Saunders faces former team Tuesday night
Three preseason games down, and we’ve seen the pass-first Gilbert Arenas, the shoot-first Gilbert Arenas, and in spurts, an ideal mix of the two. The search for balance clearly isn’t complete with two weeks remaining before the 2009 regular season tips off, but Arenas has had few problems exploring all the sides of his game after sitting out most of the last two years.
“Gil like to play mind games,” said guard DeShawn Stevenson. “But you see when he’s attacking and stuff, it’s hard to guard him. We just need more of that before the regular season come.”
Arenas has saved his best for the last two third quarters, during which he’s unleashed a variety of attacks and jump shots. On Sunday, he had 12 points and 3 assists in that quarter at Toronto, two nights after 12 points (on 6-for-6 shooting) and 5 assists in the third period at home against Dallas, an explosion of offense which made up for not taking a shot in the first quarter.
“Any notion that he can’t score, that was erased,” said Wizards head coach Flip Saunders. “You saw that when he turned it on, he could score. We’ve just got to get him now to play at that level to be able to score and distribute in our offense, put it all together.”
Arenas hasn’t been perfect in all aspects, including turning ball over four times per contest and earning a technical foul against the Raptors.
But at least part of that adjustment stems from half the team having barely played with him in an official game before this fall.
“I’ve been around him and have seen how he played in pickup games, but I ain’t never really played on the court with him so it is different,” said Nick Young, entering his third season with the Wizards. “But I know what to expect. You just gotta run the floor, it’s going to be fast break points, and he gonna be Gil.”
