Box Score
Game Flow
Post Recap
Times Recap
Third Quarter Collapse Recap

Highest plus/minus: Roger Mason (+10)
Lowest plus/minus: Antawn Jamison (-20)

For the first time since 1992, the Wizards have started off the season 0-3.  In 1992, the big movie was A Few Good Men so for the recap, let's use some quotes from the movie.

"You don't need a patch on your arm to have honor."

A favorite past time of Wizards fans has been ragging on Brendan Haywood for his inconsistent play over the years.  But if we're going to criticize him when he doesn't live up to expectations, we have to give him due recognition when he exceeds them.  Admit it, if anyone had told you that Haywood would go for 10 points, 16 rebounds, and 5 blocks against Dwight Howard, you would've laughed.  Here's what Ben Q. Rock of Third Quarter Collapse had to say about Haywood tonight:

"I know you don't have a good excuse, so I won't force you to come up with a bad one."

Do you realize the Wizards had a stretch where they missed 22 three pointers?  The last two against Indiana, all sixteen against Boston, and the first four against Orlando.  Once Roger Mason finally broke the streak near the end of the first quarter, the Wizards got hot for a moment as they hit their next 3 from beyond the arc.  After that, more of the same as the Wizards only hit 2 of their final 15 shots from beyond the arc.

"I run my unit how I run my unit. You want to investigate me, roll the dice and take your chances. I eat breakfast 300 yards from 4000 Cubans who are trained to kill me, so don't think for one second that you can come down here, flash a badge, and make me nervous."

It's been said a lot in the last few days that an offensive-minded team that can't make shots doesn't stand a chance of winning.  In the same way, an offensive-minded coach that can't get his  team to score doesn't stand much of a chance of keeping his job.  Now don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that it's time to fire Eddie Jordan.  Every team has a bad stretch, and the Wizards now get 4 days off to get things straightened out.  Jordan will need to use all of that time to get the offense clicking before they have another stretch of 3 games in 4 days against the Nets, Nuggets, and Hawks.

The truth is that the Wizards are not a contender right now.  They're facing that truth right now. The question is, can they handle it?

I'm changing the name of this blog to Fourth Quarter Collapse, as some sort of homage to Ben.

I like the whole "air out your sky is falling comments" thing that we did yesterday.  Here's the place to do it again.

Do keep it civil, though, please.  No cursing at anyone, player or fellow BF FQC member.

The essentials:
Magic (1-1) at Wizards (0-2)
7 p.m.
Verizon Center
Comcast Sports Net

Last year:
November 6: Magic 106, Wizards 103.
December 29: Wizards 112, Magic 111.
January 19: Wizards 114, Magic 93.
April 17: Magic 95, Wizards 89.

Notable Magic numbers (all are 2006/07):
12th in expected winning percentage (.514).
25th in pace factor (88.5 possessions per game).
22nd in offensive efficiency/offensive rating (106.3).
7th in defensive efficiency/defensive rating (105.9).

Key links
Third Quarter Collapse.
Believing in Magic
Third Quarter Collapse blog preview.
Believing in Magic blog preview.
20 Second Timeout trashes Gilbert Arenas, probably unnecessarily
Competition discussion: Orlando

Starting lineups:
Magic
PG: Jameer Nelson.
SG: Keith Bogans.
SF: Hedo Turkoglu.
PF: Rashard Lewis.
C: Dwight Howard.

Wizards
PG: Gilbert Arenas.
SG: DeShawn Stevenson.
SF: Caron Butler.
PF: Antawn Jamison.
C: Brendan Haywood.

Tonight's lines:
Magic at Wizards: Wizards by 2.5.
Over/Under on Big 3 scoring: 64.5 points.

I'm hoping the magic elixir of homecourt advantage will made a major difference tonight, as it did at the beginning of last season when this team got off to a slow start.  Orlando is the opponent, and it's a big game, because the Magic are one of the team's chief division rivals this season.

Orlando is coming off a 112-96 loss to Detroit last night, two nights after blowing out the Bucks 102-83 in their season opener at home.  Rashard Lewis, their prizes offseason signing, had one good game and one bad game, while Keith Bogans, the apparent starting shooting guard, was actually very good yesterday.

The important thing with Orlando is that you have to drive to the basket against them.  They were 29th in the league in most free throws surrendered per shot attempt, and had they not committed so many fouls, their already strong defense would have been even better.  Jacking up 20-footers obviously won't fly against anyone, but it's especially bad against Orlando.

If there's a game for Jamison and Butler to break out, it's tonight, when they go up against Lewis and Turkoglu defensively.  I'm expecting something good from Gilbert too, because Jameer Nelson is too small to guard him.

On the other end, it'll be interesting to see how the Wiz match up with Lewis.  It seems like the perfect game for Andray Blatche to play, but then again, so did yesterday.  I'm confident Haywood can do well against Dwight Howard defensively, but when he's out, we're in trouble.  Haywood also has to keep Howard off the glass, which he did do well against Garnett yesterday.

Alright, enough talk.  This is an open game thread, so when Otis Smith signs a custodian to a 5 year, 100 million dollar contract, react here.

GO WIZARDS!