Washington has lost four straight games
It’s unlikely that Gilbert Arenas was envisioning a sunset over the Pacific Ocean as he sat alone at his locker, staring into nowhere as he tried to digest his missed free throws that have cost the Wizards in back-to-back losses.
“I think the West Coast is going be good for me, to get away from the pressure of this building, the pressure of fans, just let me breathe a little bit,” Arenas said moments earlier after Washington dropped a heartbreaker late to Indiana, 114-113, its fourth defeat in a row.
Perhaps he has a point. Injuries, drama and disappointment have dominated the first quarter of the season for the Wizards (7-14), who had only a pair of two-game road trips over the first seven weeks.
With four games in six days on the West Coast, beginning at the Clippers (9-12) on Monday, urgency might finally materialize unabated.
The temptation against the Pacers was to summon nostalgia for better days gone by as DeShawn Stevenson made his second start of the year alongside Arenas, Antawn Jamison, Caron Butler and Brendan Haywood. It seemed trivial afterward.
“I don’t care about that starting lineup stuff,” said Stevenson. “I want to win games. Who cares about who starts? It’s not about me. It’s about that Wizards logo on the front [of the jersey] and winning ball games.”
Haywood, who was frustrated over his foul on the deciding play against the Pacers, used his Yardbarker.com blog to announce that he was going silent.
“When you’re winning and you’re on top, you can really speak your mind and put your thoughts out there,” said Haywood. “When you’re losing and trying to stay afloat, you’ve got to know when it’s time to be seen and not heard.”
Far away from the Beltway, there’s no doubt Arenas will get that chance.
“He’s the man,” said Wizards head coach Flip Saunders. “He’s gotta make those plays, bottom line. You put the ball in the hands of your superstar, and you have confidence in him. I have confidence if we put it in his hands, that if he got fouled he’d make that play again. He’s going to keep on having it to make those plays.”
