otherwise, the comparison sticks.  Neither was a particularly powerful rebounder, but both were outstanding one-on-one defenders (just ask Patrick Ewing), great locker room guys, and players who could contribute without getting the ball much.  Haywood can play that kind of role for this team for a long time if all the other pieces keep improving. 

I'd consider him about as close to untouchable as our Big 3.  Last season proved it.

JakeTheSnake: Over the last six years, we've come to understand what Brendan can and can't give us on a given night.  We know that he'll block some shots, get some offensive rebounds, give you strong man defense, and he'll try that awkward looking hook shot once a game.  We also know that he'll never be a great scoring threat, his defensive rebounding leaves a lot to be desired at times.  He's not ever going to be an All-Star, but he's better than a lot of the centers out there.  After all, if the Celtics, can win a title with their center averaging 7 points and 6 boards, we have to feel good about Haywood averaging 10 and 7 right?

Given what we know about Brendan, I really don't think he could've played any better last season.  He knew with Etan on the shelf that this was going to be his best, and quite possibly his last chance to show how good he could be if he got solid minutes.  His performance this season put the Brendan vs. Etan debate for rest once and for all.  If the roles were reversed, there's absolutely no way The Poet would've had the same impact that Brendan did.  I'm still concerned about what's going to happen with the minutes if Etan returns next season, but I think Brendan has solidified his spot as the starting center so it shouldn't be as much of an issue as it was in previous years.  The two of them will still probably find a way to get into a fight about something, but at least it won't affect the starting lineup this time around.

If you're looking for something that can definitively show Haywood's worth to the Wizards, compare Dwight Howard's splits versus Washington to his stats against the other teams in the league.  Considering we're going to deal with Howard (as well as Al Horford) within our division for the next decade, low-post defense is going to be a must for the forseeable future and Haywood provides it in spades.

Finally, if we're going to talk about Haywood's season, you have to mention Dave Hopla.  I don't know what kind of money he's making, but he deserves a raise based on the work he did with Haywood this season.  Anytime you can help raise someone's free throw percentage by nearly 20% (!!!) you're getting the job done.  Maybe I'm overstating things, but I don't think that it's a stretch to say that the extra free throws that Haywood made as a result of Hopla's coaching helped us win a couple of games that we would've lost otherwise.

Truthaboutit: Before the 2007-2008 season, I had feelings of intense frustration, and perhaps despite, towards Brendan Todd Haywood during his tenure as a Washington Wizard. I found BTH to be a bumbling, soft, waste-of-space....leading to frequent use of the effeminate moniker, Brenda. My opinion was so negative because I simply expected more use of his potential, and Haywood seemed to be a never-ending source of disappointment.

In my second game blog of 07-08, the massacre in Boston, I wrote this:

1st Quarter: Haywood dunk! Great positioning on the rebound…AND…the subsequent block! Please do this all year. If you do, I will write a personal letter to you apologizing for all the times I've referred to you as Brenda Haywood. You can hold me to that.

It wasn't until game 21 versus the 'Sota T'Wolves when I "officially" stopped calling Brendan, Brenda. Haywood was able to sustain whatever it was that got into him for the entire season and led me to turn an about face, believing the chances of him reverting back to his former self to be very slim.

This past season, Brendan Haywood posted career highs in: games started (80), minutes played (2228), FGM (316), FTM (216), PPG (10.6), RPG (7.2), BLKs (133), FT% (.735), PER (18.3).....among other categories. We can certainly consider a number of factors for Haywood's improvement: confidence in being able to play without looking over his shoulder at Etan, which led to increased minutes, which resulted from an off-season conversation with coach Eddie Jordan, which helped amend the past maligned relationship between the two.

But a lot of those are indicators of a change in Haywood's external psychological environment. What has Haywood accomplished internally? We can certainly attribute a drastic increase in free-throw shooting to Dave Hopla, but it's not like Brendan didn't put in work on that area himself. What I noticed most out of Haywood was increased hand strength, improved concentration, and better leadership skills, displayed in one of my favorite quotes imploring Gilbert Arenas to put reality in perspective. Sure, BTH had a couple lapses (maybe contributing to the Wizards-Cavs trash talk, even in jest, was one of these lapses), but those were more far and few between than I could have ever imagined.

In a matter of a twelve months, Brendan Todd Haywood made vast advances in his maturity as a basketball player. I have confidence that this will be a continued trend and thus a vital ingredient to franchise success......given that Haywood always works like it's his first day on the job, or in his case, the first day of his seventh year on the job. Perhaps my hopes should be more cautiously optimistic, but in the least, I owe the guy a letter, so here goes:

Dear Brendan,

My bad.

Sincerely,
TruthAboutIt.net

In last week's edition of Pollin', where we asked if you would try to make a move to aquire Rasheed Wallace, we had our narrowest vote to date.  By two votes, the majority said no to making a move.  While I think most people would look past his faults if he could be acquired without sacrificing much, his salary makes it a tough move to make. 

The only trades that would have any chance of working would be this and this.  Obviously Detroit wouldn't want to touch Etan's contract, and the Wizards wouldn't want to give up 3 of their 4 best frontcourt players for a one-year rental, so I wouldn't run to the store to get your Wallace #36 Wizard jersey anytime soon.

Now, as promised last week, this week's poll focuses on biggest, non-trick shot of the year.  Since Caron's shot to beat the Cavs was already voted as the Play of the Year, it's also out of the running.  So essentially, you're voting for the biggest, non-trick, non-playoff shot of the year.

After the jump, a more detailed look at each of the candidates...

Continue reading this post »

With a whopping 62% of the vote, Brendan Haywood was selected as the Wizards' Most Improved Player this season.  In honor of his selection, here's some Tarheel-on-Tarheel action as Haywood blocks Vince Carter:

Roger Mason finished 2nd with 18%, Caron and DeShawn finished 3rd and 4th respectively.

This week, the question to ponder is "Which current Wizard would make for the best head coach?"  I got the idea from a post from Brian Scalabrine J.E. Skeets on Ball Don't Lie, who bounced some ideas for some players from around the NBA who would make for good NBA coaches, including Derek Fisher, Sam Cassell, Darrell Armstrong, and Antawn Jamison.

I think Jamison has what it takes to be a good head coach someday, although for some reason I get the feeling he'd rather coach in the college ranks than he would in the NBA, but that's just a gut feeling.

Antonio Daniels is another name that gets bounced around as a potential coaching candidate that gets bounced around a lot.  If nothing else, I think he'd have an advantage since it seems like veteran backup point guards almost always end up as coaches in one form or another.

I think it's safe to guess that Jamison and Daniels will gather the most votes this week, but don't look over some of the other players on the team.  Etan Thomas certainly has the IQ to be a good head coach someday.  It might be a little weird to see some 50 year old guy in dreadlocks writing poetry on the sidelines, but it could work.  How about Gilbert Arenas?  The offense might be a little unconventional, but you know that they'd be practicing it at each of the 5 daily practices the team would have.

As always, the choice is yours.  And since this is strictly a hypothetical question, any line of reasoning to come to your answer is acceptable.  Vote away!

Here's some stuff to read up on while you try and figure out if anything can top this "There Can Only Be One" parody.

• Let's kick things off with a little Top Ten list action.  The Wizards' website broke in down into moments 10-6 and the top 5, with the retirement of Earl Monroe's jersey number taking the top spot.  To be honest, the choice surprised me, but I can understand where some would see that as the top moment, since number retiring doesn't happen all too often in D.C.
• For another perspective, here are Ivan's top ten moments from the season:

Butler's dunk on Kevin Martin was No. 1. Nick Young's dunk on LeBron was No. 2. Caron's game-winner in the playoffs is 3 following by Stevenson's game winner in New Orleans. At five, give me the win at Boston. At six, I'll take Haywood's classic response to LeBron James being a crybaby. At 7, I'll take the dunk Andres Nocioni threw down over Oleksiy Pecherov. When Chicago's game operations folks put a picture of Stewey from Family Guy over Pecherov's face on the replay, I lost it.

At 8, I'll go with the game itself and Butler's 40-point performace in Milwaukee on Jan. 27 (just an incredible game to see live). At 9, I'll go with two games in Miami when I got to watch the Heat dancers perform from only a few feet away. (The Miami Heat dancers: where amazing happens). And at 10, give me the Nov. 2 game in Boston when Kevin Garnett and the new-look Celtics made their first regular season appearance. Just a great atmosphere.

• Vanilla Gorilla turned up this in-depth scouting report on the Wizards from Draft Express.  Like he mentions, it's a little over the top on Mason, but other than that it's a solid breakdown of the roster.
• In the last week, two new sites have been added to the SB Nation fold.  Make sure you check out At The Hive (focusing on the Hornets) and Ridiculous Upside (focusing on the draft, D-League, prospects, etc.).
  
• The best part of the off-season is that it's so open-ended that all sorts of different ideas.  Truth About It looked into whether or not Elton Brand would be a feasible option in the district, and KDP proposes a trade with the Sonics.
• As always, Kevin Broom delivers spectacular analysis as he looks into the Wizards "improvement" on defense this season.
• Wizards uncovered this video from back in '02 of Roger Mason from back when he was at UVA, going up against the Terrapins.  Most of Roger's damage was done before the video starts (the video focuses on the Terps' late-game comeback), but the high praise from the announcers gives you a feel for how well he played that night.
• Hey, what happened to all the players that got drafted ahead of Gilbert Arenas?

Last week you voted, and Caron's game winner in Game 5 of the playoffs beat out Nick Young's dunk over LeBron and DeShawn's dagger to beat New Orleans to be voted as the play of the year.

Below you'll see this week's poll and after the jump, you'll get reasons for why each player on the Wizards deserves to be the most improved player this season.

Continue reading this post »

Like Prada said, it's been a great season.   It might not have the best ending, but I still don't think this team has anything to be ashamed of.  Before we start delving into all the off-season stuff, let's give some thanks for the season that was.

Thanks to Ernie Grunfeld for putting together a team that's been able make the playoffs for 4 straight years, something that hasn't happened in the district in 20 years.

Thanks to Eddie Jordan for never giving up.  There were several points in the season where you could've thrown up the white flag and gone into tank mode when different players went down, but you never gave up on this team.

Thanks to Antawn Jamison for being the epitome of consistency and professionalism all season long.  Your 20-10 season won't soon be forgotten.

Thanks to Caron Butler for the big shots, the posters, and everything in-between.

Thanks to Brendan Haywood for finally putting an end to the instability at center this year with career highs all across the board.

Thanks to Antonio Daniels for holding down the fort at point guard while Gilbert was injured most of the season.  Your on-court leadership was a big part of why the Wizards were as successful as they were this season.

Thanks to DeShawn Stevenson for being the Wizards' Iron Man.

Thanks to Roger Mason Jr. for being such a pleasant surprise this season.  You showed this season that you don't have to be a brick layer to have an appreciation for architecture.

Thanks to Darius Songaila for providing some much needed front court consistency off the bench.  Best of luck competing with Lithuania in Beijing this summer.  Hopefully everyone there appreciates your Borat impressions.

Thanks to Andray Blatche for his continued improvement.  You'll only get better as you get more experience under your belt.

Thanks to Gilbert Arenas for trying his best to get back on the court and help the team.  it didn't work out the way we all would've liked, but the intent was clearly there.  Let's hope this off-season finally gets you back to form we all know and love.

Thanks to Nick Young for the dunks.  Here's to many more highlights and dunk contest invite next season.

Thanks to Oleksiy Pecherov for all the humor this season.  Don't get me wrong, your play was solid this year, but the comparisons to Stewie will never stop being awesome.

Thanks to Etan Thomas for showing what true strength is all about.

Thanks to Ivan Carter and Mike Jones (who!) for all the great reporting on the beat this season.  Great work as always.

Thanks to all the great Wizards and non-Wizards blogs for their .

Thanks to WaitingForNextYear and And One for coming over and sparking some good discussion and providing analysis from the other side during the playoff series.  You're welcome here anytime.

Thanks to everyone that's come here and left comments and FanPosts and everything else this season.  Win or lose, you're what makes this fun.

Finally, thanks to Dominic McGuire.  You're what makes the future (and the present) bright.

Copyright 2008 NBAE (Photo by Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE via Getty Images)

Yup....I was one of those working stiffs rushing to get home for the 6 pm start time. Just as I was getting near my bus stop, Beat It by Michael Jackson came on my ipod....my 'Top 5000 Songs' playlist; I assumed this to be a good sign. I made it in my apartment just in time to see Big Z look like Hakeem Olajuwon before throwing up a fade-away on Haywood heading into a commercial break at the 9 minute mark. 5-4 Wizards.

8:36: Coming out the timeout, DeShawn Stevenson throws up some gar-báge.

Halfway through the first quarter, the Wiz are up 2. I still haven't gotten a feel from this team. I see Caron Butler hustling...Haywood is making some baller moves...but I can't tell if this team wants to win or not. Of course, they've been so inconsistent from quarter to quarter this year....who knows.

The Cleveland crowd seems tame. Stevenson, of course, gets the boo treatment, but it doesn’t seem very strong....maybe the confident attitude of the Cavs has given the fans a sense of complacency. It's in the bag I guess....

4:08: Wow. Caron gets a steal after Wally was lazy in recovering the ball....goes down, looks to travel, definitely got fouled...but the refs give Caron the continuation for the And 1. He was in the act of shooting, but I'm not sure they should have counted that.....even though the foul did cause the travel. I assume the refs made the right call. 16-11 Wizards.

Team - Gilbert < Team + Caron Butler.....for now.

3:54: Oh god, here we go. God damned LeBron James is a sweetheart.

He drives baseline....Darius Songaila obviously fouls him...as both of their arms are locked up....LeBron attempts to pull his arm away and in the process ends up causing Songaila's arm to hit him in the neck/side-face......a complete accident. LeBron acts as if Johnny Lawrence (you probably know him as Billy Zabka) just swept the neck instead of the leg.

Players gather....Anderson Varejao plays instigator and swats Stevenson's arm away for some reason....of course Stevenson overreacts and swats Andy's arm away. Jamison gets heated.

Somehow Wally shoots two techs...still not sure what happened. I know this: LeBron overreacted and the referees overreacted in turn. [Later,  video evidence would reveal that LeBron checked where he did not get hit....and he just received the Sylvester Stallone award for bad acting.]

Dan Gilbert's friend (or at least a dude he knows sitting next to him) throws a towel at DeShawn and DOESN'T get kicked out. Essentially, Gilbert tells security not to toss him. Oh really now.....?

In the meantime, the Wizards have been called for two offensive fouls (Songaila and Stevenson)...didn't really see them.

1:55: It's cleared up that Songaila received a tech (that's just crazy)....and Varejao and Stevenson each got techs...which was justifiable.

1:28: Haywood gets called for another offensive foul....no one could argue that it wasn't a flop on Varejao.....terrible officiating thus far. This is unbelievable. Phil Chenier even points out that the Brazilian Spaz flopped the opposite way that Haywood was going.

Somehow the Wizards are up 20-16 with 8 turnovers in the first quarter....of course at least three of those came from offensive fouls.

0:01: Caron Butler nails a smooth three to end the first, his 3rd. And here I was thinking that I was coming home to watch a basketball game. Wizards up 23-16, Caron Butler has 14 points.

2nd Quarter

Reggie Miller and Marv Albert are absolutely unbelievable....I'm actually disgusted that they are assuming that Songaila intentionally "punched" LeBron. I don't think there is any doubt in Miller's mind that there was a punch there. They actually wanted the refs to review the play and throw Darius out. Perhaps they weren't privy to the same conclusive replays as Comcast....I don't care, they can both still go to hell.

10:28: Unbelievable shot by Caron after losing the ball....I can't even begin to describe what he did..caught the loose rock in the air and then threw the ball in with the clock running down...or something like that. 25-21 Wizards.

I guess the Wiz are winning and stuff....at the next timeout, they are up 30-25. I am still baffled, flabbergasted, shocked at Marv Albert and Reggie Miller. Not only did they think that Darius Songaila's play was a punch, but Albert mocked Eddie Jordan's opinion when the TNT sideline reporter interviewed him about the play.....sarcastically saying something to the effect "Yea, like LeBron James' head went into Darius Songaila's fist." Need I remind everyone that not only does "Marvelous" Marv enjoy wearing women's underwear, but he also has taken part in threesomes involving another dude. Add Marv and Reggie to the list of hack jobs . 

At least the Wizards have seemed to keep their concentration after that absurdity....now I suppose I need to do the same. Marv Albert will not hear the end of this.

[NOTE: I am not whining that a call was made against Songaila....he did foul LeRootyPoo. And while the technical was unjust, I'm not even whining about that. No, I am simply complaining and pointing out the ridiculousness of Reggie Miller and Marv Albert]

Does Gil want to be a Wizard? (TNT Sideline Interview) "Of course...I'd love to come back if they want me to come back."

5:22: DeShawn hits a three....we need him to shut his mouth, play with a chip on his shoulder, use the boos to power him, and step his game up. 37-32 Wiz.

4:44: Empty possession...Mason a runner? Never his shot. Caron misses a fader.

4:21: Stevenson is not feeling his face very well....he nails an open three from the corner....just like you and me, this one was made by penetration. 40-34 Wiz.

3:22: Too many outside shots...Caron takes a bad one, low shot clock though...AJ hustles for a board, gets it out to Stevenson who takes a three himself....miss. The Wiz really need to take advantage of 2nd chances.

TNT is reporting that DeShawn went to a Cleveland mall yesterday with 5 teammates. Why would he do that and why would the Wizards coaching staff allow him to do that? (assuming they knew)....DeShawn Stevenson is not making it easy for me to like him at all. One, what the hell is an NBA player doing at a mall in the first place? Two, DeShawn is doing nothing but looking for trouble.....he's such an idiot. I'd also like to know who went to the mall with him. I'd bet that Antawn Jamison and Antonio Daniels weren't among those who did.

2:26: I seriously can't believe the Wizards have a 42-39 lead.....Cleveland gave some back court pressure and played it tight once the Wiz were in the half court....lack of composure led to turnover #11, shot clock violation.

2:14: But the Cavs make an unforced turnover coming back down the court.

1:55: Turnover again...Butler drives, Haywood rolls, but the pass was too far behind him. The sand paper offense.....not smooth.

1:20: A gimpy AD, who got tripped by Gibson a couple possessions ago, gets a block on Boobie from behind and coasts up court for the layup. He has to check out. 44-39 Wiz.

1:00: Oh my god.....turnovers are crazy....Stevenson got to the basket, passed, and Haywood just bobbled the ball out of bounds.

0:00: Butler misses a trey on LeBron to end the 1st half....it looks like Eddie wanted him to drive as he had plenty of time. Wizards up 45-43 at the half.

Half Stats:

1. The main thing the Wiz have going for them is hot shooting, 17-33
2. The Wizards are also winning the battle of the boards, 16-14 (although the Cavs have 6 offensive to 4 for DC)
3. We all know that turnovers are a killer, 13-9 Wizards (although both teams have 9 points off turnovers)
4. The Potomac Rainmaker chipped in with 6 points off the bench....and he didn't even attempt a three.
5. Caron had 16 points, Stevenson had 11
6. Big Z had 12, LeBaby LeTravel LeBoo-Boo LeBron had 10
7. Bobble-hands Haywood had a +7
8. LeBron James had a -4

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