[MJG]

<table align="center" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"> <tbody><tr><td></td><td width="20"><center>vs</center></td><td></td></tr><tr><td><center>12 - 14</center></td><td width="20">
</td><td><center>16 - 10</center></td></tr></tbody></table>

7:00 PM on CSN

Washington leads season series 1 - 0

<table align="center" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"> <tbody><tr><td></td><td><center>- Key Match: PG -

</center><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td width="34">

29.0

</td><td width="50"><center>PPG</center></td><td width="34">18.4
</td></tr><tr><td colspan="3">
</td></tr><tr><td width="34">

3.4

</td><td width="50"><center>RPG</center></td><td width="34">4.1
</td></tr><tr><td colspan="3">
</td></tr><tr><td width="34">

6.1

</td><td width="50"><center>APG</center></td><td width="34">10.3
</td></tr><tr><td colspan="3">
</td></tr><tr><td width="34">

1.6

</td><td width="50"><center>SPG</center></td><td width="34">0.8</td></tr><tr><td colspan="3">
</td></tr><tr><td width="34">

0.4

</td><td width="50"><center>BPG</center></td><td width="34">0.2
</td></tr><tr><td colspan="3">
</td></tr><tr><td width="34">

41.9

</td><td width="50"><center>MPG</center></td><td width="34">36.2</td></tr></tbody></table></td><td></td></tr></tbody> </table>

[afireinside]

If we can beat them at their home, let's hope we can beat them at our's. Wierd how we play a team a few games after we already played them (Lakers and Suns).

[MJG]

It's easy to get confident about this one, since we beat them on the road just a couple games ago. However, Phoenix is still one of the better teams in the league, and they can very easily return the favor. Under normal circumstances, I think I'd go with the Suns -- it'd be very Wizard-like to lose a home game to a team you just beat on the road -- but we've been so much improved since the lineup switch that I don't think I can call a loss until we actually lose.

[One on One]

I think we win. Arenas is on fire and the Suns aren't anything special on the road without Amare.

[adarsh1]

uhh we lost

[byrondarnell66]

Well we lose again, what else is new. 7 turnovers in the 4th quater. Arenas was completely off and he continued to shoot to the beat of an amazing 7-23 night. Thank god Butler, Jamison and even Chucky were making shots we'd probably get blown out. Why in the world was Ruffin doing in the game late when he continuously got burned on defense and was giving up and 1's. EJ continues to try to matchup to the other teams lineup (size wise) when it never works, put Haywood in the dam game in the 4th, he played 14 dam mins. Ive said it before nothing surprises with this team with the inconsistantsy of team play and coaching.

[afireinside]

If we don't fire Eddie Jordan soon then I'm not even sure we will finish over .500 this season. He obviously isn't leading the team in the direction we need to be going with the personel we have. His substitution patterns are sparratic and repeatingly fruitless. Ruffin is a great hustle player, but to have him in the game over the starting center, Haywood, is rediculous. Does Eddie Jordan not like the young players?

And about the game, it just added to the record of the Wizards when Arenas doesn't score over 20: 0-7.

[MJG]

Does anyone else ever wonder how we're one of the best teams in turnovers? It seems like every other game, we get 75% of our average TO/G in a single quarter. Either we must take care of the ball perfectly in the other three, or every other game we must have like 6 TOs the entire time.

Still, Phoenix is a good team, and we nearly swept the season series from them. It was just a week ago when this team looked like it couldn't even dream of competing for the playoffs, and now we're disapointed that we didn't sweep the Suns. It's quite the turnaround. We've got a pretty darn easy schedule coming up in the next couple weeks or so, and it's not impossiblefor us to sneak back to .500, or at least just a game under, before we head out on the road again in mid-January. That's some nice progress in such a short period of time.

(Side note: I've had a widely varying schedule the past couple weeks, which has really made my posting quite random during that time. Things should settle in the next week or two, at which time hopefully I'll be back posting as I usually do)

[byrondarnell66]

I have no problem losing to Phoenix (they are a better team and better coached) however I do have a problem when Haywood is being benched late in the 4th for Etan and especially Ruffin, it just doesn't make any sense to me.