The Wizards will face the record books and the what ifs tonight against the Warriors, who own the same record as Washington but somehow just haven’t had as troubled a season, don’t you think?
In the record book category, Warriors head coach Don Nelson will go for career victory 1,333, which will make him the winningest NBA coach of all-time.
“If it happens,” said Nelson, “We’ll talk about it after the game, but you know it was such an emotional win to tie Lenny [Wilkens] in Toronto. That was a special moment for me. I don’t think we can duplicate that.”
“I don’t want him to get the record against me, that’s for sure,” said Wizards head coach Flip Saunders. “I’m sure he wants to get the record overwith because that’s something that everyone’s always bringing up.”
Meanwhile, the Warriors also made a trip to the White House today. Nelson said he saw the President but didn’t get a chance to chat with him.
“I’d never really seen it in person,” said Golden State rookie Stephen Curry, “or walked by it so it was a great experience, going through all the rooms and seeing how each President has left their mark on the White House and traditions and all that stuff was very cool. I saw Reggie Love, who is from Charlotte and went to my rival high school. He was telling me he remembered me when I was in 7th grade trying to play ball.”
Speaking of Curry, who has himself smack in the middle of the rookie of the year chase, surely some members of the Wizards front office must be wondering what this season would’ve been like had they taken him with the fifth pick in last year’s NBA draft.
“Before they made the trade, definitely going through the whole workout process and everything, this was high on my list,” said Curry. “Once they traded the pick, it was kind of the end of it.”
But Curry isn’t harboring any grudge: “It’s not really a chip on my shoulder thing. That’s not how I operate.”
“I’m sure if we wouldn’t have traded our pick, he was probably a guy we would’ve strongly considered at that spot, there’s no question,” said Saunders.
Curry also talked about Monday’s NCAA championship game for Duke, a team it’s easy to forget has his younger brother, Seth Curry, who transferred to Durham this year from Liberty.
“He got to experience the whole run,” said Curry. “The guy’s going to get a ring now. Hopefully he’ll get another one when he’s actually on the court.”
As for the Wizards, Quinton Ross (lower back contusion) was seen warming up while Al Thornton (hip flexor strain) promised to play Wednesday: “I’m going to give it a go tomorrow, for sure, against Orlando. I went through a tough workout this morning for about 30 minutes. I tried to push myself through it, and I felt okay so I’m going to give a go tomorrow, try to push through and see how it feels.”
