Sideline experience, crazy optimism or both were telling Eddie Jordan not to sound the alarms. "We win tonight, that's a 6-6 February without Larry Hughes," he said prior to the game. "I think that's pretty darn good."
Eddie Jordan coaches the Wizards, who have not been to the playoffs since 1997 and have gone 9-11 overall without Hughes, their rock of a shooting guard who has missed the last six weeks with a broken thumb on his shooting hand. They did not move to 6-6 in February. They fell to 5-7, their first losing month of the season, because the Wizards could not hold a seven-point lead against a Sacramento team ready to fold at MCI Center last night.
Gilbert Arenas is doing everything he can for Washington but he needs some help.
(Nick Wass - AP)
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If the Wizards are honest with themselves, this was a bad loss -- among their most disappointing of the season.
If they think their offensive wealth and the return of Hughes and Juan Dixon from injury next month is going to carry them into the playoffs, the Wizards are deluding themselves. Seven games over .500 is no time to regret acquiring a missing piece last week at the trading deadline. Yet when many of your Eastern Conference pursuers bettered their teams, and you've just lost five of your last six, a question about the season's final two months is in order for these Wizards:
Do they want to make history or hide from it? Because if all this blather about "Best Start Since 1979" and "First All-Star Duo Since 1987" ends up a game short of the postseason, it's meaningless.
"We don't want to let this slip away, all that we accomplished," Brendan Haywood said after the 110-108 loss, sounding more worried than most of his teammates. The Wizards had alibis afterward, from Jared Jeffries missing his first start in 48 games to sickness and injury up and down the roster. Even with all the unforced turnovers that led to the Kings' comeback, Jordan did not fault their desire. They weren't listless down the stretch. "I thought we competed as well as we can compete, so I don't worry about that," he said.
But there has to be some real concern for the first time in this season's renaissance. In a blink, they've gone from the second-best record in the East behind Miami to fifth in the conference -- meaning they would not have home court for the first round. That's better than the usual Wizards' May, which includes golf and Aruba. But it's all relative now that they can play a little.
Before Sacramento, Washington had won its last six at home and lost its last six on the road. The Wizards have proved recently they are not road warriors. Ten of their 15 games in March are on the road. They lost to a Kings team missing its best player, Peja Stojakovic. They lost to a team still trying to fit in role players after moving the best player in modern franchise history, Chris Webber, last week.
After all their early-season success, it's easy to forget that some of the Wizards' more impressive wins at home have come against teams missing an all-star or their best player. Allen Iverson was hurt for Philadelphia the last time the 76ers were at MCI Center. No Tim Duncan for San Antonio, no Sam Cassell for Minnesota and no Steve Nash for Phoenix.
If they're finding out how valuable Hughes is, they're also finding out that Dixon, off the bench, is indispensable. Dixon, one of the best sixth men in the league, will be out another week or so with a right ankle sprain, and that's bad news. Before the Kings, the Wizards' bench had been outscored in four of the last five games, sometimes embarrassingly.
In a listless loss to New Orleans before the all-star break, the Hornets' reserves outscored the Wizards' bench, 39-12. On Friday night in Chicago, the Bulls' bench outscored Washington 42-8.
Jeffries sat out with a bruised knee against the Kings. When he comes back, he's got to put back more misses. His last 10 games he's only shooting 32 percent and scoring 4.6 points per game. The Wizards are 11-1 when he scores 10 or more. His last double-figure game was almost two weeks ago. Michael Ruffin and Etan Thomas, not to mention Haywood, have given up some crucial offensive rebounds. Kwame Brown started for the first time since April 7 of last year, and he was active, finishing with 10 points and 10 rebounds. You'd like to see him get the ball more down low, see how healthy and aggressive he is.
Nothing is more riveting than seeing Gilbert Arenas bail them out, wending that compact frame into the lane until he somehow gets the ball on the rim. In a mano-a-mano duel of Arizona gunslingers, Arenas and Sacramento's Mike Bibby combined for 81 points last night. It was great theater, impossible not to watch.
But the Wizards cannot win with Arenas's jack-knifing in the lane for 43 points and Antawn Jamison floating on the perimeter, trying to create some space for a high-arching 24-footer that catches the back of the iron. Jamison has to get to the basket more, use his up-and-under move in the post, get to the line, anything. When he makes a few jumpers early, he falls in love with his outside shot, and the offense suffers.
"If I have to score every time, it's hard to play like that," Arenas said. He was asked if he needs to involve more of his teammates. "The first four minutes of every quarter, I try to get everybody involved. And then if we're down by 10, I'm going."
Somehow, that doesn't seem like a Princeton offense option. But can you blame Arenas? No one else is filling it up. Hughes is going to be weary of going full bore with his thumb, Dixon's ankle will be tender for a while. Steve Blake's line -- 17 points, five assists in 34 minutes -- was encouraging against the Kings, but overall the bench is so thin now.
Maybe the Wizards are finding their level -- maybe meek defensive teams are exposed when the games matter most. If the losing continues, "The Curse" will be invoked, which will be fun and silly. There is no such thing, of course.
But there are potential playoff teams that give themselves enough alibis to pack it in. It's going to be interesting to see if these Wizards care enough not to in the next two months.
