Posts for category ‘wizards-cavaliers’

[Note: This is a trial run of a "Player Lock" series in which Truth About It.net will spotlight one player over the course of a game. -John]

I chose to spotlight Gilbert Arenas in Saturday night’s contest between the Washington Wizards and the Cleveland Cavaliers. And why not? It was Gil’s homecoming — the first time he had played at the Verizon Center since January 2, 2010 against the San Antonio Spurs.

[To beard or not to beard? via K. Weidie]

Flip Saunders and Gilbert tested a bit of my patience, forcing me to wait … and wait for his debut. He didn’t check into the game until just a few minutes before the end of the first quarter. After making his season debut against the Knicks on Friday, Arenas indicated that he didn’t mind coming off the bench for the unforeseen future, saying, “When I come off, I just got to be ready like ‘The Microwave’.” And Wizards fans in D.C. were hungry for whatever he had cooking.

When he finally hit the hardwood, Gil didn’t fit the “man on a mission” parable. It was strange. His steps were measured and deliberate. Arenas furrowed his brow and narrowed his eyes, as he locked his gaze to the far end of the court. He looked like a man who had lost something he cared about dearly. He looked like a guy trying to find a loved one in a crowd.

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Slow steps and seconds guesses were the main themes from Saturday’s night home loss to an Antwan Jamison-less Cleveland Cavaliers. The Wizards let a very winnable game slip away as Anthony Parker, Daniel Gibson and Mo Williams all burried late key three pointers and Washington fell to 1-4 on the young season.

Coach Saunders regretted sitting a hot Al Thornton (23 points on 10-16 field-goals) for the final nine minutes of the game.

“I said to Al that I made a mistake….I question myself the last three minutes about not having Al in there.”

Flip went to the long anticipated three-guard lineup of John Wall, Kirk Hinrich and Gilbert Arenas for the fourth quarter. The trio led the Wizards to a 90-85 lead with five minutes to go in the game after Arenas fueled a 3-on-1 fast break that ended with a flush by Andray Blatche.

On the following Cavs possession, where Cleveland seemed to get away with a three-second call and a travel, JaVale McGee fouled J.J. Hickson on a shot attempt. Hickson made the first and missed the second. The very grabbable rebound caromed over McGee’s head into hands of Anderson Varejo, who then found Parker for a corner three ball. The four-point play kind of summed up the night.

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{via Ball Don’t Lie}

LeBron James likes wearing his own name-bearing shoes that fuel his ego. He wears MVP shoes. He wears New York Yankees shoes.

One upon a time Mike Miller wore LeBron James shoes to practice. This created a minor hubbub in Wizards Nation. In hindsight, the blog-worthy occurrence was probably a distraction. Not a distraction that amounted to much, but when added to everything else … exactly.

Sure, team captains Antawn Jamison and Caron Butler chimed in about not liking it. But DeShawn Stevenson … Mister 50/50, I Can’t Feel My Face … the Wizards’ protagonist in their rivalry with the Cavaliers (or antagonist depending on what side you’re on) … was the most vocal about Miller’s shoe selection, drawing scorn for his antics.

Of course, those were the days when the rivalry still had very faint signs of life. It’s over now. DeShawn Stevenson said so. Well, DeShawn in the past talking about a once unimaginable future.

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{flickr/Keith Allison}

On Sunday, Mike Prada of Bullets and I recorded a podcast about the Wizards-Cavaliers rivalry with a couple “rival” bloggers.

On Monday, four Wizards (Haywood, Butler, Foye & Stevenson), talked about the rivalry after practice before heading to Cleveland.

The Washington Post’s Dan Steinberg wrote about this rivalry talk as did the Washington Times’ Mike Jones. A Cleveland writer likened the rivalry to the Browns and Steelers (ouch).

On Tuesday, Cavs guard Delonte West was indicted on weapons charges (two counts of carrying a dangerous weapon, two counts of carrying a handgun, two counts of transporting a handgun, one count of reckless driving and one count of negligent driving) in PG County, Maryland. Read more »

After Monday’s practice, before setting off for hostile territory in Ohio, Brendan Haywood, Caron Butler, Randy Foye and DeShawn Stevenson are prodded to talk about the rivarly/history between the Wizards and the Cavaliers.

Other practice coverage links:

• New look Wiz get ready for Cleveland rivalry [DC Sports Bog]
• Butler expeced to play vs. Cleveland [Wizards Outlet]
• Foye is fine about not getting an extension [Wizards Insider]

Episode two of ‘The Dagger Report’, a Washington Wizards podcast is out. This week, Mike Prada of Bullets Forever and I discuss the Wizards-Cavaliers rivalry (if you want to call it that, I do).

And to get a perspective from both sides, a couple “rival” bloggers join us. John Krolik of Cavs: The Blog (part of the ESPN TrueHoop Network), and Andrew Schnitkey (aka RockKing) of the general Cleveland sports blog, Waiting For Next Year, were kind enough to take part.

In addition to rivalry talk, we’ll also talk about what exactly has been going on with the Cavs so far this season.

Click below to listen.

Episode 2: The Dagger Report – Washington Wizards podcast

Or click here to subscribe via iTunes.

No one is going to question Wale’s allegiance to the DMV area. As he’s worked his way up through the mix-tape scene en route to his first studio production release, the DC-born/Largo, Maryland-bred rapper hasn’t lost touch with his roots, carrying the District’s Go-Go music genre with him along the way. Wale is the epitome of an up-and-coming rapper with snowballing nationwide appeal, and genuine staying power for a long time coming.

Wale has also stays touch with the DC sports scene. He’s rapped about Alex Ovechkin, among other DC sports figures, including Gilbert Arenas and Clinton Portis. He’s also appeared on ESPN’s First Take to rep DC sports, not to mention wearing the Nats’ Curly W while taking pics wit Lindsay Lohan. Wale puts on for the sports in his city … or so it seems.

Late Friday night, Wale twittered:

Maybe not all Washingtonians, or even Wizards fans, were actively rooting against LeBron James and his Cleveland Cavaliers in the playoffs. But most ‘true’ Wiz fans, in good conscience, are probably pretty damn glad the Cavs lost Saturday night, myself included.

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The Wizards were out of the game before it even started, and I really wish I had bet online. They came out lacking a ton of focus and turning the ball over….key ingredients to a disaster pie.

Cleveland was also aware of everything the Wiz wanted to do offensively before they did it. Javaris Crittenton would come down the court tapping his chin and Mo Williams would do the same. Guess the “intricate” offense (simplified for the youth, I know) of Ed Tapscott and Wes Unseld, Jr. won’t fool many.

To make matters worse, Washington was always a second behind on open passes, a telltale sign of the team going through the motions….a “we got this team in DC, so who cares about Cleveland?” type attitude.

Not to belittle the effort of some individuals, but as a team, it sucked a big one last night….what’s new? The game was no where close to the final 12 point margin.

Enjoy the screen shots.

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I really don’t care for Reggie Miller…..the television commentator. I certainly appreciated Reggie when he took down the hated Knicks with playoff heroics, once giving ol’ Spike Lee the choke sign, telling him to shut the eff up.

But Reggie on TV is just a spiraling, gangly, screeching, whiny sac of hot mess, and he’s often wrong too (well, maybe not often, but surely much more than should be allowed for someone in his position).

Reggie is no Mark Jackson, Doug Collins, Hubie Brown, or even his sister, Cheryl Miller, who is much, much better at her job.

I’ve heard some refer to Reggie as a “turd” and a “weenie bag”…and that’s just the censored opinion of the one person audience who is the tenant of my apartment.

Reggie Miller has frustrated many before, and he lived up to his reputation this past Thursday as the Cavs and Wizards matched-up on TNT.

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Have you missed something on the Wizards in the past 10 days?

Well, you’re in luck…because below is a massive, massive list of links and the best of what was said about the Wiz. Enjoy.

Be sure and check out the Wiz-Cavs Screen Shot Memories on Bullets Forever.

Things You Like To Hear From Gil Arenas
“I just want to flow through Antawn and Caron. They’ve been holding the ship down, so I’m not gonna come in here and step on their toes. I’m just come in here, get them the ball, get some of the young guys the ball, show them the right way to play basketball . . . I don’t need to go out here and score 30 because everybody knows I can do that. Like I’ve said before, my worst day, I can probably average 10 and 10.”
[Wizards Outlet]

Songaila The Hero
Then [Brendan Haywood] paused, started grinning and yelled out “THEN IT WAS THE WHITE KNIGHT! DARIUS SONGAILA, THE WHITE KNIGHT! BACK IN THE GAME! WHITE KNIGHT!!” Songaila sitting next to Haywood getting his shoes on and gave a fist pump and grinned.
[Wizards Outlet]

Songaila isn’t one for emotion, but he really let loose on Thursday, hooting and hollering like he was playing for the Lithuanian national team, not in some relatively meaningless game for a lottery team. “You could feel the energy building up in the arena,” Songaila said. “We were all fired up. I think that definitely showed on the court.”
[Wizards Insider]

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In a season that has shocked and awed….but in a bad way, as if Wizards fans were just your regular, innocent Iraqi civilian……there couldn’t be a better present heading into the off-season than Thursday’s win against the hated Cleveland Cavaliers.

(Well, a little lottery luck, or perhaps a win next Wednesday in Cleveland would be pretty effing gravy too.)

And while the dub can be attributed to an overall great team effort (Jamison being a warrior, Butler spilling Tuff Juice, Arenas creating with his presence, Haywood’s defensive communication, Young’s gutsy late layup, McGuire’s stat stuffing, McGee’s dunks, and Blatche being around and stuff), the consensus on the Bullets Forever game thread was that the game ball would go to my hero, Darius Songaila.

Songaila came up pretty big in the game’s early going, scoring eight points during his first 7:47 in the game (checked in for Haywood at the 2:12 mark of the first quarter).

But D-Song’s ‘Shine Time Swag’ came in the 4th quarter.

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