Lost amongst the mucky sounds and words regarding last night’s stinker versus the Hawks was this sweet ‘JaVale McGee block, Mike James recovery, pass to Nick Young who tips, gathers, and throws the ball off the glass for a McGee dunk’ combo [via Bethlehem Shoals at The Baseline].

Just watch …

Also, Comcast SportsNet has been doing a ‘My Life 365‘ series on Caron Butler.

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flickr/art crimes

The rumors,  the possibilities … they must be tired because they’ve been running through my mind all night. It’s getting a little crazy leading up to the draft, but bloggers, MSM types, and the Internets wouldn’t have it any other way.

First of all, I’d like to remind the basketball world, despite the fact that 99% of it won’t see this post, that the Wizards are not “desperate“ to shed salary.

I’ll simply point to a Washington Times piece from late March highlighting that owner Abe Pollin would pay the luxury tax in order to win a championship. No, this doesn’t mean Ernie Grunfeld won’t be looking for creative ways to save money, he just won’t be making any wholesale giveaways in the process.

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Lake Erie, on standby until the next fire

While the association of sports punditry blowhards will bellow, “No, no, no!!! Cleveland and Washington are NOT rivals!!,” those with common sense beg to differ.

As we found out in early April, a game between a hapless Wizards team and the unstoppable force of LeBron & Co. wasn’t exactly meaningless.

The fact that these two teams seem destined to exchange barbs, not only between the members of each organization, but also amongst fans and journalists, screams rivalry on some level — contrary to popular opinion, a ‘rivalry’ is not solely defined by wins and losses.

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The friendly bloggers (and their fans) at the Cleveland sports-based Waiting For Next Year have taken upon the task of creating a Mark Price-themed t-shirt (h/t Sporting News).

Price, the current Atlanta Hawks shooting coach, may still be right for Cleveland Cavaliers fans, but that’s far from the case for Wizards/Bullets fans.

A reminder of how the Cavs fleeced former Bullets GM, John Nash (from this May ’08 post):

Seems like I’ve heard about it before, but maybe I didn’t think much of it at the time, or just forgot, as it occurred way back in 2003, before the ‘blogging era’.

But there I found myself, coming home to an on television Friday night, checking out game six of an incredibly boring Heat-Hawks series.

Dan Marino was courtside, ESPN showed his retired jersey in the rafters. Little curious to see it hanging in a basketball arena, but okay … I’ll go with it.

I once ate at Dan Marino’s steakhouse in the gloriously classy Hooters Hotel & Casino in Vegas … or is it delightfully tacky, yet unrefined? In any case, I thoroughly enjoyed my experience at Marino’s steakhouse. Plus, you gotta give the guy credit for going from the prince of coal mining country to the king of South Beach … the equivalent to Biggie Smalls going ashy to classy.

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I’m a huge Antawn Jamison fan. He’s a classy dude, I’ve nicknamed him ‘The Gentlemen’ (hasn’t caught on), and the women folk say he’s got eyebrows for days.

Jamison is the current patriarchal cornerstone of the franchise. This year’s team MVP? Unquestionably. He possesses the never-quit attitude that should be infecting the locker room via leadership by example … Jamison is quite the opposite of past clubhouse cancers, like Christian Laettner.

But sometimes, everyone needs to be questioned, Jamison being no exception.

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Back to reality? We’ll see.

Q1

Wow, the Phillips looks emptier that the Verizon these days. The Hawks have the 4th best record in the East…..sad to say, Atlanta doesn’t deserve an NBA team.

11:45: Caron misses his assignment to protect the hoop after Songaila goes to double Joe Johnson and Horford gets an easy dunk on Atlanta’s first possession.

Hmm….long missed jumpers from Caron, bad P&R defense from Mike James….S.O.S. (Groundhog Day) – 6-1 Hawks.

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I’ve been a little MIA over the Thanksgiving holiday. It’s nice to take a step back from the computer to hang with family…and that’s been graciously guided by severely limited internet access.

So the Wizards lost games 2 and 3 of the Tapscott era….ho hum. I have yet to read all reactions to losses to both Orlando and Atlanta, and I only was able to watch the Wizards face the Magic from a bar because it was on national television, but the indication seems to be that no one is surprised.

Yea, Dwight Howard is a bad man. In his time on the court against the Wizards this season, he pulls down a rebound every 2.43 minutes, attempts a free-throw every 2.61 minutes, and makes a FG every 3.84 minutes. Not many teams can stop Howard, and the Wizards are especially bad at doing so.

But it boils down to the fact that this Washington team is still not very good, just as indicated by their game performances all season. They’ve fallen short of pretty much everyone’s expectations, even those knowing that Gilbert Arenas would be absent. I would be more disappointed at failing to meet expectations if the team were not trying hard, if they weren’t displaying the want to win. For the most part, the Wizards are making an effort, but for some reason, things just aren’t clicking.

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So the big news: JaVale McGee and Dee Brown will be in the starting lineup for Etan Thomas and Juan Dixon. Brown is a little bit of a surprise as his play this year has been spotty, and uneventful when he does see the court. Plus, we know that Juan Dixon had built somewhat of an alley-oop rapport with McGee.

However, Dixon may be better coming off the bench, and Brown is a better defender. Still no Nick Young in the starting lineup, but if I had to choose a starting experiment, it would be McGee before Young.

What scares me: Atlanta is one of the best three point shooting teams in the league.

Q1

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Last year, the Hawks, in Atlanta, were the source for the first win of the season after an 0-5 Washington start. Tonight, both of these teams meet, desperate for a win and riddled with injuries. The Hawks have lost four games in a row since starting 6-0. The stat stuffing Josh Smith has been out with a sprained ankle and Al Horford went down last night with an ankle injury. He is questionable to play against the Wizards tonight.

Ivan Carter has a good run-down of the ATL on Wizards Insider.

Back to last year’s history, the Wizards finished 2-2 against the Hawks. Here’s how it went down:

Game 6: Wizards @ Atlanta – Nov. 11, 2007
This game was played at the same time as a Redskins-Eagles matchup….so I made my friends put two TVs in their living room. The Wiz played a good game all around, moving the ball well and netting 26 assists, with 8 coming from Butler. They also worked inside-out, establishing Haywood in the paint early. BTH finished with 13 points and 12 boards. The Wiz had the game relatively in command but Atlanta made a late run and cut the lead to five with 3:40 left. However, Antawn Jamison sealed a big win with some clutch baskets. He finished with 23 points and 15 rebounds.
Wizards 101 – Hawks 90

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