Big night tonight. The Washington Capitals begin their post-season with a game against the New York Rangers in D.C. while the Washington Wizards begin their off-season after their final match of the year against the Cavaliers in Cleveland. The Wiz Kids will one day be in the playoffs, next year according to John Wall, but until then, fans will have to be content with marking May 17 down on their calendars (when the NBA’s Draft Lottery will be held), while watching 16 other teams compete for the Larry O’Brien Trophy. Speaking of the NBA playoffs, I dropped some opinionated knowledge on ESPN.com about who will shine in the post-season … check it out if you will.

Moving on…

On Monday, 71-year old NBA referee Dick Bavetta called the Wizards home finale against the Boston Celtics. Known as the Cal Ripken Jr. of referees, Bavetta has been calling games since 1975 and has never missed an assignment. Going into this season, Bavetta had called an NBA-record 2,434 games that he’s obviously continued to build on in this his 36th season.

Watching him work a game from the sideline is an interesting experience. He barely makes a sound. Imagine that, a silent NBA referee. Bavetta doesn’t scream, he doesn’t even talk, much. Instead, he opts to communicate with the other members of his crew with hand signals and gestures, as well as getting players into their correct position in the same manner. I imagine he does it to conserve energy. Regardless of reason, the effective use of such a method conveys the respect that comes with time and age. There have been reports that the league would prefer Bavetta to retire, as they did not assign the dean of referees to work the NBA Finals last season. With clouds of a potential lockout looming, this season could really be the last for the legend.

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Sure, the best thing about the missed Von Wafer dunk on Monday night was him unknowingly flexing/basking in his own non-accomplishment afterward on the baseline, and then turning around to run back on defense only to find a teammate who’d recovered the live ball directly in his path. That teammate, Jermaine O’Neal, ended up being called for a violation because Wafer ran into him after he’d picked up his dribble, causing him to take another dribble. Boston turnover.

Actually, the “best thing” was that Wafer’s dunk would have put the Celtics up four points with three minutes left in overtime; Washington ended up winning by one point. But another “thing” about the failed dunk attempt was the warm towel and icy-hot rubdown that JaVale McGee and Andray Blatche offered Wafer as he easily glided toward the basket, unimpeded and observed from a comfy distance by the defense. Maybe the courteous treatment actually helped Wafer blow his easy dunk off the rim. We’ll never know.

What we do know is what the whole event looked like from the sideline, in picture form, and partially obscured by referee Dick Bavetta:

The Dunk Attempt.

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