Monday, February 12, 2007

As the Wizards Turn

These are difficult times in Washington. The drama has reached a fever pitch! WHYYYYY, God? WHYYYYY?!?!??! After his brash promises of scoring 50 on the Blazers, Gilbert came up with only nine yesterday in a bad loss. And in a fit of passion, anger, and passion, he lashed out at Coach in a postgame rant that was pure, unadulterated madness. Rather than blame himself for the poor shooting, or wonder whether his hubris placed undue pressure on the team, he said the coaches' recent emphasis on defense had caused the problems. Defense! The horror! This young buck, can he ever truly be tamed by any man?

Meanwhile, in the media room, Coach would not be cowed:

"The whole idea of us asking them to play defense better. Is that a problem? It's ludicrous."

Mercy, Eddie! Stay your angry tongue! He's just a boy! But no. The haranguing continued unabated...

"First of all, we didn't have the leadership out there that we needed with Antawn out...That's why he's the only captain on the team. I've tried to have main guys the last couple of years to be captains and it doesn't work because they don't have the qualities. I don't want [Gilbert] to do it. He's not a leader right now."
Antawn...where have you gone, Antawn?!?! Why have you forsaken us? We're lost without you -- lost! And when you come back, will you have amnesia? Will you really be your evil twin? I hope not, Antawn. For my sake. For us.

Meanwhile, Etan Thomas didn't play last night. He was suspended following a fistfight with Brendan Haywood -- it dredged up
so many bad memories. They say they'll be okay, but what if I just can't believe them anymore? How many chances do I give them before one of us has to walk away....forever? Both such delicate flowers...why must they treat each other this way?


Etan! Brendan! Stop, please! I just can't bear it anymore!
Perhaps rest is what the team needs. Rest, and some time alone...just to sort things out. Discover what they really want. And since they only have one game this week, against the 76ers, I hope they find what they need. I'll have to wait until the next episode...but how can I eat before then? I'll manage...somehow...

Hyperlinks:
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Wizards Turn into Fight Club [Washington Post]
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Bad gets worse [Wizards Insider]
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Arenas Scores 9, Criticizes Coaching [Washington Post]
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Jamison's Absence Still a Huge Problem [Washington Post]
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Etan Thomas, Brendon Haywood set record for wussiest fight ever between two NBA centers [No One Appreciates Me]
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Haywood, Thomas: 'We'll be Okay' [Washington Post]

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2 comments:

Jock Jarrelson said...

On the one hand, your blog supports Maryland...who defeated my Indiana Hoosiers in the NCAA title game a few years back.

One the other hand, you are a Wizards fan, which I became after Calbert Cheaney played there (when they were the Bullets) and during the Jordan era. So I can't totally write you off.

And your blog about Gilbert and his big mouth was quite funny. So we'll let the Maryland thing slide. Keep up the good work.

http://www.flashsportstonight.com

i.p. daily said...

In the Post article, Arenas was complaining about being forced to play like a robot. That's ironic to me, because I always thought he was a basketball robot. He has the personality of one. I wouldn't worry about this spat. Gilbert will shake it off by going home and shooting 1000 straight left handed hook shots.

This is Eddie Jordan's MO. The better the team gets, the more conflict he'll create with players. He's never been a "players' coach" (whatever the hell that means - every winning coach seems to be a players' coach - Bill Bellicheck is known as a players coach now and I bet he's an asshole in the locker room). You got to remember that Eddie Jordan was a defense first player in his NBA career. It galls him to see a bunch of soft cherry pickers on his squad. He knows that this team has a chance to make a playoff run this year, and if they don't start caring about defense now it'll be too late come playoff time.

They also need to do it with Jamison out. Jamison isn't going to have the gas to carry this team through the playoffs. Think about what Arenas said - they had 11 different players on the floor in the first quarter. That sounds like auditions to me. That's Eddie Jordan's way of saying, "Who's going to be the catylist?"