It was a great effort last night but I don't think the team can play on that "high alert" level for too long. The Texas trip next week has trouble written all over it. Following Golden State at home on Friday night, we've got Memphis, Dallas, San Antonio, and Philadelphia on the road. I think is will say good things about the team if they can win the first and last games of the trip.

Hypothetical question of the day: The Knicks buy out Stephon Marbury's contract (like they did Jalen Rose), would you sign him for the veteran's minimum to fill in until Gil comes back?

I say no but still think its kind of intriguing.

It'll be interesting to see what the team does about the tax situation. Gil's injury hurts the team's ball-handling perhaps worse than any other area. Watching Roger Mason try to deal with Charlotte's press last night was downright painful. Daniels is our ONLY reliable ball-handler. It's sad. Butler is probably #2.

But god help us all if we get Marbury. He's a team-killing cancer, pure and simple, and nothing more. Seriously, I don't think he could win in the NBDL. Fortunately, Ernie's too smart for that. We'll see if he's smart enough to come up with a way to deal with the loss of Gil.

I was extremely impressed with Blatche last night. He wasn't on fire like the night before, but he rebounded very well and blocked shots like crazy. Don't try to bring any weak shit in on Dray. Had some assists and some steals too. Just an all-around game-changing stat-stuffer. It's funny, because he's an entirely different player than Gil, but Blatche may be the guy most essential to the Wizards' survival without Arenas. And if he establishes himself as a force in Gil's absence, look out when our best scorer comes back.

Given Blatche's emergence, he really does need a nickname, and as has been discussed, Bulletproof is more of a painful reminder of an unfortunate incident. Allow me to re-submit "The Tarantula" -- a deadly predator with long limbs who strikes fear in opponents. Plus, when he starts rejecting dudes, it must seem like he's got 8 arms.

But how much would JCN help with Arenas out for 3 months... the thought crossed my mind when Gil missed the game against Philly and when the news came out yesterday, I had just finished reading JCNs name on a list of impressive rookies (which included NY)

Just say no to Marbury. We are good enough to hover close to .500 without Gil.

See, thats the type of response I was fishing for. You're right, seeing Stephenson and Mason against the press was painful. I think we need to pick up someone who can handle the ball to back up AD . Probably the rest of the guys can cover most of the scoring loss, but like you said, AD is the only guy who's a good ball handler.
Whats really impressing me is about Blatche is his willingness to take the easy, efficient shot inside instead of something splashier. Several times in the last couple of games, he's grabbed a loose ball or rebound and simply flipped it in the basket using a very quick release (ala Jamison). His game just seems to have a high maturity level for someone so young.
In addition to a backup point guard, I'd love to have Calvin Booth back as 12th man (no kidding). Brendan's ankle injury scares me and there are going to be games where both Blatche and Haywood have foul trouble.