ONE IN AN OCCASIONAL SERIES OF BASKET-BLOGGING….I can’t let Jason Zengerle and Matt Yglesias dominate the field of political-journalists-who-blog-about-basketball. And I certainly can’t let our hometown Wizards’ current streak of tough losses in close games go without comment. Especially when they just lost to a team that boasts Steve Blake–Steve Blake!–as its starting point guard.
Juan Dixon did put on an shooting clinic, providing another reminder of the role he used to play for the Wizards. Of course, we gave him up (along with Blake) for Antonio Daniels, who has done such a bang-up job that he’s now been replaced as starting point guard by Chucky Atkins.
But the Wizards’ woes really come down to two other factors. The first is that we don’t have anyone who can spell Antawn Jamison at power forward and it’s starting to wear on him. Earlier in the season, he was the team’s most consistent player, but it’s a pace he can’t keep up. The other problem is that Caron Butler is still coming off the bench and playing the minutes to match. Even so, he’s the team’s third highest scorer. Give him more minutes and Butler just might take some pressure off Jamison while drawing some coverage off Arenas.
Now if I could just come up with a plan to fix the economy and Iraq, we’d really be in business.
