It is hard to belive but it is that time of the year, MARCH MADNESS. What a great time for the basketball fan, all the games and tournaments. Then after all of that there will be the selections . After the selections are finalized and the 65 teams are announced, the arguments begin. Who should be in the tournament and who should not be in the tournament. There are always good arguments on both sides. All of this before the tourney begins. San Antonio is a great city to host the event. The weather is super and the Riverwalk will be full of life. The coaches can get outside after being in the gym all season. I will miss my annual trip to the Final Four. I also miss all of the coaches and friends that Ihave made over the years.

     The Wizards have had a tough stretch since I have last written. Orlando came into our building and gave us a good beating. They played with more energy than us. Dwight Howard is becoming more and more like Superman all of the time. He just keeps on getting better and better each year. It is scary. The rest of the league will need Kryptonite to stop him. Then we  went north of the border and beat Toronto in OT. It was a huge win for us. It is always nice to go up to Toronto and see everyone in the organization. They all treated me like family. On this trip I got to see Doreen, she is the secretary and was so helpful to me last season. Thank you Doreen for everything. It is good to see TJ back playing after his injury. I wish him and his family the best. TJ is a great kid who is also very funny, but more importantly he is a generous and thoughtful person. After the OT win we headed to the airport and had to go through customs before boarding the plane and then we had to de-ice as it was snowing hard. I arrived home at my place a little before 3:oo am. After getting back from Toronto we played Charlotte at home. Charlotte came out on fire and scored 35 in the first quarter. That is too many points to give up in any quarter and we never could recover. The guys put up a heck of  a fight but we fell short. Back to backs are tough on us because our roster is so thin. The starters are playing alot of minutes and the rookies are getting their share too. A day off will do everyone a world of good.

    The word is that Caron will return to practice this week. Having him back will be great, now we can rest Wes. Wes has been logging heavy minutes in practice. Another body in practice is going to help out everyone and adding Caron back in the mix will make practices more competitive. We need him for our last twenty games. No word on Gil’s return or Etan’s. It is hard to belive that there are only 20 more games left in this season. The older you get the faster time goes by.

    Milwaukee comes into town for tomorrow’s game and my good friend Jim Todd (a.k.a. JT). I have known him for years and he is a great guy. I miss him as we have shared alot of good times in the past with this great game of basketball. We have had alot of laughs both on and off the court. JT is back in Milwaukee for his third stint. That says something about him.

    My daughter has gone up to Maine with our nanny Jessica until Friday. McKenna is spending time with her grandparents. My wife and I miss her so much. On Friday McKenna and Jessica will come home along with McKenna’s grandmother and aunt Kathy. It is awfully quite around here without McKenna.

    Thanks for reading and keep rooting for the Wizards. Until the next blog.

 Coach Hopla

  We have won our last four out of five. It started with a home win against Charlotte. Then we headed on the road to play New Orleans. We got a great game from DeShawn who hit for 33 points including the game winner with no time remaining. A great win versus a tough team.

   Next up for us was Houston. It was our fourth game in five nights  in four different cities. Houston is the hottest team in the league right now, having won 13 games in a row. The day before we play them they announce that Yao will be out for the season with a stree fracture. It seems like everyone is getting hit with the injury bug. Houston pummeled us, we did not have any energy nor could we get anything going on offensive. Dikembe looked like he was twenty years old again. The only positive thing that happened in Houston was that I got to see my good friend Dennis Skeadas. It is always great to see friends while being on the road, too bad you only get to see them for a short time.

    We left for Chicago the following morning. Had the day off. Thursday we practiced at Tim Grover’s place (ATTACK ATHLETICS) it is a state of the art basketball facility. All of the players and coaches loved it there. I got to see my man Mike Procopio who has been working with Tim for a few years now. Mike used to work my College Camps and I miss working with him. Friday we played Chicago and were down 18 at the half. Coach Jordan gave some half time talk and we came away with a victory. Opened up the third quarter with a 22 to 1 run. The guys never gave up when it would’ve been easy to quit and pack it in.

    We returned to DC late Friday night. Had Saturday off which was much deserved and needed. All of the guys are tired and banged up. The rest will do us a world of good. It will be great to see Carole and McKenna after being gone since last Sunday. I really cherish the time that I get to spend with them.

    We have a 6:00pm game on Sunday versus New Orleans again. Everyone is saying that they will be looking for revenge and it will be payback time. Coach Hubbard says that we will beat them again. It turns out that HUB is a prophet as we beat the Hornets again. They were 39-19 coming into the game. We closed the game out with a 19-0 run. Very impressive.

    Our defense has been getting better, but the past couple of games it has been fantastic. Randy Ayers has done an incredible job thorughout the year getting the guys to play defense. If we continue to defend and share the ball we will be alright. Hopefully Caron and Gilbert will be back to close out the regular season and then the Wizards can do some damage in the playoffs.

     Let’s take time to be thankful for all that we have and to count our blessings each and every day.

  First game back after All Star Game we were flat with no energy and suffered a loss to the New York Knicks. It is in games like this that you wonder what would have happened if Caron was healthy or if we had Gil back or Etan. Any of them or any combination of the three. What the heck how about all three. 

  Injuries are part of the game and the coaches have done a great job of dealing with them. The guys that have been healthy and have suited up come to play every night. They work hard in practice and pull for each other. They are a team in every way. The guys root for one another and get along both on and off the court.

   Next up for us was Cleveland and they just made a blockbuster trade. They were in the Finals last year and just traded away Drew Gooden, Larry Hughes, Shannon Brown, Donyell Marshall, Ira Newble and Cedric Simmons. In return they picked up Ben Wallace, Delonte West and Wally Szczerbiak. They won’t be playing against us as they have to have physicals. Cleveland beat us anyway. This was a game that ESPN had on. They were thinking that it would be a great game and it would’ve been if everyone was healthy and the trade was complete. Instead they got two teams with depleted rosters. At least the game was close.

    This was another game that we could’ve won. There have been quite a few of them this year. We just don’t have enough weapons right now to close games out. 

  The guys bounced back with a home victory over Charlotte. They played without Gerald Wallace. Gerald suffered a concussion against Sacramento when Mikki Moore hit him with an elbow. He was down for quite a long time and had to be taken away on a stretcher. Both teams were coming off of back to backs. We played Cleveland and Charlotte lost a tough one in overtime versus Sacramento. It was a total team effort. Everyone played well for us and the bench was huge too. This is the type of effort and energy that we need every night from every player. We have no margin of error, if we are to win games.

    Had a huge win against New Orleans tonight. DeShawn Stevenson was sensational. He comes to play every single night and he has been injured all year. Most players wouldn’t even try to play. D Steve had a career high 33. His dagger at the end of regulation was the difference. I have so much respect for him as does the rest of the staff and the team. I am so happy for him and the rest of the players and coaches. We have been on the short end of these games the past month, so it was a well deserved victory on the road. Got to see Morris Peterson before the game. He is a classy guy and we had a great time in Toronto last season. He seems to be doing well in New Orleans.

    Now we have to get ready for Houston. They are the hottest team in the league, having won their last twelve in a row. The coaching staff watched them play Chicago Sunday night. It was great watching the game as they are two teams that we will play against this week. We close out our road trip in Chicago on Friday.

    Hope everyone is doing well and enjoying the blog. Take care and God Bless. 

After a victory in L.A. over the Clippers we headed home for the break on the red eye. Nick got to stay in L.A. and spend time with his family and friends. Some of the other guys headed to warmer climates. CB and Antawn to New Orleans for the All-Star Game. As for myself, I arrived home and headed to the dentist for an appointment that I had made while being on the road. I cracked a tooth in San Francisco while having breakfast. Went to the dentist had an x-ray and it was determined that I must have a root canal. What a way to spend the day. Everything went well. So far, so good.

My wife Carole cooked an excellent Valentine’s Day dinner. Chicken, potatoes and corn. For dessert she made a caramel bread pudding that was out of this world. It was nice to spend the evening together and to be at home. McKenna loved her Valentine’s card and stuffed animal. Of course she likes the candy too.

Hung out with the family on Friday and then went to dinner with Carole at Cafe Milano. Had some pasta that was very good.

Saturday headed up to Baltimore to see my brother and aunt Jean. It is always a pleasure to see them and spend time with them. I only wish that my mom was still here so she could see McKenna. I always tell McKenna about her grandmother Joan, so she will always know where her middle name comes from. Went to the airport to pick up our nanny’s sister Chelsea. She is on winter break.

Sunday our intentions were good, off to church. We got a late start and then a little lost. So we headed back up to Baltimore for lunch with my aunt and brother. It was a nice and relaxing break for me. Everyone needs it. Hopefully everyone will return healthy and ready to make a post All-Star run.

Monday took McKenna to see Nemo at the Verizon Center in her words it was “very, very sad.” Practice at 6 pm.

This past week we played the Hawks in Atlanta on Friday night and we pulled out a road win in OT. The Hawks are a high flying bunch and getting better all the time. After the game I was lucky enough to see my brother in law and sister in law before flying back to DC. We then had to play the Celtics at home on Saturday night. We came out with a very exciting win. Down late in the fourth quarter and we pulled it out. The guys never gave up and Coach Jordan did his usual outstanding job. Randy Ayers has the guys playing defense like they never have done before. I don’t think anyone expected us to win, except for the coaches and the players. Now we have to go to Boston and play them again on Monday night.

Boston, it always amazes me how good the bus drivers are as they have about six inches clearance to get the bus into the arena. To top it off they have to back up this ramp about 50 yards with the six inches clearance. I think the architects forgot to add an entrance for the buses and then as an after thought built this ramp on the far corner of the building. The gym is always freezing. During shootaround and pre game. It sure heated up at game time. The Celtics were fired up for revenge and had a big lead with six minutes and change. Our guys never quit and we escaped with another victory. Two wins against the best team in the NBA makes for a great week.

Leaving for the airport all is well with the weather. We get to Logan and the bus doesn’t have clearance for the overpass. We have the escape hatch on the roof rip off. Luckily nobody was hurt. The bus gets stuck so we walk to the terminal and go through security. Arrive in NY about 2 am. I am sure everyone is exhausted.

New York beats us at the Garden. We played like we were tired. We also played without Antonio Daniels. We are not the same without him. He is a true professional, always putting in extra work. The Knicks shot the lights out and their bench was very productive. We fell behind by 22 early and clawed our way back but came up short. The starters had to play too many minutes. Back to DC and prepare for the Knicks again.

 The Knicks have won three in a row they have beaten Detroit, us and NJ last night. Jamal Crawford is on a roll. They are much better than their record indicates. We  came away with a nice win. The difference in the game was we had some rest, AD returned and the bench gave us a great game. It is good to be home.

Not a bad week for us wins against Atlanta, Boston twice and a split with the Knicks.