Glad you made it out Ivan. :)

I think Denver is gonna be scary when Anthony returns. Two superstars on one team....yikes! Iverson actually looked happy.

To touch on something you wrote about Ivan, they asked Garnett how he felt about the Iverson thing and he basically destroyed Minnesota management for not getting him and being let down again. I can't possibly see how he can be in Minnesota next year, seriously.

The Wiz looked ready to play early on, whereas the Suns didn't. Gilbert is playing at an MVP pace right now. Maybe the folks out west will recognize him now.

Please go vote for all the Wizards for the 2007 NBA All Star game NOW at:

http://www.nba.com/allstar2007/asb/eng/ballot.html?from=sweeps

- Ray

Get home safe Ivan, can't imagine having to scramble like that on the road. Lets see if the Wizards can stand prosperity and show up against some bad teams that they are about to play.

IC, without you on the job, the Post homepage has NO link to a story about last night's OT win over the Suns, let alone Gil's 54 points!

How can this not be front page news on the website??

Am I missing something here?

On Comcast after the game Gil was asked if he called glass. He said, "No, that was luck."

Nice to see us pulling out these close OT thrillers. Especially nice since during Gil's earlier struggles I convinced a guy in my fantasy league to trade him to me for Boozer. Dagger!

nick...oc would have seen to it that there was a link to the suns game and a front page article also, but he wanted to let everyone know that he WAS GOING to bet Thomas. He made a mind bet instead and i guess he lost his mind but not really betting.

correction- pc*

ic

Hi Ivan,

Glad to hear you are finally getting out of Denver...sounds like this road trip has been quite an experience for you.

Great game ....I sure hope the Wiz can keep this up.....they had to be exhausted last night.

Get home soon...

Lost amidst all this deserved fawning on Gilbert's scoring explosion during this road trip is the exceptionally stellar play of Caron Butler. Caron is 10th in scoring in the Eastern Conference right now, pulls down eight boards a game and brings some nasty grit to the Wiz. He was brilliant yet again last night - and his clutch free-throw shooting in OT sealed the deal. He deserves to go to the All-Star game along with Agent Zero. I encourage everyone to vote for Caron at www.nba.com.

Hibachi!

Bullets in LA, it hasn't been lost on me, it's why I posted in the last thread that Caron is having the most pivotal season of any Washington player in recent memory.

Interesting tidbit -- ESPN's NBA section has one of those "SportsNation" polls, which asks who will win the NBA scoring crown this season, and Gilbert is beating everyone on the list, including Kobe, AI, and Melo. In every single state except Colorado. Even in Cali, people know about El Hibachi.

Please go vote for all the Wizards for the 2007 NBA All Star game NOW at:

http://www.nba.com/allstar2007/asb/eng/ballot.html?from=sweeps

- Ray

Hey everyone, I was just on ESPN and they have a poll on who will lead the NBA in scoring.

Over 47,000 votes and 49% think it will be "Hibachi."

I think he's officially on the map now after giving Kobe and Nash a beat down, lol! ;)

- Ray

Ivan, no love for my man Brendan Haywood in your Phoenix post? B-Hay had 10 points and 8 rebounds in the first 10 minutes of the game! 6 for 6 shooting for the game. He set the tempo for the whole team.

Ivan, can you please write an article stating the fact that the Wizards are 5-1 with B-Hay in the starting lineup (with 3 of those wins on the west coast)? Why is Eddie Jordan not being asked about this? 5-1 with Haywood starting, 9-11 with him off the bench. Even more importantly, 3-1 on the road with B-Hay starting, 2-8 with him off the bench. Please remind Eddie Jordan of this before he goes off and benches B-Hay again for no reason, like last year.

Caronron was magnificent, no that is too fruity a word for him, he was beastificent.

Gil dropped the speed limit again and Brendan is... I dunno. I'm afraid to ask where its been for fear it may go there again. Go wood go!

Great win over the Suns, and 3-1 road stand says a lot about the team. But where is the D ?

Mike, let's not get carried away with the Brendamania. I mean, we could make a fun game called "find some stats that correspond to the recent 10-3 run".

Certainly Haywood is playing better ball now than earlier in the season, but the Phoenix game was probably his most complete game this season and it was still not as good as Etan's best game this season against Orlando.

Back to back double-doubles is a good start; let's see if we can put together more than a handful of decent games (or avoid reverting to a ~5 reb, 5 point game) before we put the crown back on Haywood.

BTW, just look at the splits for November compared to December and it should be obvious why we're 10-3 over the last 13. Gil's averaging 10ppg more, 10% higher FG%, Caron's up 5ppg, 'Tawn's up ~2ppg, 1.5rpg, ~5% FG%... Turnovers down across the board in Dec.

And yes, Haywood is up ~2ppg in December. So now he's scoring like Etan was in November :P

But to be fair, the big difference is that Haywood's vastly improved our reb numbers in December. I never thought I'd see the day that Haywood and Jamison would be grabbing 13 boards in a game.

(It is really sad that we can't find a big dude who can just clog the middle and grab boards, it really isn't that hard to box out and scrap for rebounds, you just have to want it more than the other guy... )

Should have bet. That is Gilbertology for you. I'm willing to bet he will drop at least 44 next time they play the Suns. His teammates will be giving him the ball and the Suns can't do anything about it because they don't play any d.

Ivan: Gene's boy Peter D. saying a quick hey and happy holidays to you. When you get around to buying Geno those beers, let me know and I will make the sojourn down from the NYC area to join. Peace.

Awvee storey gets some press. too bad it's not really the good kind....

ouch

You can't look at individual stats when comparing Haywood and Etan. Defense is a team concept, particularly with centers.

When Haywood is on the court, the opponents' eFG% is .480. When he is off the court, opponent eFG% is .510

When Etan is on the court, the opponents' eFG% is .516. When he is off, its .508.

You can look back four years, you'll see the same pattern every season. Haywood is simply a vastly better defender. He makes opponents miss shots much more so than Etan. You can't teach height and wingspan. Haywood has it. Etan does not.

You can't teach athleticism and shotblocking instinct, and Etan has both plus over Haywood.

I'll let the coach work it out, neither are world beaters - but Haywood has dissapointed me before, Etan has not. He just gets hurt.

nate33, that is great analysis. You are on point.

Nate, that's all fine and good, but like I said, we can all find stats that prove the point we're trying to make. Jumpy hit it on the head: neither are world-beaters.

I'm happy Haywood is playing better, but really, he would have never lost his starting job to Etan if he had been playing half this good to begin with. And I don't know what the "Brendan should be starting!!!!" guys think is really going to happen, that he's going to turn into a nightly 15 and 15 guy? Isn't going to happen.

I'm fairly pleased with the "two mediocre big men in lieu of one really kick-ass one" approach, though, I mean, look at Houston right now.

This does not suprise me the only thing that separates athletes is their drive and discipline. NAtural Born Talent is cool, But discipline is hard earned that you only get from failing tasks in life.

You guys are way off base in the comparison of Etan and Brendan. I love Etan for his passion but we are a truly undersized team with him in the starting line up. Brendan plays better when he starts and his play on the road trip was fantastic. He has had strong performances in almost every game since being put in the starting line up. If the team plays this well you have to leave him in the starting line up.

Was anyone else annoyed at how much those ESPN announcers kept harping about the Suns travel delay effecting their play. They just kept going on about it. Hey buddy the Wizard were on a west coast road trip and on the end of a back to back you jerk! Our bench is depleted and we got a short rotation, and our guys had to be tired. The Suns were WELL rested and in their own time zone. The 4th quarter the Wizards players their internal clocks (east coast time) it was 1am in the morning. You espn know it alls need to wake up and smell the coffee and give the Wizards respect. That was a great effort and a great win! That win was in no way given, it was earned!

And I love Etan but I gotta agree, Brendan is playing too good right now and I would keep him starting. We could really use Etan's energy to add a spark to our bench right now too.

Ivan, can you please slap some sense Michael Wilbon's bald head? Gilbert has a phenomenal 4 game road trip, and all Wilbon does is write a column slupring up to Dwyane Wade. Give me a break. Wade is awesome, but last time I checked he plays in MIAMI! This is DC, homey.

"Gilbert has a phenomenal 4 game road trip, and all Wilbon does is write a column slupring up to Dwyane Wade."

I thought that was pretty lame also to be honest. A genuine superstar here in DC and one of the countries BEST journalists writes about some guy down in Miami?

I thought he worked for the WASHINGTON POST and NOT the Miami Herald??

Shame on Wilbon! You better look out, Ivan is coming for you! ;)

Please go vote for all the Wizards for the 2007 NBA All Star game NOW at:

http://www.nba.com/allstar2007/asb/eng/ballot.html?from=sweeps

- Ray

Headed to the game tonight. I scored awesome seats. Observations to come.

IC, agree with the above sentiment. Maybe a mention? A sentence or two about Gilbert who does what he does without being allowed to travel/charge etc. a la Dwayne Wade?

Let him know that Zards nation isn't pleased.

I guess it's fair to write about other great athletes, he is trying to have a national appeal... but I've always felt like Wilbon's basketball heart was out of town. Like, in chicago. I definitely think Gil can hold his own against wade and kobe. Gil hasn't had Shaq and Zo on his team either. Would be great to see him develop more as a defender too. His shot can be unreal.

To defend Mr. Wilbon, he is paid to write a column about anything for the Post. As a star player for a division rival Wade is a natural subject. And if Gilbert was down there in Miami playing on X-mas, I think Mr. Wilbon would have written about him. But since he wasn't and Mr. Wilbon is down there working for ESPN it is only natural to columnize about Wade.

As a Wizards fan, I am happy Gilbert is wrecking shop. But let's be honest: Gil's not ready to be mentioned in the same breath as Jack Bauer and Wade. He's a great offensive ball player but those two guys bring it on the defensive end as well, 24 especially. Kobe is recognized as a great scorer plus he has a number of first team all defense honors. I wish Gil worked on his D as much as he does deep threes.