Greatest win in the history of Bullets Forever

by Jake Whitacre on Jan 15, 2008 4:08 PM EST in Recaps

Box Score.
Game Flow.
Post Recap.
Times Recap.
Live Blog.
Wizards Insider
DC Pro Sports Report Game Notes from SLAM, the best quote from it being "Caron Butler STRONGER THAN THE IRON HE USED TO MAKE THIS LAYUP."
Facts on the Wizards' win streak.
The District is better than the best.

Highest Plus/Minus: DeShawn Stevenson (+19)
Lowest Plus/Minus: Andray Blatche (-10)

(Michael Dwyer -- Associated Press)

To be completely honest, I have no idea how the Wizards won that game. When the Wizards went down by 14, I thought "Alright, they gave it a good effort but the Celtics are finally going to put this game away." From that point on, I really can't tell you what it was that the Wizards did differently to go on that run other than it being big time players hitting big time shots and playing lockdown defense. I know it's a very cliché way of putting it, but I really don't know how else to put it. Since I can't really find a way to adequately describe what happened, I'll let other people give it a shot:

A Big Lead reader regarding Caron Butler:

"OK. I take it all back. Even if he was an All-Star last year, he has to be the Most Improved. He was wild tonight, and it wasn't even close to being his best game statistically."

Michael Lee:

I can honestly say that I didn't expect that one. Like the fans at TD Banknorth Garden, I was silent in the closing seconds on Monday night. My mouth was wide open, my bottom lip was about ready to hit the keyboard, when I realized the Wizards were really going to steal a win in a place that left them with so many humiliating memories last November. They were going to win a game they had no business being in.

Ivan Carter:

If the first time was improbable, the second time was incredible.

Everyone who commented was great, but I'm going to stick with this one from sierradave:

I've only been following the team since the Jordan/Kwame era, but I honestly cannot think of a win this big from this squad. DeShawn called them out in the last game. The best team in the league, with rest, at home, with a chip on their shoulder. And with a 14-point lead halfway through the 4th. Really, when was the last time the team had a win this big?

Antawn Jamison: Watch him crank it, watch him roll.
(Photo by Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE via Getty Images)

While I still can't explain what happened last night, I do have some general observations:

I actually had to watch this game on Boston affiliate (long story) but it was funny when they were talking about Caron Butler because neither of the announcers thought Tough (or is it Tuff? Was this ever decided on?) Juice wasn't a good nickname. Then he ended up winning the Ford Tough Player of the Game. I kid you not.
With the team at 3-0 since his arrival, Oleksiy Pecherov is officially the Human Victory Cigar, and cuppetcj's newest family member (Congrats!) is the lighter.
Caron Butler has hit 40 straight free throws.
Not to hark too much on Caron, but right after the game I stumbled across a new Caron Butler highlight reel:
In the three matchups so far, the Wizards have hit 9 of 59 from downtown against Boston, that's a meager 15% from deep. Scarier yet, before last night, the Wiz were 2 of 38 (5.3%) from three point land.
The Celtics are 5-4 against Southeast division teams, 25-2 against everyone else.
Finally, because it was requested to be put back up:
(Photo by Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE via Getty Images)