Woke up this morning feeling great about today and tonight. Shootaround went well and the guys were fired up. Unfortunately we got some bad news from the NBA front office after shootaround. The NBA was suspending Darius for tonights game for a foul against LeBron in the last game. Marv Albert said it was a punch, I’m sure that didn’t help. I watched the play a number of times and they were tied up, but it was not a punch. I don’t want to get into this because it made me mad when I found out. The other problem with this is why did the NBA wait until game day to make the announcement. A real letdown followed for sure.

    We had a great first quarter but that was it. We did not make shots and we settled for quick jumpshots. When we drove the ball we had success, we just didn’t drive the ball enough. You have to give props to Cleveland they kicked our butts. LeBron is something else. He plays the game the right way, always looking for his teammates. He is really special.

     It’s hard to believe that the season is over for us. As I look back it was a great year considering all the injuries that we had. I am proud to have been part of it. I cannot say enogh about the coaching staff and the players. I have made many lifelong friends and will have many fond memories of this year.

     After the game I sat and watched Atlanta even up the series against Boston. It is all tied up at 3 games to 3. Sunday game seven in Boston. Sunday we will have our exit interviews with the players. It will be an interesting off season with Gil, Antawn and Roger, being free agents. Stay tuned. Take care and count all of your blessings.

   What a finish last night in Cleveland. We escaped with a one point victory and now come home for game six on Friday night. It was a hard fought game and Caron Butler really stepped up and showed why he is an all star. AD was huge for us, once again pressuring their guards and hitting several big shots during the course of the game. He has been a true professional throughout the year and when he was out we really struggled.  AD is far from 100% but his effort is always 100%. It was a must win for us, as is Friday’s game. I feel good about Friday’s game because I believe that the crowd will have our guys really fired up. Also I am expecting big games from Antawn and Brendan. I think that everyone will play up to their potential and it will result in a Wizards victory.

    Our guys never quit, being down by five with less than two minutes to go and Cleveland had the ball. The Wizards pulled it out like they have done all season. It was a ture team effort. Eddie Jordan has done a remarkable job all year long, with this bunch of guys and the players have never quit or given up. The greatest part of the game was when the final buzzer sounded and the Cleveland crowd was stunned in silence. It amazes me to hear what some of these people say to the coaches and players at the games. I guess fans figure that they spend alot of money for a ticket and that entitles them to say whatever they want to the players and coaches.

    Now we have to get ready for game six in our house. I hope that my wife can make it to that game. She is currently in California on some business. It would be great for her to experience a playoff game. Carole, McKenna and Jess left right before the playoffs to head home to Boothbay Harbor for the summer. They all watch the games with friends and family, rooting for the Wizards. No one roots harder for them than my aunts Jean, Joey and Wezzy. I am truly blessed to have a wonderful family and a great group of friends.

   God Bless, and watch Friday night.

    Delonte West, Delonte West, Delonte West that is what I kept seeing in my sleep hitting a corner three. Was it a bad dream? Unfortunately it was not a dream and I can’t stop seeing it. It must seem like deja vu for Wizard fans as Damon Jones hit one in another series a couple of years ago, if I am not mistaken. Cleveland gets another REBOUND, another REBOUND, another and I am losing my mind and sleep. And we are down three games to one.

 We lost game four at home 100-97. It was a tough loss as they all are. The close games really eat at you because you analyze every possession and try to see what you could have done differently. Then you watch it over and over and every time that you watch it you become sick to your stomach. The crowd was in their WHITE and my brother, his daughter and my two aunts were in the house. They got to see a great game but unfortunately the result is not the one that we were looking for.

    Cleveland pounded us on the boards and they shot the three ball very well. Delonte West hit his shots, none bigger than the one in the fourth that turned out to be the game winner with 5.4 seconds on the clock. We had the last chance and came up short. Gilbert’s three was off the mark. Then you start thinking if only Gil was healthy he would’ve made that shot. Then you think more and wonder what our record would have been if Gil was healthy all year. What if we had Etan, Caron and Antonio for the entire season?Like I said losing eats at you. It makes you think of all sorts of things.

    We will practice today and tomorrow. After tomorrow’s practice we will fly to Cleveland for game five. What we must do to win in game five is REBOUND the ball better and find their shooters and keep LeBron from getting to the hoop. If he does go to the hoop we must wrap him up so he doesn’t get the ball to the basket. That is easier said than done. LeBron is just so big, powerful and strong. I would make him earn his points at the line.

    Wizard fans keep rooting us on, this team has done a great job all year long especially when having our backs against the wall. Until next time. May all your shots hit nothing but the bottom of the net.

   I must say it is always great to be home. See the family and spend some time with them. Carole and Mckenna headed back to Maine on Wednesday, I sure am going to miss them. The place is very quiet without them being around. Just watching game two again and it looks worse every time that I watch it. Have to get ready and focused for game three. We cannot play any worse than we did in game two.

   Being home and having the crowd with us will be a huge lift for us. Coming into shootaround this morning all the seats had on them a white T-shirt for the “WHITE OUT” for tonight’s game. It was pretty impressive. The guys seem ready to go. It is a beautiful day in the nation’s capital. The only thing bothering me is my allergies. Walking around the city today everyone was wishing us the best of luck for tonight’s game.

   My friend Lee Miles from Dundalk is coming to the game tonight. He was my best friend in High School and we had some great times together. After High School we remained very close and we shared many laughs together. I told him that he will  bring our team good luck tonight. I will be looking forward to seeing him after the game.

   Lee brought us the luck and a thirty five point victory. If you were to say that we were going to win by 35 after losing by 30 in Cleveland I would have thought you were crazy. “It’s the league” just when you’ve thought that you’ve seen it all something else happens. Gilbert started and he did a great job of getting everyone involved. He is still not a 100% but having him on the floor gives us another threat. Caron played like the All Star that he is and Antawn was Antawn. Brendan had a very good game and Deshawn played well. Antonio kept pressure on their guards with great defense and Roger came off the bench hitting shots. Andray had his moments too. A much needed win. Now hopefully we can keep the momentum going through Sunday’s game.

     At halftime I always come out to watch our guys get ready for the third quarter and for some reason I look up on the big screen and see my friend Lee up there.  He is all over the jumbo tron screen what seemed like ages. He had no clue that he was up there until his son showed him.The reason that he was up there is because there are 20,000 plus fans at the game and they are all wearing white (the shirts that were on the seats for anyone who did not come in white) and he is one of a half dozen fans not wearing white. My main man Lee, I had to laugh. It was great seeing him and his son Bradley at the game. When I looked up in the crowd and saw my best friend cheering I saw how proud he was for me, I am so glad that he and his son came.

    After the game I got to spend some time with Lee and Bradley, they had a great time. I asked Lee why didn’t he put the shirt on and he said it didn’t fit him. That was true. We sat and talked after the game and I got Bradley a couple of autograph’s. It is hard to believe how quickly the years have gone by. Enjoy every moment of evey day and always cherish your family and friends.

   Thank you Wizards and thank you Lee for making my night a memorable one.

    We are back in DC having lost two in Cleveland. The Cav’s kicked our butts in game two and took care of winning at home. Now we must protect home court as well. Not much to talk about when you lose by thirty. We have to play much better on both ends of the floor. As a matter of fact we have to do everything much better. Until next game.

  The day started out for us with a meeting in coach Jordan’s room. We were putting together our finishing touches on our gameplan versus Cleveland. The meeting was a short one starting at 7:15 am. We put together most of it last night after arriving in Cleveland. We met the team at 8:00 for breakfast and to go over everything. The gameplan is sound, now we have to go out and execute it.

   Wes, Antonio and I headed over to the arena at 9:20 am for the 12:30 tip. This early game is like an AAU tournament. Imagine it is on in LA at 9:30 am. What time would it be on for our fans in Hawaii? Hopefully there are some Wizard fans there. The ballboys were there ready to help us. They are a good bunch of guys who give us some laughs. For some reason it seems like we are always in Cleveland. It must seem like that even more for the coaches and players that have been here for awhile, as the Wizards and Cleveland have been battling in the playoffs for the past two years.

    The crowd was loud and rowdy in their yellow t-shirts. It is PLAYOFF time that’s for sure. It is a great time to still be playing basketball. Fourteen teams are watching from home. It was a good game that we controlled for awhile. In the fourth quarter we couldn’t make shots. We did not score a FG until there was 5:39 left in the quarter. You are not going to win a ny games that way, let alone a playoff game. Hopefully we can play better on Monday night and get a split on the road. We will have to do a better job on both ends of the floor and get to the FT line more.

   Now for the coaches we will meet again at 6:30 pm and watch film and start putting together a game plan for game two and see what adjustments that we have to make. Practice tomorrow morning. I hope Gil’s and CB’s knees are okay.

   My wife and daughter headed up to Baltimore this afternoon to watch the game at my aunt Jean’s house. Jean has become our biggest fan, she watches all the games and even stayed up to watch us when we were on the west coast. I love all of them and miss them too.

   How about Phoenix and San Antonio for a first round matchup? That will be very interesting and is now in double OT as I type this. I hope my old team the Raptors do well and take care of business. Good luck to the coaches Sam, Jay, Alex, Mike and Eric. Also good luck to all the players and staff up there. I miss you all very much and wish nothing but the best for the entire organization.

   I will be blogging after each game. Check out the blog on Tuesday for the latest update on the playoffs. Take care and God Bless.

   We made the playoffs with a win over Miami the other night. Now we have to see what seed we will be. As it stands now we are currently the fifth seed, with Philadelphia and Toronto on our heels. The Sixers have been playing great ball the past couple of months. So down the stretch every game is important to us. There will be no resting of our players. If Cleveland collapses and we win our games we could finish in the fourth spot and that would mean homecourt advantage for us. There is still alot of ball to be played during the regular season.

    How about the playoff race in the West. Imagine some of the teams that will not make the playoffs. It is funny how you play 82 games and everyone of them is important especially for the teams in the playoff hunt.

    It looks like we might be getting healthy at the right time. Gil is back giving us 20-25 minutes off the bench. Imagine having him coming off the bench. Talk about instant offense. Gil has really done a great job of getting everyone else involved with his passing. With him we really get some easy hoops. Caron just bumped his knee in practice the other day but should be okay. It is nothing compared to his hip injury earlier this year. Antawn’s shoulder is better and will continue to get better. Antonio’s wrist is still bothering him and will continue to do so until he can get some time off. He is a pro’s pro. Most guys would have shut it down a long time ago. Deshawn just plays with all of his ailments. How he does it I don’t know. The only person not playing now is Etan. His physical prescence would be invaluable during the playoffs. Another big body and someone that can rebound and defend.

   The team has really done an outstanding job and the coaching staff too. Eddie Jordan is my coach of the year. Every day has been a challenge not knowing who can practice or who can’t due to injury. He has handled it all and he has done a terrific job. I am honored to be part of this coaching staff. I have learned so much about basketball and life from these guys, Eddie Jordan, Mike O’Koren, Randy Ayers, Phil Hubbard, Wes Unseld Jr. and Ed Tapscott. More importantly I have made friends for life with these great guys. I am looking forward to our playoff run.

   Saturday will be a great day. Carole, McKenna and Jessica (the Nanny) will all be home and we have a HUGE game versus the Sixers. The girls have been away too long and it is too quiet at home without them.

   Until next time take care and God Bless. 

   We just returned from our last long west coast trip. We left last Monday but it seems like it was a month ago. The flight to Portland was long to say the least. We had to stop and refuel in Minnesota. Once we arrived in Portland it was a very short trip to our hotel which was at the airport. There was not much around the airport to do or places to eat. Upon arrival a few of us headed over to the NIKE employee store. I picked up a couple of things for my wife and daughter. Then I came back to my room and watched the Portland-Seattle game. We play Portland tomorrow night and then fly up to Seattle for a game against the Sonics on Wed.

  Portland beat us. we were a little jet lagged and it showed. Just a step too slow. Off to Seattle. It will be sad to see the Sonics leave town. Seattle is a great city with great fans. I hope that somehow they stay, but it does not look like that is going to happen. We got a win. The guys were much better tonight. Spent the night in Seattle. After the game I went to dinner with John Dunn the AD at Highline Community College. I haven’t seen him in quite some time, so it was good to catch up with him. Left for Sacramento the following morning which was Thursday.

    Arrived in Sacramento safe and sound. It was a beautiful day, so I decided to go out and take advantage of it. Got my haircut and walked around. Went to dinner at Mason’s a fine restaurant with the coaches. We won another on the road with a win in Sacramento. Now it is off to LA. We are staying at the Ritz in Marina del Ray it is a trip to the Staples Center. Coach Jordan had a surprise for everyone on Saturday. Instead of going to practice he had the bus take everyone to Venice beach. Once it was announced everyone cheered and applauded. It was nice to get out and get some fresh air. There are some sights at Venice beach. Nuts, fruits and flakes what a place. It brought back memories of my time of living in California.

    Tha Lakers got us in OT. They are really going to be something if they get back Gasol and Bynum and they are healthy. Before our game there was a D league game. Nobody was there. I did get to see some of the game and I got to say hello to Will Blaylock who I worked out awhile ago when he was at Iowa State. Off to Utah after the game. It was snowing upon arrival. Not much to say about our stay in Utah as they kicked our butts. The last game on the last day of our road trip. I think everyone was wanting to get home. We touched down in Dulles around 4:45 am.

    We survived the west coast swing with a 2 and 3 record. After the trip we are in 5th place in the East. Hopefully we can close out the season and get healthy for the playoffs. Take care and God Bless.

  We arrived in Portland yesterday after flying all day. It is a very long flight and then we had to stop to refuel as well. After arriving at the Sheraton Airport Hotel and checking in, a few of us went over to the NIKE employee store. I bought a couple of things for my wife and daughter. Got back to the hotel and watched the second half of Portland and Seattle. Seattle pulled out the win. Ordered some room service as there are no restaurants around the airport. Watched a bunch of Seattle as they are my scout.

  Up early today to the sounds of jets landing and taking off. Started my day off as I do everyday with my readings of the Daily Bread and the Upper Room and of course the Bible. The Bible contains so much knowledge, wisdom and insight about everything. The lessons that it talks about years ago are still useful today. I am amazed by the book each and every day. I am blown away by it and how it relates to me and my family. I have read it five times now going on six and there is so much that I learn from it each time. Praise the Lord.

   Had our breakfast meeting and then went to shootaround at the Rose Garden. It is a nice day for Portland, OR as it is not raining and the sun has actually peeked through some clouds. Came  back to the hotel and I continued to work on the Seattle report. Headed over early to the gym with Phil Chenier, Steve Buckhantz and Eric Waters. Put Gilbert through some drills. After Gil went through movement drills he wanted to shoot some long jumpers. He made 47 out of a 100 from at least 10 feet beyond the NBA three point line. Truly amazing and he is shooting a normal jumpshot without his form breaking down. The Portland guys were all amazed too.

   We could have used some of those shots tonight as Portland beat us up. They took it to us from the opening tip until the final buzzer. They had more energy than us and they shot the ball really well. They made shots from inside and outside of the arc. We just couldn’t get going. Portland is going to be tough as they have a very good nucleus to work with in Aldridge, Roy and Oden. I also got to see my friend Billy Bayno before tip off. After the game I caught up with Price Johnson’s kids James and Dane.  Price is a very good friend of mine since I first met him at the Final Four in Seattle the year UCLA won with  Toby Bailey and the O’Bannon brothers.It is always a pleasure to see friends while traveling.

   Flew into Seattle, checked into the Fairmont and started writing the blog for this week. I will be up early starting with my devotionals and then put the finishing touches on the scouting report. Meet with the coaches and then get ready for the game.

   I will keep you posted as this trip is quite long. We also have Sacramento on Friday, Lakers on Saturday and Utah on Monday.

  Take care and God Bless. Please pray for our soldiers and their families and loved ones.

 I promised my guys Chase, Wolf (real name), Ted, Garrett, Adam (shooting champ) and the gals Amy and Beth that I would write something about them. They all do a super job and make things easier for all of us coaches and players.  Often they get no recognition, but without them the game could not go on. They come in early and they are the last to leave. They help out with game preparation doing such things as getting uniforms ready, water, towels,etc… and then they help with getting tickets from the players to will call. They do a million things. Then on top of that they have the thankless job of rebounding and chasing down balls when the players get there for their pregame workouts. During the game they are working as well doing everything from mopping up the floor to handing out towels and water. After the game they are still working picking up after the guys and getting the laundry going. They are MVP’s in my book. Thank you all.

   This past week Adam beat me in shooting from the free throw line, college three and NBA three point line. He had to win from all three spots to get into the blog. Well it took him all season to finally get in. He beat me fair and square. He won all three spots. I had to shoot left handed as did he. The only problem is that Adam is a natural southpaw. Now I have to really get back into the gym and work on my game.

   The ball boys are keeping me sharp as I try to get some shots up before the players come out. Before the LA Clipper game I hit 50 NBA three’s from straight on and then 41 in a row from the right corner. I was trying to beat my personal best of 78. Hopefully I will break it by the end of the season.

    Congratulations to Antawn for being the Eastern Conference Player of the Week. He has been huge for us all year. I am so happy for him. He comes to play everyday and never complains about anything. Antawn is a true pro and a wonderful human being.

   It is great having Caron back. Since he has returned though he has suffered another injury. He has something wrong with his left hand. Speaking of injured left hands Antonio has one as well. We have had more injuries, but the guys give it all that they have. Now we need to get everyone healthy for the playoff push. Even Ted our ball boy has been out of commission with a bad ankle. It is always good to see him when he comes to the games.

   Happy Easter to everyone.