The coincidences are too amusing. Not only do we have the drama-infused Wizards playing the most “boring” team in the NBA, but the fill-in color commentator for the Spurs broadcast is none other than P.J. Carlesimo, who’s already come to mind over the last 24 hours given that he was the victim when Latrell Sprewell’s contract was voided (later reinstated) after the choking incident. We’ll have to see down the road if Gilbert Arenas will keep his contract, even though the Wizards trying to tear it up using the “morality clause” as evidence would be a very bold move. Don’t bet against the NBA Players’ Association (pun intended).
But there is a basketball game to play.
“There’s no question that you’d like, as a coach, players being able to totally focus on your game at hand,” said Wizards head coach Flip Saunders. “Then you have other things distract off the court or whatever, those are things that you’re always concerned about. But from my standpoint, and as I told our players, we still get judged as far as what we do on the court for the guys that are here and that are doing things. You do the best you can. We’ve have two very hard, intense practices, and what I’m hoping to do is I’m hoping to see carryover from those practices.”
Saunders hedged on his lineup 90 minutes before tip (“We’ll see”), and the Wizards opened their locker room to the media about 20 minutes late, signs of serious lockdown and tension this evening at Verizon Center. When the starters were ultimately revealed, the only change from the last game was the insertion of Andray Blatche over Randy Foye, a slight disappointment given the tight lips and Saunders’s assertion that everything was on the table after Tuesday’s debacle against Oklahoma City.
Meanwhile, as for the drama itself, this account from former Washington Times writer Mike Jones probably has the best play-by-play so far.
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