I just feel ill and I know it is just a basketball game and there are more important things to worry about in life but I want to puke right now.

The wiz need to win 4 of the next 5 games to advance and the thought of this happening will make me lose sleep this evening.

Ignoring the Wizards ignorant Reggie Miller, this team’s success is not just about Gil or Deshawn but riding Caron/Antwan and the other players filing their roles.

The Cavs could not miss tonite and the Wizards have to play through the obvious foul advantage the Cavs have with their mega super star.

Gil coming back was always the icing on the cake but never the cake. Butler needs to start playing like an All star or this team is going nowhere, fast. It would help if he could get call when he drives to the hoop but still, he needs to step it up.

The D continues to give up open looks to these mediocre players and they drilled them.

I would have loved to see Eddie empty the bench earlier in the 3rd but would it have mattered?

I can not write anymore. Time to go gag myself. Ovie saved a gloomy evening in the nation’s capitol.

May I quote Michael Jordan, a former Wizard, from the press conference after the Bulls lost in Indiana in 1998, then cautiously apply it here?

Looking despondant, MJ starts talking about how, no matter what happened tonight, the series still had to go through Chicago. “Indiana, Utah, doesn’t matter. They still gotta come through Chicago.”

I echo his words: They still gotta come through Washington. If the Wizards win the next two, it’s a totally different series. From BDL, BEFORE tonight’s game:

Even if the Wizards lose tonight, I don’t think the team’s playoff run is any worse off.
It would be nice to take a game in Cleveland, and while winning both games in Washington isn’t a lock for the Wiz, the team’s best chance at grabbing home court advantage would in a Game 5 that would take place nine days from now.

Let’s be cautiously optimistic, again.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/21/AR2008042103409.html

I didn’t watch this game, I saw this one coming from a mile away and I tried to save myself some of the heartache. I still feel terrible, but not as bad had I actually watched. So please correct me if I make any incorrect assumptions. I’m basing my analysis on how the Wizards played in Game 1 and on TruthAboutIt’s live blogging.

Who are the Wizards? What style of play do they emblemize? Are they a slow, methodical, half-court team that plays physical and fouls hard, or are they a running, gunning, finesse-style of team that sets teams on fire and dares them to match on the other end? It seems to me that Eddie is trying to tell these guys to play like they are the Detroit Pistons, but the Wizards ARE NOT THE DETROIT PISTONS! They can’t beat the Cavaliers by playing this way. All of this hard fouling is making the refs pay accute attention to every touch foul the Wizards commit, while basically ignoring play when things get physical on the Wizards.

The Wizards at their best rely on finesse play and getting to the line, but they’re sending mixed signals to the refs when they act like thugs for two games. The Wizards need to play their game and then make their case to the refs if the refs unfairly try and take the game from them. Consider what Mike Brown did and take notes, he’s very wise. After the Wizards roughed up LeBron in Game 1, Mike Brown sent a message to the referees.

After the Cavaliers won 93-86, Brown talked about the “pounding” that James had to take.

He emphasized the word “pounding” by slamming his fist and shaking the table. Brown banged on the table so much, you thought he was going to go all Nikita Khrushchev at the United Nations and start slamming his shoe next.

Brown didn’t let up on Sunday afternoon as he continued to challenge the officials to look more closely at James’s drives to the basket – and the call the fouls (Of course, Brown probably doesn’t want the officials to watch James’s feet on those same drives, but oh well). He said referees too often ignore it when James gets slapped because he’s just too big.

The Wizards foul James hard in Game 1, Mike Brown plays the role of politician, and then the refs resond in Game 2. Had the Wizards been the victims of the thuggery by simply playing their game, and then made their case to the refs and the league (with videotape evidence on their side), perhaps the refs might have called the game more fairly. Instead, the Wizards played like thugs (which they haven’t done all season and aren’t good at), and the Cavs now have the 2-0 lead, the league, the refs, and most everyone else on their side. No one is going to believe that the game was called unfairly on the Wizards other than us BFers, not when all anybody sees is replays of Brendan taking down LeBron. This is not who the Wizards are.

Let LeBron get his points, but make him look like the bully. Try and take the charge, even if the refs don’t call it right away. Look at the last regular season mathchup with the Cavs. LeBron got away with some bulldozing in the first half, but after awhile the refs took notice and started calling it the other way. That’s what the Wizards need to do to get the series back.

Most importantly, the Wizards need to play with the game that brought them to the dance. They need to stop trying to reinvent themselves!