Wiz post victory while management wires team to explode
Jan 17th, 2010 by Aaron Hotchner
Washington, D.C. 1/16/09 There is a room in the Verizon Center where Abe Pollin (sorely missed you are) sat down with Michael Jordan & then sent him packing 15 minutes later. When he becomes the Wizard™s new majority owner, sports mogul Ted Leonsis will sit there as well. It is surely a very nice room, all dark hardwoods & leather. There will however be something that clashes mightily with the impeccable furnishings: a large red button, with wires running from it all through the hallways of the Phone Booth. These wires end in the exact middle of the Wizard™s locker room, where a gigantic heap of dynamite resides.
In less time than it took for Pollin to cashier the greatest player/worst basketball executive of the modern era, Leonsis will probably decide to push that button, blowing up the team & initiating a whirlwind of trades & tremors around the League.
That scenario in mind, Washington beating the Sacramento Kings 96-86 has very little big picture significance. Long-suffering Wiz fans though, (Hotch included) will take what we can get.
Washington played good team ball, posting 19 assists to end the night with five players scoring in double figures. Caron Butler set the tone with 19 points & six rebounds, after clocking 55 minutes in a double OT slugfest Friday against the Chicago Bulls. Playing 33 minutes while shooting 50% from the field & 90% from the free-throw line, Butler epitomized the kind of hard-nosed basketball that is making playoff contenders around the NBA salivate at the prospect of landing him in trade. Wiz Captain Antawn Jamison, whose 41 minutes, 14 points, & 9 boards tonight came after his 55 minute marathon, is equally coveted league-wide, with the Cavaliers especially feverish to make him their own.
Sacramento™s Tyreke Evans did them proud in the contest, filling stat sheets with 21 points, six rebounds & seven assists. Evans also took excellent care of the ball, turning it over only twice, showing why the 6™ 6 guard may end the season with Rookie of the Year honors. Kevin Martin, the other half of the King™s back court duo, put in 23 points to lead all Sacramento scorers. Martin™s performance was especially heartening, as he had been MIA since Nov. 7th with a wrist injury & had only returned to playing the previous evening in Philly.
Ragged from playing four games in five nights, Washington™s victory served to emotionally lift a team and city mired in an ongoing debacle involving franchise persona non grata Gilbert Arenas, who pleaded guilty Friday afternoon to a firearms felony. Should Arenas be sentenced to jail time decided March 26th Wizards management will certainly attempt to nullify their $111 million contract with the star many felt would lead Washington out the wilderness. Regardless, in the wreckage that is the Verizon Center, there is little cause for joy unless you™re a Caps fan.