A Game for the Ages

An epic struggle occurred at the Verizon Center last night and a victor emerged tempered by the flames of Hades and near defeat. The Wizards, facing almost certain extinction from the first round and circles of NBA respect, stood tall at the fiery gates of hell and took on their 12th labor against a mighty, three-headed beast. To slay the blood-thirsty Cerberus and prove once and for all that they were not a team of false promises or regular season hype, they had to wrestle Lebron into submission and capture the haughty Cavaliers on the battlefield. Centuries from now the Muses will ask, “how did the Wizards fight their way out of the third circle when their best player fell silent in the first quarter?”

The Wizard’s first task was to visit Eleusis and learn how to thwart King James with guile and cunning. How else could they traverse Game Three with a chance for glory and fame? Their fearless leader (Coach Jordan) navigated these waters brilliantly by instructing his motley crew to crowd the paint, double team when possible, and force King James into jumpers. They key to this strategy was denying King James access to the rim where he torched the Wizards for 32 points in Game Two. Instead the Wizards plotted on forcing King James to shoot jumpers and threes, effectively taking him out of his element and into uncharted waters.

One could argue this decision was akin to fighting the Scylla when the Wizards could have easily passed through the Wandering Rocks by letting Lebron continue his quest to the basket. But those who let Lebron drive to the paint suffer defeats like Game Two, so Coach Jordan had to take his Argonauts elsewhere. Facing the Scylla ultimately prevailed because while guys like Haywood picked up fouls and worsened their league reputations for dirty play, King James could not convert from the field (Cavs went from shooting 52 percent to 37 percent and Lebron could not get his jumper started). The monster still reared its ugly head (22 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists), but the Wizards passed through to victory virtually unscathed. If only Jason’s six Argonauts were so lucky.

The Wizard’s second task was to go on the offensive and restore the temple of Apollo after King James and his vile myrmidons had pillaged and dispatched the unarmed Wizards in Game Two. Improved shooting from the field and three point lines proved to be the elixir and the Wizards delivered, shooting 42% from three point range and 52% from the field. Doubling your three point and field goal percentages from one game to the next was important, but a whole new level of teamwork was needed to row the Wizard’s boat out of the river Styx. Once again the Wizards delivered and over five different players scored in double figures (this is in stark contrast to Game Two where only three players were in low double figures). As predicted two days ago on this weblog, Antawn Jamison led this charge with a heroic performance and a game for the ages. He was beat down, battered, and bloodied, but the aging warrior slogged on and willed his team to victory. It was incredible to watch and I bow down to greatness.
So where do the Wizards go from here and how will they pass through the Peloponnesian caverns to face Boston in the Second Round? Coach Jordan would give you the following sage advice:

1. Continue to play solid defense and force Lebron to either pass the ball to open teammates or shoot the jumper. Lebron's perimeter game is his weakness and having the Cleveland Cavaliers beat you is much better than letting Lebron run wild. In fact, take away Lebron and you have a very average team which is beatable by the Washington Wizards.

2. Continue to pass the ball and only take open shots. Games one and two were punctuated by nervous play, adrenaline, and vile tempers. Sit back, relax, have patience, and take your shots when they're open. Do not force possessions or shots. Do not panic. You are better than this team if Lebron is contained. Take a deep breath and play your game.

3. Continue playing like the Detroit Pistons and do not be afraid of a seven foot white guy. Hitting Lebron in the mouth will intimidate him and elbowing Z will throw his game off. Continue the hard fouls, but do not commit flagrant fouls. Make the Cavs pay when they drive to the paint and rebound like a bat out of hell.

In closing, I'd like to leave you all with a little bit of excitement and awesomeness. This video basically describes how I feel right now, so enjoy:

The Babcock Report: Capitol Punishment

Photo Courtesy of the Babcock Archive

I made the 530 mile trip from Newburyport to Gaithersburg, Maryland this past Tuesday and I have been planning a "Greetings from.." post but decided instead to roll it into my latest Babcock Report. Sometimes these things just come together. Anyway, my first several days down here were uneventful...I managed to catch a nationally televised Celtics game along with Deep Impact, which was playing on Showtime. I actually watched the whole entire movie, even finding myself emotionally invested in the film at a few pivotal moments; namely when Elijah Wood comes riding up to his teen-bride on a dirt bike and rides her and her baby sister to safety only moments ahead of a devastating tidal wave. I'm not recommending this movie, in fact I am not even why I am admitting that I actually watched it. Sometimes you do strange things when you're living in a hotel by yourself in Maryland.

Needless to say, I was really looking forward to the weekend. I put in a long day at work and got into bed early, planning to get an early start and hit all of the token Washington, D.C. tourist attractions. I took the Metro into the city and began walking around aimlessly (I think its the best way to see a city, I can't bring myself to climb my ass into one of those Duckboats). I must've walked a good 20 miles, and I have an ankle blister and the rough-night-in-prison limp to prove it. It was a beautiful day and the city was full of similar tourist types. I haven't been in DC for quite some time. Some of you know that on my last visit to the city I had the distinct pleasure of spending a short stint in a local jail cell after I was hit with an (alleged) open container infraction down at the waterfront. A couple of highlights from that evening included standing by helplessly as Police officers removed a 3 x 5 index card from my cargo shorts that contained a list titled "Worst Athlete Wives" and contained names such as Brenda Warner, Left Eye (not sure if she was actually married to Andre Rison, but close enough) Jason Kidd's wife (I wasn't sure of her name), Adrian Balboa (She never deserved Rocky and it was clearly her fault that their son was a huge pussy), along with a couple of others that escape my mind now. I'm not sure if they found this list amusing or if it made them want to kick my ass. Long story short bail was set at $10, and the next morning I removed the index card from my plastic bag of belongings (shoelaces, etc...) and promptly threw it into the trash.

Since there was about 40,000 other people who had the same idea as me walking around the city I didn't actually go into any buildings or museum, I stuck to the exteriors avoiding lines and possible awkward conversations with other out-of-towners. It was all around a satisfying experience and made me feel somewhat productive. I ended the day with a great Cheeseburger at Clydes, a nice sports bar/restaurant next door to the Verizon center. Capitols fans were starting to pour into Clydes and the surrounding area in preparation for the nights game (which the Capitols won, securing a playoff berth). The only downer of this portion of my day was sitting next to some douchebag who talked too loudly to his friends (three chicks) about three girls he was dating at the moment. The girls, "Punk rock Chick", "Insane lady", and "Former figure skater girl", were all apparently really into this guy, despite the fact that anyone within a 20 foot radius would immediately know that he was a complete tool. I tried hard to watch the Magic-Cavaliers game on TV but couldn't help hearing about his dates (all deriving in some manner from Craigslist personal ads), detailed analysis of the goodnight kisses of each, and how he has decided that he should purchase some new pillows and sheets now that he is dating seriously. Later on I saw this guy in the street trying to scalp tickets to the Capitols game, I wanted to kick him in the shins, but alas, I was also attempting to keep a low profile.

Later in the evening I had the pleasure of meeting up with Ballgame, fellow ROOMOFZEN blogger and all around badass. We watched the final four games and engaged in various excellent conversations. Topics included NBA Jam on Sega Genesis, the most bad ass brands of Malt Liquor (Olde English was held in extremely high regard by all parties), why football is taking over as most popular sport in America, and the evolution of Rock and Roll from Black Blues musicians through Zeppelin and the Stones and the incredible role the Beatles played in transforming rock and roll, popular music, and recording techniques. We also discussed how rock music had generally gone downhill since the 90s, and how badass that period of time was in music. Then this one guy mentioned that he was a fan of the Killers and our music conversation came to a screeching halt. Meanwhile the girls segregated themselves into another room (why does this always happen?) to talk about purses, or perhaps something more intellectually stimulating.

It had already been a great day, but much to my surprise the best still lay ahead. We got back to Ballgame's girlfriends house and it soon became evident that we were going to need to eat something. That's when Ballgame gave me a nod and said, "I know exactly what you need.", and boy was he right.

Heaven on Earth? Quite Possibly.

It is going to be hard to describe how amazing the experience of Steak 'n Egg Kitchen was at 1:35am this morning. To start off the place seats about 12 people inside, and when we got there it was already packed. Being an experienced patron Ballgame immediately noticed a few newbies who were not pure of heart and scared them off by saying that the wait was probably "at least a 1/2 an hour". They left and we walked in, all business. The waiter took our order as we stood against the back wall (approximately 2' away from the 12 seated patrons already inside when we got there. I was feeling saucy so I went with the signature Steak'n Eggs, with french fries and a side of biscuits and gravy. Just as our order was ready two seats opened up for us like clockwork. "Controlled Chaos" Ballgame called it, and he assured me that things always had a way of going as smoothly despite the fact that it is a 24/7 diner with approximately 30 square feet of eating space. I left wholly satisfied and determined to return again. It will not be an experience soon forgotten.

Serving up "Awesome" 24/7

As far as sports go, I couldn't be more excited to watch the NCAA championship game tomorrow night. I had Memphis and Kansas meeting in the finals in my bracket with Memphis winning by 4. These two teams were clearly the best on the court last night and the fact that they both play uptempo on both ends of the court sets the stage for a very exciting game. I have to give the edge to Memphis due to Derrick Rose and Chris Douglas-Roberts; both these guys were getting to the rim at will last night and are almost impossible to defend 1 on 1. I also have a soft spot for John Calipari, and would really like to see him get a championship. His "Refuse to lose" campaign with UMASS was the last time that a college team in the Commonwealth really had a legit shot at the title. I just really like the style of basketball that both of these teams play, and they both seem to be playing their best ball of the season right now. You really couldn't ask for more out of a National title match up. Vegas has Kansas as a 1/2 point underdog the last time I checked, which speaks to the parity in this game. I can't wait.

One reason to smile.

The Red Sox just got swept by the Blue Jays. Am I worried? No, it is way to early to be worried. It is unfortunate to get swept by anyone, especially someone who will most likely be near the top of the American League at the end of season. But, at the same time I just can't get myself too worked up about baseball with the NBA playoffs only 6 days away. I'm just all about basketball right now. The silver lining of the Red Sox situation is that JD Drew had bounced back from his back injury and has been hitting the ball well. I'm sure that back in Boston people are saying that he's only hitting well now because it doesn't matter. I just have a good feeling about him this year, I think he's going to come into his own and have a very productive season.

Rock and Roll.

Nobody Beats the Wiz – Nobody!

At the risk of boring our audience, I’m going to do a quick synopsis of the Washington Wizards basketball team. My sense is that if you’re a fan of the NBA, it’s hard not to like the Wizards. And even if you don’t like basketball, but maybe you like professional sports, I still feel as though you can respect the Wiz and their story.

(I’ll go ahead and assume that most of our readers haven’t been following the Wiz this year. If you have been following them, I apologize for being repetitive, especially if you read the Washington Post. And If you don't like the Wizards or don't give a you know what, please just skip the post. I promise this will be the last post on DC sports for awhile)

The Team

In a nutshell, the Washington Wizards play unselfish, team basketball. They run a quasi-Princeton offense, score fast break points, rely on outside shooters, and generally don’t play post-centered basketball. While relying on outside shooters inevitably leads to off-nights, the Wizards are now playing much better defense than last year. Caron, Daniels, and Gilbert average around two steals per game, while Brendan Haywood anchors the paint with shot-blocking and attitude. As TMac pointed out the other night, a team can't always control the accuracy of their shooting, but they can control their defense. Improved defense by the Wizards therefore hedges them against nights when their shooting (their offense) is terrible.

The Wizards are always fun to watch, although some of the shots they take are sometimes foolish or unnecessary. Kobe pointed this out last year when he played the Wizards - he said something to the effect of, "the Wizards take about 2000 shots per game and most of them are goofy..." But three pointers are fun to watch and I won't complain if they continue to good.

Gilbert, when he’s healthy, runs the offense and he generally takes the majority of shots. One of the best things about Gilbert is that he has a flair for the dramatic, hitting at least three buzzer beaters from downtown in the past few seasons. When he’s playing well, teams are forced to double cover him, leaving Caron or Antawn open for points.

Caron and Antawn are prototype guard / forwards who can play a decent post game when they have mismatches. Caron’s three pointer is vastly improved this year, and Antawn has morphed into Dennis Rodman on the boards (he’s averaging over 10 boards this year). These guys are known as the Big Three in the league.

Generally speaking, I like to think of the Wizards as a team made up of three types of players – young guns, seasoned veterans, and role-players. What makes these sub sets interesting, however, is that over the past few years, each of these subsets have gotten dramatically better than the year before. And since they’ve been playing so well, this wholesale improvement has allowed the Wizards to develop young talent, maintain cap room, stay in the playoff hunt, and withstand injuries; very cool.

The Wizards have developed one of the best stable’s of young talent in the league. The Young Guns consist of rookies Nick Young, Dominic McGuire, Oleksiy Pecherov, and third year player Andray Blatche; all of them are badasses. When Gilbert had his second knee surgery at the start of the season, the team suddenly had a void in both leadership and scoring. Remarkably the young guns filled that void with victories when the team needed it most. For example, the Wizards started their season losing five games in a row. Then, out of nowhere, Nick Young (a rookie) dropped 18 points on Portland, most of them in the fourth quarter, which lead to a Wizards’ victory. He then scored 11, 5 and then 18 points as the Wizards won three straight and snapped their losing streak. I could give you more examples (Blatche taking his game to new heights, McGuire becoming a rebounding machine, or Pecherov hitting key three pointers), but I will leave it with Nick Young and his amazing play off the bench thus far.

Aside from their young guns, the Wizards have a bunch of role players who turned into major contributors this year. The Role Players consist of Roger Mason Jr., Brendan Haywood, DeShawn Stevenson, Darius Songaila, Etan Thomas, and Antonio Daniels (AD!). This group of players, in addition to the young guns, kept the Wizards afloat while they lost Arenas for the season, Butler for most of the season, and Jamison over key stretches of games. For those of you who didn’t read the paragraph above, these are by far the Wizards’ best players. This would be akin to the Celtics losing Garnett AND Allen for most of their season. No fun.

Thus far, the 2007 season highlights how the role players have moved into the team’s leadership sub-set. On any given night, one of the role players steps up and has a good game, which almost always keeps the Wizards competitive in close games. Take the entire group of role players and compare their stats from last year. Per game, almost every statistic is up – scoring, rebounding, steals, assists, blocks – you name it. (I may be wrong, but usually the NBA does not see a large group of players increase their stats across the board like this.)

This widespread improvement comes at a crucial time – despite injuries to their top players, the Wizards still have playoff hopes and may get the sixth seed which pitts them against the Magic and not Lebron at the 7th seed. This positioning is thanks to the role players and their improved play throughout the season.

Consider Brendan Haywood who used to really piss me off because he and Etan Thomas always fought. Brendan now gets serious PT thanks to an unfortunate heart problem with Etan. How has he responded to increased minutes? He’s averaging almost a double double, has close to 100 blocks, and provides fire and leadership under the glass; in other words, 100 times better than last year when he sulked on the bench. With Etan and Thomas sharing minutes last year, the Wizards never really had a presence in the paint. Now they do with Haywood since he blocks so many damn shots and talks trash. I love it.

The Seasoned Vets round out the Wizards, and they consist of the "Big Three" – Caron, Jamison, and Arenas. Antawn Jamison is a true leader who inspires his teammates and plays through injuries; he's been this way since college. Antawn, voted to his second All Star appearance this year, has been the heart and sole of this franchise while Gilbert has been getting all the press and adulation. Night after night Antawn plays hard and refuses to complain when the team is down on their luck. To date, I have not heard Antawn complain about the injuries to their team, nor have I ever seen him take a game off. Simply put, Antawn is a classy, professional guy who plays hard every single night. I also saw him driving around DC in a Rolls-Royce Phantom, blasting Master P, which was awesome.

Caron Butler is a huge badass, plain and simple. I mean, look at the tattoo of the grim reaper on his arm – who does that? For all you UConn fans out there, you know what I mean about Caron…this guy is a gamer and he always plays for keeps. The NBA recognized Caron with a second All Star appearance this year. A big part of his All Star vote was due to his improved three pointer. Caron improved his three through relentless off-season work with a shooting coach. (Incidentally, this shooting coach worked with the entire Wizards team and brough up the team's three throw percentage to top-five in the league.) The amazing part about Caron and the Wizards is that we got him for Kwame Brown, who went to the Lakers. This has to be one of the worst trades ever made, and I can promise you that the Lakers still regret this move.

Concluding Thoughts

If you had one word to describe the 2007 Wizards it would be “persistence.” Despite their bad luck, the Wiz simply refuse to give up and call it quits. Of course people will say, “every team goes through injuries.” But how many teams have their top three players injured two years in a row, yet still make the playoffs?

Some call it the Curse of Len Bias (a topic for another rainy day), but others call it the injury bug. Jamison, Caron, Arenas, Daniels, Haywood, Thomas, and Songaila have all suffered through injuries this year. Despite injury after injury, I still haven’t heard them complain or “mail in” games. Instead they continue to play hard every night and refuse to give up. If Kobe didn’t have Gasol, I promise you he would be whining about Bynum and crying himself to sleep every night.

Despite their injuries, the Wizards are good at beating Western Conference teams. They've beaten the Hornets twice, the Suns, the Clippers, the Mavs, and the Sonics. They've also beaten Boston twice, which no other team in the East has done so far (maybe in the entire NBA...stat please?).

Look for the Wizards to continue their heroic performance in the next 6 weeks. If we can continue playing .500 basketball, get Caron and Gilbert back in the lineup, and Philly starts to falter, the Wiz can lock up the 6th playoff position for an Orlando match-up.