Comment from Neal
Time April 4, 2007 at 9:40 PM

Unless it’s the last 3-4 minutes the Wizards can’t be bothered with defending the jump shot. It’s just too much trouble. And it looks to me like it’s not just a couple of players; it’s the whole team. What does Jordan mean when he says they “stress defense”?

Comment from dcbutler357
Time April 4, 2007 at 9:50 PM

lol…i guess they need to stop talking about it and start being about it….lol
Jamison can’t defend anyone, and it’s an achilles heel each night. The majority of the backups may not be a backup on another team…lol…time to face the music.

Comment from Christopher
Time April 4, 2007 at 9:57 PM

Just when I thought it couldn’t possibly get any worse – it just got a lot worse. What now?

Comment from Brickjp
Time April 4, 2007 at 9:59 PM

Tough to see Eddie like that. The heart has just been ripped out of this team. Its not over til its over though. Gil will be back. We will be in the playoffs, and lets see what we can do there. Tough night all around.

Comment from alec
Time April 4, 2007 at 9:59 PM

Well, the knicks lost, so at least the Wiz are in the playoffs… but still. How do you lose to the Bobcats????

Comment from Brickjp
Time April 4, 2007 at 10:00 PM

The Knicks are down by two with 36 seconds left. So that game isnt even over. And we needed a win tonight as well to clinch, and we all know that didnt happen.

Comment from dcbutler357
Time April 4, 2007 at 10:13 PM

Is Lebron playing Friday? We need a boost. Blatche is about ready to come back. It will be ok, but it is time to get a REAL bench. The pick a straw and sit out one night in street clothes, then be a starter the next night is not stable (i’m being sarcastic, but you get the point)

Comment from larry
Time April 4, 2007 at 11:00 PM

I thought the Wizards need BOTH a win tonight and a Knicks loss to get into playoffs. Wizards didn’t win so still no playoffs.

Comment from dcbutler357
Time April 4, 2007 at 11:04 PM

Okay Nancy Pelosi, you are having too much fun. The heat are one step away from the old-timer’s game…lol…championship!?!?! for what, the next case of ben-gay…lol….

Comment from dcbutler357
Time April 4, 2007 at 11:06 PM

okay, can someone help me with my HW, Indiana is in front of the knicks…

Comment from wizardsdotcom
Time April 4, 2007 at 11:16 PM

nancy p’s out – i don’t feel like getting kicked while down; not tonight at least…

Comment from chomp
Time April 4, 2007 at 11:23 PM

I hope you guys don’t trash me on this but I feel kinda calm right now after hearing Gil’s injury. I feel calm cuz I think this team is still pretty good without the two stars.

I know Caron is probably done for the season. And these sprained knee injuries to Antawn, Andray, and Gil are brutal. The game tonight showed that the other guys can play and I feel confident this team won’t cave for the rest of the season and first round of playoffs. Wiz may not win that many games but I think they’ll play as best they can.

Injuries is not an excuse for the Wiz cuz every team got hit with critical injuries all season long. Without Gil, the Wiz have no closer. Tawn will have to be the closer now. He’s the captain and he will have to lead a shocked team even more.

Comment from Wizfan and the Kid
Time April 4, 2007 at 11:39 PM

The last time we posted a comment, some people were not too happy about us knocking the fact that the lack of defensive-mindedness was killing the team. Yet, as the Kid said to me tonight, “Where is the hustle board this year? And why isn’t it a Stop board (as in it counts when you stop the other team from scoring)?”
She is right.
We need a “Stop” board, Eddie.

Now, no matter the team we are playing against, seeing a center with over 10 rebounds a game is very welcome. AD getting 17 assists is great, (Gil was really getting a bit better in this area, so no knock on Agent 0), Jarvis is beginning to shoot a bit better and Darius is getting better. So, these are positives for this team heading into the playoffs. Making your role players work and get going isn’t that bad a deal heading into the playoffs, anyhow. If someone starts rolling, it will take more pressure off Gil and Antwan.

But, as the Kid rightly states, we cannot win the first round with this defense. I think the “Stop” board would be a good start.

Comment from Rainmaker
Time April 5, 2007 at 12:07 AM

I think we are done for and will not even make the playoffs. It was bad enough without Caron but no Gil as well? The rest of the guys played really hard tonight and still came up short at home against a lottery team – although that lottery team looked pretty darn good. That speaks volumes. Also, I think Eddie is losing the team. Benching Gil for being a few minutes late???? And where the heck was Brendan?

Comment from larry
Time April 5, 2007 at 12:21 AM

Rainmaker – you’re wrong on several points.

1. Wizards need 1 win in their remaining 8 games to make playoffs.

2. Benching Arenas for being late to practice during this crucial stretch of the season shows that no superstar has more power than the coach. Arenas is a team veteran so he knows team rules.

2a. Arenas’s injury could have happened even if he started. So the disciplinary action from Jordan was fair. It was a fluke injury the more you look at the replay. Arenas stood there and got his knee bent. This injury is as flukey as when Stevenson’s kneepads sprained Jamison’s knees for 4 weeks.

3. Jordan is not losing the team. In fact, I thought the team responded very well after Arenas left the game. Even though the team didn’t win, the team didn’t give up and still listened to coach. The pace of the game was slower than when Arenas and Butler are on the court and that seemed to help with the flow much better. Daniels ran the offense to perfection and Hayes, Jamison, and Thomas got into rhythm.

3a. Defense is the only thing that the players have more problems translating on the court from what Jordan has said. That’s not losing the team.

4. Did you know that this game was a back-to-back for both teams? Both sides were tired and you can see it from certain players (I thought Stevenson was gased before halftime). Wizards have not had a good record on back-to-backs no matter who they played.

5. Haywood is in the doghouse. With Thomas’s last 2 game performances, Haywood won’t start another game this year unless Thomas gets hurt.

Comment from westcoastwizard
Time April 5, 2007 at 1:37 AM

I hope Gil is not out too long … it’s a shame that a season which held so much promise has been reduced to this. If Gil can make it back by playoff time (and yes, we will STILL make the playoffs), depending on who we are playing, we still have a chance to make it to the 2nd round. But, any hope of truly being a contending team is done for now. And this collapse may have some value … it is now clear to all that this team still needs a lot of pieces. So, Ernie, welcome to an interesting summer.

Comment from Craig
Time April 5, 2007 at 1:45 AM

Really just a disappointing ending to the game. It felt like we were just barely keeping our head above water the whole game. All is not lost..AD was looking especially fierce today and Etan has really been on a tear (feeling vindicated by finally beating out BTH?). That said, really sad to see us lose back to back to the Bobcats. Oh well..at least the ticket lady was nice enough to upgrade my $10 college night ticket to section 107..so not all is lost.

Comment from 86wizfan0
Time April 5, 2007 at 4:00 AM

i wonder if missing the playoffs would be a blessing in disguise perhaps…do i see this team losing out…no theyll probably beat cleveland without gil…and really without gil and caron the playoffs could be embarassing for this team and yes im being negative but practical

Comment from Neal
Time April 5, 2007 at 9:01 AM

I’m glad Jordan disciplined Arenas. As larry said. No star should be above the coach. It was a particularly bad time for Arenas to show lack of discipline.

As I said before, AD runs the team better than Arenas, even though Arenas is much improved from a couple of years ago. The AD to Thomas thing was great to see.

I wonder if Grunfeld will decide the time has come for a drastic approach to improving the defense. That would mean that Arenas, Jamison and/or Jordan would not be back for next season.

Someone commented that my projected lineup for next year didn’t have a shot blocker. Out of curiosity I computed the blocks per minute played of the starting centers in our conference, plus our old friend Kwame:
Okafor .08
J.O’Neal .08
E.Thomas .07
B.Wallace .06
S.Dalembert .06
P.Gasol .06
S.O’Neal .05
Olowakandi .05
Nesterovich .05
K.Brown .04
Mikki Moore .03
Pachulia .02
E.Curry .01
A.Bogut .01
C.Webber .003

This doesn’t include A.Mourning, whose figure is .11. Still, Etan more than holds his own.

Comment from brickjp
Time April 5, 2007 at 9:27 AM

Yeah, the first half was so exciting watching AD and Etan. Makes me sad to think that Thomas got hurt in the beginning of the season when he was playing so well in the starting position. He’s showed that in the last two games. Those blocks on Gerald Wallace were sick. Ultimately, the pace of the game in the second half prevented Etan from seeing more touches.

Neal, I like those stats you compiled. I would love to see Jermaine Oneal somehow. But I dont want to lose Gilbert. Hes so young, we can’t trade him away just to seem him succeed without us. Him and Caron are my two favorite playeyrs, and it would be sad to be anybody go, but this is professional sports were talking about.

I’m waiting to hear an update on Gil. I hope it was minor. Pllllease. I just bought my first round tix, I need to see Gil! Theyve already taken Caron away. Give us a break.

Comment from Joe
Time April 5, 2007 at 9:43 AM

The statistics don’t mean everything when talking about Shot Blocking. My comment was meant to emphasize the lack of force on the inside. Nobody fears driving to the basket when playing the Wizards. The threat has to be there. Thomas is no threat.

Comment from Anonymous
Time April 5, 2007 at 9:56 AM

MARK MY WORDS (AND I KNOW YOU’LL HATE THEM) AS LONG AS WE HAVE ARENAS WE’LL NEVER WIN ONE. THE GUY IS NO DIFFERENT THAN ALLEN IVERSON A FEW YEARS BACK. THAT BEING SAID WITHOUT HIM WE PROBABALY WON’T WIN ANOTHER GAME THIS YEAR. AS FOR JAMISON THE GUY SHOULD BE PLAYING 3 HE’S TOO SMALL TO GUARD REAL POWER FOWARDS AND KEEPS HIS GAME AT THE PERIMETER MOST OF THE NIGHT. ALSO IS IT JUST ME OR IS HE THE FIRST GUY TO SAY ” WE GOTTA PLAY BETTER D ” BUT THE LAST GUY TO STEP UP AND DO IT? TIME TO BLOW UP THIS TEAM AND START FRESH.

Comment from Nara
Time April 5, 2007 at 10:30 AM

anonymous – jamison’s slower than he is smaller so PF is his ideal position. Most nights if there’s a dominant PF like Elton Brand or Tim Duncan, our centers are the ones guarding them anyway so it doesn’t matter. Plus, he’s punishing the other teams PF on the other side of the court. If you think it’s time to blow up the team, you obviously haven’t been watching this team the whole season. It wasn’t a fluke that we played so well for the early part of the season. Our record lately shows an inconsistent line up due to injuries more than anything else.

People keep saying how teams have overcome key injuries on other teams and succeeded.

WHAT OTHER TEAMS?
What other teams have had their All Star type player go down and not suffer? What other teams that lost their franchise player is NOT in the lottery? The only team I can think of is Houston. That gets the count to ONE team. Anyone else?

Comment from nancy pelosi
Time April 5, 2007 at 10:30 AM

BrickJP stop lying about buying first round Wizards tickets. They don’t go onsale until Friday the earliest. I was at the game and saw that message flash on the Jumbotron.

Unless you’re a season ticket holder BrickJP, you couldn’t pre-purchase the playoff tickets. That happened three weeks ago.

WizardsDotCom you can delete all my messages but I’m going to report you for not sending out the game summary mass email that everyone gets before the game. I can get you fired faster than you update this blog. You do your job and I’ll do mine. I have a right to express my opinions against the Wizards and other bloggers even if you don’t like it.

Comment from wizardsdotcom
Time April 5, 2007 at 10:50 AM

nara – Miami.

Comment from wizardsdotcom
Time April 5, 2007 at 10:54 AM

Congresswoman Pelosi (if this is who you might be), with all due respect: 1) i don’t send out those e-mails. 2) i won’t get fired for deleting a message posted by someone trashing this team.

Comment from Defense
Time April 5, 2007 at 11:00 AM

Now that is just plain crazy – Gil is preventing us from winning! We have made it to the playoffs for the last three years because Gil. Before that we had not been to the playoffs since sometime in the 90′s (maybe). All of this talk about getting rid of people and starting over is basically what we have already done. We need to work with our core players and get us a good rebounder and some good shooting brench players. I have not problem giving up Haywood and Hayes but you got to be fair about the rest of the guys.

As far as last night’s game, everyone stepped it up a notch or two. Most of the players was in double figures and Etan was a beast. They played hard last night. And don’t forget that the Bobcats have beaten down a few elite teams this season! The Bobcats played well both nights – they have nothing to lose and is probably playing loose and having fun. That kind of playing win games.

It broke my heart to see Gil go down last night. We have had a really bad run of injuries this year and especially lately. Also, the coach is a very patient man so I don’t think he brenched Arenas for just missing shoot around one time. I am really doubtful that he would take such an extreme measure at any time during the season and certainly not at this time. Think about it.

Anyway, I am a believer that whatever happens is suppose to happen when it happens and sometime stuff happens.

Regards to my Wizards – I hope everyone recovers quickly and get back on the court.

Comment from sagaliba
Time April 5, 2007 at 11:41 AM

The way to improve the team’s defense is to start from the fundamental man-to-man defense. Wizfan and the Kid have the right idea, but instead of the “stop board,” I will do a “minus board.” Assign each player an opponent to guard, and whenever that opponent score, the player is assign a negative point. By the end of the game, just see who has the most negative points, that’s the player that needs to work on his defense, or his playing time will be reduced.

If Wizards had done this, Antawn would not have given Wallace a free path to the basket and decided that he wanted to guard other player without the ball!

Comment from nancy pelosi
Time April 5, 2007 at 11:49 AM

I love how all my points are proven true in this blog.

First, Eric plays both sides of the rules. If you’re a Wizards homer, you can bash all the other bloggers and have your comments saved. I thought Eric deletes all the comments that are directed at personal attacks. BrickJP just call me a lunatic stray dog that smells. That sounds like a personal attack on me. Yet BrickJP’s comments are saved.

Second, a PreSale is not getting the tickets. It’s like waiting in line. No one has tickets right now not season ticket holders not regular people not anyone. You made it sound like you’re great because you got the tickets. Since BrickJP wasn’t at the game, you don’t know as much on what goes on as you watch it on television or listen to the game on radio. The Jumbotron information said tickets will be sold this Friday. That’s not a PreSell BrickJP. Those are real tickets.

Third, I’m not a guy BrickJP. Get it right next time. Since you haven’t been right all year, I rest my case.

Fourth, it sounds like BrickJP’s life is going to end if this blog shuts down. This sounds serious, seek a professional for help.

Comment from WizDom
Time April 5, 2007 at 11:57 AM

Just enjoy the games and cheer your team on no matter what happens. The things that happen are out of our control. I watch the games and enjoy the basketball played.

BTW
You can find
playoff tickets here

Comment from Brickjp
Time April 5, 2007 at 12:02 PM

I have printable tickets in my inbox right now. I think those count as tickets pelosi, not waiting in line. I never said I was great for having tickets, I said I have them, and you accuse me of lying about it?

I come here to support my team. You come here to bash the Wizards and pick fights with people. I’m going to defend my team when you do that.

I dont care what you ‘saw on the jumbotron.’ It seems you’re one of those people who has to be right all the time or something, and you’re not.

I called you a stray dog because you’re unwanted here. You’re only looking for trouble….online blog trouble at that. It’s lame. Grow up already. And yes, you are a lunatic, claiming that its impossible that I have tickets. Get over it. Go away.

Comment from WizDom
Time April 5, 2007 at 12:09 PM

Breaking News: Arenas Out 2 To 3 Months
5th April, 2007 – 12:00 pm
Press Release –
Washington Wizards President of Basketball Operations Ernie Grunfeld announced today that guard Gilbert Arenas has sustained a lateral meniscus tear in his left knee, and the tear will be repaired by arthroscopic surgery. Arenas, who suffered the injury in the first quarter of Washington’s game vs. Charlotte on April 4, is expected to be out for 2-3 months.

“Gilbert was performing at an elite level,” Grunfeld said. “It’s unfortunate that this injury occurred, but being the competitor that he is, Gilbert will approach his rehab regimen with the same work ethic that has made him one of the league’s most outstanding performers. We expect him to make a full recovery, and we know that his teammates will be up to the challenge to respond in his absence.”

Arenas will undergo arthroscopic surgery today at Sibley Memorial Hospital in Washington, DC. The surgery will be performed by Wizards team physician Dr. Marc Connell. Arenas will begin rehabilitation next week, and is expected to make a full recovery

Comment from nancy pelosi
Time April 5, 2007 at 12:16 PM

BrickJP let’s make a deal. I will never come back here if you don’t either (old and new blog). Let’s see who can make the deal. I know you can’t. I win again.

Comment from Ed soysizzle
Time April 5, 2007 at 12:17 PM

the wiz are always laid back on D. they wont jump picks. apply pressure, or even deny the ball. the opponents always do this to leave us with a one on one play which doesnt lead to a good shot. thats why our shooting is horible. i notice the other teams use the pick and roll and penetrate which always kills us. all we really have is the back door play.

Comment from Nara
Time April 5, 2007 at 1:21 PM

this nancy lady sounds just as crazy as the actual nancy p. the congresswoman. Although I don’t think it was fair to call her names BUT this is a WIZARDS blog. If you’re here to kick us while we’re down, go do it in your own blog.

eric – ok so I forgot miami, BUT they have suffered when shaq was out. I mean that just shows what a great player shaq is when DWade can’t get his team to .500 but Shaq can.

Comment from Nara
Time April 5, 2007 at 1:26 PM

“BrickJP let’s make a deal. I will never come back here if you don’t either (old and new blog). Let’s see who can make the deal. I know you can’t. I win again.”

What are you? 5 years old?

Comment from Wizards4life
Time April 5, 2007 at 1:29 PM

lol hey Wiz.com we got your back we don’t care what she says we been here for a long time posting an you all ways been fair like it or not and no way will she get you Fired! she is vindictive how ever that cant be good for her Job Stats

Comment from wizardsdotcom
Time April 5, 2007 at 1:36 PM

LOL – thanks for the support guys.

Brick – stop calling people lunatics.

Comment from wizardsdotcom
Time April 5, 2007 at 1:37 PM

Nancy –

“I have a right to express my opinions against the Wizards and other bloggers even if you don’t like it.”

And I have the same right to press that little trash can beside posts.

Let’s all keep this clean, please? Nancy P (is this the same “nancy” who used to visit earlier in the year?), Brick? We all cool now?

Comment from Neal
Time April 5, 2007 at 2:13 PM

Good grief guys. Let’s talk about the Wizards, not each other. Then we have a mutual interest.

Joe, I think Thomas provides “force” on the inside. Unfortunately, that usually means fouling after getting into position too late. Which I guess means no useful force.

Comment from Nara
Time April 5, 2007 at 2:16 PM

It’s fun when people get into fights online b/c we all know nothing can happen except people getting steamed staring at the monitor. As long as it’s not about my wizards.

Comment from brickjp
Time April 5, 2007 at 2:24 PM

Nara, if you didnt notice…nancy was trashing the wizards repeatedly.

Comment from Nara
Time April 5, 2007 at 3:29 PM

That’s why I said “As long as it’s not about my wizards”

I was wondering if that was the same nancy from earlier in the season too.