afireinside

<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>16 - 12</center></td><td width="20">
</td><td><center>17 - 13<center></td></tr></tbody></table> <table align="center" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"> <tbody><tr><td></td><td><center>- Key Match: C -

</center><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td width="34"> </td><td width="50"><center>PPG</center></td><td width="34">16.8
</td></tr><tr><td colspan="3">
</td></tr><tr><td width="34"> </td><td width="50"><center>RPG</center></td><td width="34">12.6
</td></tr><tr><td colspan="3">
</td></tr><tr><td width="34"> </td><td width="50"><center>APG</center></td><td width="34">1.6
</td></tr><tr><td colspan="3">
</td></tr><tr><td width="34"> </td><td width="50"><center>SPG</center></td><td width="34">.8</td></tr><tr><td colspan="3">
</td></tr><tr><td width="34"> </td><td width="50"><center>BPG</center></td><td width="34">2.0
</td></tr><tr><td colspan="3">
</td></tr><tr><td width="34"> </td><td width="50"><center>MPG</center></td><td width="34">36.0</td></tr></tbody></table></td><td></td></tr></tbody> </table>

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afireinside

We are leading the Southeast division over Orlando by .005 percentage points. That's extremely close. If we pull out a win tonite then we should have a firm grasp on the division til the end of the year.

Go Wiz!

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byrondarnell66

Guess its Turkoglus's turn to light us up tonight, 5-6 4-4 3' already in he 1st quarter.

byrondarnell66

Wow we almost chocked at the end missing freethrows, Butler misses 2 and Jamison 3. Very lucky to win this game.

One on One

First place feels good! We did almost choke, but I feel so much more confident in this team. We've got a bravado like we expect to win. We pull games out despite missing free throws and that end of 3rd collapse. I expect this team to win. Now we need to keep playing like this.

byrondarnell66

Yeah this team is playing great ball, even decent tonight considering the to's, the foul shooting and the lack of defense, Turkoglu lit us up in the first half and Dooling did in the Second. I don't know how long we can keep this up with a depleted bench. Now it looks like Haywood is hurting after rolling his ankle, our bigs are depleted right now.

afireinside

Here's to Calvin Booth starting!



Dwight Howard is a BEAST. In 2-3 years he will be the best center in the league. Better than Yao. Why do I say this? Because Yao gets pushed around by stronger centers all the time. Dwight IS the strong center. And coupled with that, he's got nice low post moves for being so young. If he could cut down on his offensive fouls (tries to hard to back down players) then he will be dangerous everywhere he is on the court.

Gil is no longer human. He makes shots that make MJ cry. If the Wiz learn to play a little more defense then I say NBA Finals--why not?

What a great win though. We haven't had sole possesion of first place in our division since the 1878-79 season. Now THAT's something to be proud of.

Celebrate Wizards fans!

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f22egl

I have a feeling if Haywood is injured, Antawn Jamison will start at center with Jarvis Hayes at the 4.

Seriously though, Blatche could get some minutes at center along with Booth and Lang, if Haywood is injured.

afireinside

Blatche at center? Not likely. He's too small to guard any centers. The only time he's in ia at PF when the other team has a small line-up out(and we're up by a good amount). Blatche is a SF that plays like a SG. I don't think he's getting minutes because he's probably not showing improvement and dedication in practice. Plus Eddie Jordan only plays two players off the bench every night: Daniels and Hayes. We are probably the only team in the league that has a 7 player rotation.

I'd like to see Booth play more. He's big enough to play center(6'11) and he can bring out defenders because he can shoot the midrange jumper occasionally. He's only getting about 5-6 minutes now, but I see his minutes going up to 17-20 if Haywood is indeed out.

I have no insight on Lang. He supposedly played well in the summer to get a spot on the team, but hasn't been seen at all during games unless we are killing a team by at least 25 in the 4th quarter.

If Haywood is out for at least 2 weeks then I suggest we sign a center that plays aggresive defense and has a decent post game. A short contract, such as a 10-day.

We really have no other options at center. I guess we might have to roll small for a couple of weeks until our three supposed center get healthy.

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One on One

Has anyone heard anything about Haywood? I mean he did return to the game so I assumed he was fine and wouldn't miss any action.

byrondarnell66

Haywood returned but he wasn't moving all that well (he looked hurt) and EJ went with Blatche and Booth after that, accually Blatche didn't do all that bad he had a 3 point play (though he traveled), forced Howard into a couple tough shots but also Howard jackhammered one over him too. Question is who will EJ play Blatche, Lang or Booth. Maybe its time to look into someone for 10 day contracts.