The Wizards Still Have A Pulse

There’s a growing suspicion that the Washington Wizards are actually a better team without three-time All Star Gilbert Arenas, and after watching the Wizards extend their season with a gritty 88-87 victory on the road in Game 5 without him, you would be hard pressed to disagree with that assessment. Prior to tip-off, it was announced that Arenas would be held out for the rest of the season as his knee continued to give him problems that made it impossible for him to play the way he wants. His game was visibly limited, and the frustration that the injury brought him was too much to overcome. For most teams, losing a star player of Agent Zero’s caliber moments before an elimination game would be impossible to overcome. Not for Washington, who provided another wild ride to what’s been a roller coaster season.

Without Arenas, Caron Butler had his first stand out game of the series, leading Washington with 32 points, 9 rebounds, 5 assists and the game winning layup that sent this series back to the nation’s capital for Friday night’s Game 6. LeBron James had his chance to respond with the potential series-ender, but was just short on his runner in the lane just before time expired. The Wizards managed to overcome a sub-par game from their leading scorer Antawn Jamison (8 points, 3-10 shooting) and 24 second half points James by finally keeping their composure down the stretch. Previously in the series, crunch time in the fourth quarter has been dominated by Cleveland’s hearty play. For the first time in Game 5, it was the Wizards that rebounded, hit free throws and played tough defense in the final moments. Staring at a five-point deficit with under two minutes left, the Wizards kept the Cavs scoreless the rest of the way to steal an improbable victory. Washington had lost its previous eight games at Quicken Loans Arena, but managed to stave off elimination at a place that had previously been a house of horrors by playing the kind of ball that made them so successful during the regular season.

During Arenas’ 66-game absence, coach Eddie Jordan and his team developed a new identity that relied much more on the basic Princeton Offense that the Wizards run. Instead of the shoot-first mentality of Arenas where he could just unload jumpers freely at his own discretion, Washington used the regular season to develop some of their lesser-known players. After a shaky 0-5 start that brought unrelenting pressure on this group, the Wizards rebounded by playing team ball to rally and make the playoffs for the fourth consecutive year. Eddie Jordan did the best coaching job of his career in preaching defense to his club, and watched as guys like Brendan Haywood, Roger Mason, and even idiot DeShawn Stevenson produced some of the best stretches of their careers. Previously with Arenas, these guys were stuck standing and watching as the offense revolved around their star point guard. Now, with a system that actually uses constant ball movement and backdoor cuts, these three and others have emerged as key role players.

Bringing Arenas back at such a crucial juncture in the season disrupted the rhythm that had been created and put the key role players back in the position of standing and watching. Arenas looked great in Game 1, but tired in the final minutes when the team needed him most. He wasn’t very impressive in Games 2, 3, or 4 and he made the correct decision to shut it down. No one benefitted from it more than his teammates, most specifically Caron Butler, who played with a purpose for the first time in the postseason.

Washington still has a tough road ahead, with potentially two elimination games in front of them. They still have to deal with a hungry LeBron, who they have motivated and re-motivated with their constant jabbering. In Game 5, Darius Songaila was the latest to take a shot at LeBron, knocking him on the chin after another hard foul in the second quarter. The Wizards have tried every trick in the book to try and rattle James and have failed each time; all it took for them to be successful was to shut up and play ball, which they did at a high level after Songaila’s technical foul. Now that the whole Arenas Dilemma has finally been laid to rest, Washington can look ahead and play with the team that got them to this position.