Arenas Cleared To Play, But....

He won't be playing the Bucks tonight. Ivan Carter of the Washington Post has the story. What are my thoughts, you say? Thought you'd never ask.

He doesn't want to have to guard a high scoring guard like Michael Redd. Although Redd does not get into the lane as much as some other guards in the league, I do seriously doubt Gil would be able to keep up with him. Coming off a 2-3 road trip tied for 5th in the East, we really need the wins. Keeping Arenas out is probably a smart move. If you buy into this (I do) then perhaps we will see him when the Wiz play the Heat.

Then again, maybe he's just waiting for that nationally televised game vs. Boston, when presumably their starters will be on the bench and Gil can get back at one of the few teams he actually did play this season. Nah. That is SO unlike Agent Zero.

UPDATE: Thoughts from BulletsForever. I had similiar thoughts, and I would not be the least bit surprised if it was true.

Back on the Ball

Hey everybody! It's been a while, but the Wizards don't care. They beat the best team in the L, twice. In a row. That means our records against them is 2-1. Name another team with a winning record against the C's....

Not gonna lie, I didn't watch the game. I couldn't. I have re-located to the West Coast in sunny San Diego and obviously the Wiz are not on local TV. But don't worry, I'll have the League Pass soon. I'm looking forward to getting back to blogging. I've missed the likes to Bullets Forever and Truth About It.

By the way, it's 70 degrees outside where I am right now. I know all you DC'ers can appreciate that. HA HA!!

I hate Boston too, but this is ridiculous

Found this over at CelticsBlog (via BallHype), un-friggin-believable. Go to the site for more.

• The Celtics lead the league in point differential at +18.0 ppg (next closest is 11 ppg)
• However, the defense is tops in the league on a FG % basis giving up a stingy 39.8% per game! (that's crazy)
• Oh and to compliment the defensive prowess, the offense ranks 7th in the league in points per game, but is the top shooting team, making 54.5% of their attempts (also crazy).
  
• The PGA tour is among the top 20 in ppg.
• Ray Allen is 2nd in the NBA in FG % at 63% - which is unbelievable for a perimeter player. And KG isn't that far behind at 6th.
  

We get it, the Celtics are good

Can we PLEASE stop talking about the Celtics? I was afraid this over coverage might happen. Every site I go to is Celtics this and Celtics that. STOP! We get it, they're really, really, REALLY good. Now, I know the various Celtics Blogs (including the aptly named CelticsBlog) are going to be doing this throughout the season, but we don't need it from everyone else. Yes, some people have touched on the other awesome stories around the NBA, like the Hawks starting strong(from the Boston Herald, of all places), the Hornets finally showing what they can do, and even my ex, the Knicks, doing good things, but for the most part the Celtics are everywhere. Just go to BallHype and check out the NBA section. When I got in to work this morning and my RSS feeds all came in, all the general NBA blogs were either talking about the Celtics or linking to the stories elsewhere. At least Henry Abbot over at TrueHoop hasn't jumped on the bandwagon (yet).

Look, I am all for the revival of the Celtics, but can we stick to just a few stories a day? Do we have to make such a big deal out of it? I mean, did you think the PGA tour (my fav nickname) was gonna be BAD? Of course not. Some thought they may take time to gel, but that didn't happen. They are awesome out the gate. Lets give thim their due credit and move on please.

Instead, lets talk about Amare buying his 4th house, straight cash. Or about Scott Skiles, the dictator(hockey assist to RealGM).

PS - I know this isn't gonna happen, but thanks for listening anyway.

Arenas Isn't Backing Off

There are some people out there who seem to think Arenas is backing off his prediction that they are going to be the C's tonight. Granted, he said in his very own blog in a section titled, "Prediction Time," that,

"You guys are going to lose. It's not going to be a victory for Boston. You might as well just cheer for me, because Boston isn't winning in Boston for the season opener. I'm sorry."

When is a player ever going to come out and say that they are going to lose, or that they are going to have a tough time tough time with a given team? Does that ever happen? We all know there are players out there that talk a bit more than others, Rasheed, GP, etc., but I don't think any player would ever take a position any less swag-tastic than the one Gil took. Every player in the NBA wants to win all the time. If they didn't, then they shouldn't be in a Professional basketball Association.

What Gil did by stating,

"...when you look at that Celtics team, that’s a powerful team … on paper. Once those guys get going, you’re in trouble. You can’t guard that team … on paper."

is acknowledge that it won't be easy. I could even take it one stop further and say that by saying this, he is preparing himself for the win. He knows it won't be easy, but that is what makes success that much sweeter. Being able to beat the Big 3 of the C's, at home, on their opening night, is exaclty the kind of motivation Gil needs (beating the Pacers would have been nice, just sayin). They absoultely DOMINATED the headlines until this Kobe garbage came out. If it isn't plainly obvious by now that Gil loves attention...and that stealing headlines is a favorite pasttime....c'mon, don't you see? Gil thrives off the doubters and the non-believers. When he comes out and says that they are going to beat the Celtics and then acknowledges that they have a great team, which happens to include the great KG, that is ALL the same message. He isn't changing course, he is reaffirming his stance that they are going to beat them, and you know what? I believe him. After all, His Swag IS Phenomenal. Go Wizards!

Hibachi on Mild

Did the Agent known as Zero hit a spectacular 3 pointer to get the Wizards to overtime? Absolutely, and I loved it. Would the Wizards have been in that position if they had hit a few more of their free throws? Probably not. Hitting a couple more from the field wouldn't have hurt ither. As mentioned by Dave at the Washington Wizards blog, "36% [from the field] will not win games...". I couldn't agree more. The shooting was pretty horrendous. They actually ended the night with a True Shooting percentage of about 44.9%, not exactly NBA caliber. The Wizard with the hightest TS% was none other than Haywood, who finished the night with 10 points, going 4-8 from the field and hitting half of his 4 free throws (team TS% last night). Not exactly surprising given the absence of an interior defender on the Pacers, but when Haywood is our most efficient scorer, we aren't going to win a lot of games. Still, this was the first game of the season but it wasn't pretty. With O'Neal out, the Wizards should have had a 12 point lead throughout the game. Even after Gil hit that shot, I didn't feel like the tide had turned. My feelings were confirmed when shot after shot fell off the rim as OT slipped by. Even Jamison, who finished 27 points behind Gil's 34 was clanking them all night long. Dunleavy's 3 at the end absolutely put the nail in the coffin, and just like that, the Wizards start off right were they were last year, losing on the road. I hope that is where the similarities end.

Before I end this post, I want to talk about the defense. I noticed that we were having a problem with that 3rd or sometimes 4th swtich to get to the open guy on the wing. Blatche seemed to be sticking to his assignment pretty well and helping when he was supposed to and Stevenson was his usual self until banging that knee, but I didn't see a lot of great defense from anyone else on the team. Yes, we had our moments of some great team D, but we need to be more consistent. The Pacers seemed to be able to find the open man almost at will. Then when we started collapsing to stop the outside shots, the middle was left wide open, espeically toward the end of the game where we really needed a stop. If Marquis Daneils is able to drive on us, what are the Celtics going to do on Friday night? Like I said, I saw some hints of great D, I would just like to see it more often.

Now, about the Celtics. We need Haywood to come out real strong. KG is gonna get his points and he's gonna get his boards, but if we can get even 12-10 from the big guy, and our shooting gets better, we can take the game in Boston and spoil the homecoming.