The Next Five Days Downtown
This actually happened at yesterday's Wizards game. (Melissa Majchrzak/NBAE via Getty)
Last night's Wizards loss was a gimme, and hardly changed the playoff math. If the Wizards beat the five bad-to-mediocre teams left on their schedule (Milwaukee, Miami, Indiana and Philly at home, and Chicago on the road), they'll almost certainly be the fifth seed and get to face LeBron and the BronBrons for the 17th consecutive postseason. If they only go 3-5 in that stretch and lose to the Sixers, they'll probably be no better than the sixth seed, and very likely the seventh, and then any poor bloggers forced to travel with the team will be forced to go to Detroit-area casinos.
The first two games of this closing stretch (Milwaukee at home tomorrow, and Miami at home on Friday) are like Iowa to John Edwards; no real bonus points for winning, but the whole thing collapses if they lose. These are two of the three worst teams in the East, coming to D.C. with absolutely nothing to play for. But as Ivan Carter notes, tomorrow night the Wiz might either get three of their top six players back in Gilbert, Caron Butler and Antonio Daniels, or theoretically might be forced to play without all three. Imagine going to an '80s-themed Biz Markie-featured birthday party off a home loss to Milwaukee. Cake won't taste quite as moist, I'm guessing.
Anyhow, what all of this means is the next five days at Verizon Center will yield five legitimate, non-coach-speak must wins (although not in the life-and-death sense), plus two of the greatest bobblehead nights ever, featuring Buckhantz and Chenier (on Friday) and Ovechkin (on Saturday). Now if we can only get a prop-loving referee or two.
Old Wizards things I've been meaning to link to:
* A plea for Gilbert to make a pitstop in the NBDL.
* Medieval Christian-themed Caron Butler artwork.
* A DeShawn vs. Drew Gooden beard poll.
By Dan Steinberg |
April 1, 2008; 3:54 PM ET
| Category:
Wizards
Previous: Larranaga to Providence? |
Next: Nats Have a Uniform Glitch
Get This Widget >>
Posted by: Mike in SD | April 1, 2008 05:00 PM
Way to follow the NBA Steinberg.....
After going 19-7 since Feb. 5 (losing their most recent two games to Phoenix and Cleveland), you really can't dub the Sixers as a mediocre (or less) team anymore.
Posted by: TruthAboutIt.net | April 1, 2008 05:32 PM
TruthAboutIt, I love you, but I'm gonna stick with "mediocre" on the Sixers. They had one extremely hot streak, but it's April and they're .500. Don't know how else to spin that one.
Over their last 11 games, both the Wiz and the Sixers are 7-4. And surely you're not trying to tell me the Wiz are something better than mediocre this season, right?
A quick look at the standings shows me 12 teams that I'm pretty sure are better than Philly, recent hot streak or not. If you're not in the top 40 percent of the league, what are you if not mediocre? Mildly above average?
Posted by: Dan Steinberg | April 1, 2008 06:45 PM
Mike in SD - if you want something really bad, let me know. I know someone that works at the VC and she is willing to sell most promo items for Caps/Wiz/Hoyas (I know because I bought something from her in the past). I'm assuming tomorrow's bobbleheads are going to be tough, but I can certainly ask, if that's what you want.
Posted by: greg | April 2, 2008 03:23 PM
Post a Comment
We encourage users to analyze, comment on and even challenge washingtonpost.com's articles, blogs, reviews and multimedia features.
User reviews and comments that include profanity or personal attacks or other inappropriate comments or material will be removed from the site. Additionally, entries that are unsigned or contain "signatures" by someone other than the actual author will be removed. Finally, we will take steps to block users who violate any of our posting standards, terms of use or privacy policies or any other policies governing this site. Please review the full rules governing commentaries and discussions.
Thanks for the link to the Caron artwork. I looked through the rest of the artist's portfolio and it's pretty impressive. The NBA drawings are particularly fantastic.
I wish to heck the Wiz would make some of the giveaways/premiums available for sale. They could make a killing on some of this stuff, but I guess the point is to make it exclusive and get people to come out to games. I'll have to be satisfied with my Juan Dixon bobblehead for now...