Like Prada said, it's been a great season.   It might not have the best ending, but I still don't think this team has anything to be ashamed of.  Before we start delving into all the off-season stuff, let's give some thanks for the season that was.

Thanks to Ernie Grunfeld for putting together a team that's been able make the playoffs for 4 straight years, something that hasn't happened in the district in 20 years.

Thanks to Eddie Jordan for never giving up.  There were several points in the season where you could've thrown up the white flag and gone into tank mode when different players went down, but you never gave up on this team.

Thanks to Antawn Jamison for being the epitome of consistency and professionalism all season long.  Your 20-10 season won't soon be forgotten.

Thanks to Caron Butler for the big shots, the posters, and everything in-between.

Thanks to Brendan Haywood for finally putting an end to the instability at center this year with career highs all across the board.

Thanks to Antonio Daniels for holding down the fort at point guard while Gilbert was injured most of the season.  Your on-court leadership was a big part of why the Wizards were as successful as they were this season.

Thanks to DeShawn Stevenson for being the Wizards' Iron Man.

Thanks to Roger Mason Jr. for being such a pleasant surprise this season.  You showed this season that you don't have to be a brick layer to have an appreciation for architecture.

Thanks to Darius Songaila for providing some much needed front court consistency off the bench.  Best of luck competing with Lithuania in Beijing this summer.  Hopefully everyone there appreciates your Borat impressions.

Thanks to Andray Blatche for his continued improvement.  You'll only get better as you get more experience under your belt.

Thanks to Gilbert Arenas for trying his best to get back on the court and help the team.  it didn't work out the way we all would've liked, but the intent was clearly there.  Let's hope this off-season finally gets you back to form we all know and love.

Thanks to Nick Young for the dunks.  Here's to many more highlights and dunk contest invite next season.

Thanks to Oleksiy Pecherov for all the humor this season.  Don't get me wrong, your play was solid this year, but the comparisons to Stewie will never stop being awesome.

Thanks to Etan Thomas for showing what true strength is all about.

Thanks to Ivan Carter and Mike Jones (who!) for all the great reporting on the beat this season.  Great work as always.

Thanks to all the great Wizards and non-Wizards blogs for their .

Thanks to WaitingForNextYear and And One for coming over and sparking some good discussion and providing analysis from the other side during the playoff series.  You're welcome here anytime.

Thanks to everyone that's come here and left comments and FanPosts and everything else this season.  Win or lose, you're what makes this fun.

Finally, thanks to Dominic McGuire.  You're what makes the future (and the present) bright.

So here we go, the final regular season game of the 2007-2008 season.

via farm2.static.flickr.com

Quarter One

I'm a little surprised that Dominic McGuire is getting the start instead of Andray Blatche. But when you think about it, the move makes sense. Andray needs to stay used to coming off the bench and providing a 2nd unit spark. Songaila, Stevenson, Daniels and Haywood join The Cleaner on the floor for the opening tip.

11:24: DeShawn looks slightly ginger from the get-go and turns the ball overs on the frist Wizards possession. He should play no more than 10 minutes.

10:07: D-Mac loses a baseline Turkoglu, 4-0 Magic. I guess awareness will only come with experience.

8:47: Haywood doesn't do the best job of blocking Dwight Howard out as Super Buddy Jesus gets an offensive rebound and bucket while four Wizards watch. Nothing doing on offense for the Wiz kids so far, Eddie Jordan elects to call a timeout. 6-2 Magic. O-Pech and The City come in for Stevenson and Songaila.

7:17: The four Wizards points so far have come off two Brendan Haywood mid-range jumpers.....you think Howard is going to guard him out there in the last regular season game? 8-4 Magic.

6:36: Blatche and Mason come in for Haywood and Daniels.

5:52: Andray is too passive going for a board.....you gotta get aggressive kid! Luckily, the ball winds up in Mason's hands for a jumper. 8-8 tie game.

All Blatche wants to do is get "look what I found" offensive rebounds and pass the ball out. It's not like the young Wizards are playing particularly bad, it just seems like they are concentrating on running the offense too much. Nothing is coming natural and there is no aggressive presence on the court...maybe some gunners though (Pech and Young).

2:33: That jump shot Blatche just hit looked pretty confident. 17-12 Magic.

Would one of those "Soul Glo" jerry-curls look better on Nick Young? Seems like the style would fit him well. In fact, I imagine him to be just like Darryl Jenks.

0:08: This time AB gets the o-board and attacks the basket (misses the shot, but gets fouled). Hopefully, Eddie put the idea of mental toughness in his head.

The first ends and the Magic have the 24-19 lead.

No surprise that Rashard Lewis dropped 12 in the 1st, considering who was guarding him. And my 'huh?' moment comes when I see that McGuire is 0-3 from beyond the arc. As I've said before, Dom needs to make Dave Hopla his best friend this summer. Andray leads the Wiz with 7 points, but his 4 offensive boards are deceiving since the ball found him a couple times.

Quarter Two

Givin' up the trey ball on the season....yea, the Wizards set a franchise record with 571 makes, but they gave up about a hundo more than that to opponents.

9:07: D-Song gives up a dunk to Hedo coming off the ball screen. He turns and says something to his defensive comrade, Nick Young (whose man set the screen). Now, I'm betting that, even though Songaila went to high school and college in the U.S., Nick Young nether understands nor cares about what Darius just said to him. 30-25 Magic.

Eddie Jordan: "Good players make good coaches and bad players get you fired."

7:45: Nick Young is starting to find his spot in the offense. He hit a nice jumper from the corner earlier, then makes a strong driving layup, and then, as I'm typing, gets a transition dunk as the Magic lose track of him and open up the lane (D-Song also had a helluva block out to clear space for Nick). He has the last 6 Wizards points. 32-29 Magic.

6:46: Aww...how cute. Turkoglu burns Nick Young with a pump fake and bucket....they both smile coming up the court. Nick proceeds to miss a "get-back" jumper.

5:09: JJ Redick checks in and Steve Buck points out that Amway is just about the only NBA arena in the country where he doesn't get booed. Not sure what they do in Toronto.

About 40 seconds left in the 2nd and the teams have been stuck on 44-37 Magic since the three minute mark.

0:29: Execution gets Blatche an open baseline jumper.

0:03: Antonio Daniels goes behind the back, spins in traffic and gets the rock to a cutting Blatche for a layup. And that rounds out the 1st half. It's a little hard to feel any type of emotion for this game...but I'm glad the Wizards aren't getting blown out. 47-41 Orlando Magic.

Half Stats: After I initially got on him for lack of aggression, Andray looks good with 13 points, 7 boards and 2 assists. The Wiz are shooting better than Orlando, 46.5% to 43.9% and have a +2 in both the assist and rebound categories, but they are 0-7 from three point land and have only gotten to the FT line twice.

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