Arenas was two assists shy of a triple double in loss to Miami — but only if you count turnovers! His 12 turnovers were the most in the NBA since Wade in 2007.
You can blame injuries to All-Stars like Jamison for the Wizards’ slow start, but on Tuesday night, it all came down to Gilbert Arenas and his inability to hold onto the ball!
As Yahoo! Sports reports:
For Gilbert Arenas, it was a night to forget.
There may be 10 guys on the NBA court, but sometimes it is man v. man. Wade & Arenas did battle on Wednesday night with Wade’s 40 trumping Arenas’ 32.
If there was any question as to whether Arenas has his game back, it was answered with a definite YES on Wednesday night. Arenas did battle with Dwyane Wade and their showdown was must-see-tv. But it was Dwyane Wade, who had an MVP-level season last year, who came out on top.
Wade outdueled Wizards guard Gilbert Arenas, who scored 32, in a game that was deadlocked down the stretch until the final minute. With the game tied at 89 and a minute left, Wade made plays when he needed to and Arenas couldn’t answer. Source: Yahoo! Sports
Expect more great match-ups like this as the NBA season wears on. If Washington is going to make any noise in the NBA, they need Agent Zero at his absolute best. Though the supporting cast of Butler, Miller, & Haywood are chipping in admirably, it is up to Gilbert to keep the ship afloat until Jamison returns.
Is Agent Zero back? This first game of the 2009-10 season would suggest that we may be seeing a renewed, rejuvenated, All-Star level Gilbert Arenas.
Gilbert Arenas scored 29 points in the Washington Wizard’s debut game of the new NBA season. But more importantly, he led one of the worst teams in the league last year (19-63) to a victory over the restocked Dallas Mavericks. Beating a Western Division contender may just be the start for these Wizards.
Scoring has always come easily to Gil. Maybe that’s because he shoots as much as anyone in the league. But digging into the stats, Gil is at his best, and so are the Wizards, when he is dishing the ball. His 9 assists against the Mavs shows that he might be putting the team goals in front of his own. No longer playing for a contract — he’s already got a massive $100m plus deal — Gilbert knows that it is time to win.
Desperate to get to the winning ways of 3 seasons ago, when the ritual was to get ousted in the playoffs every year by LeBron, the Wizards made a slew of off-season moves. An injury to top forward, Antawn Jamison, will slow their progress but it could also accelerate the playing time of new pieces (Foye, Miller, Oberto) and existing talent (Blatche). The return of a stable center in Haywood and a healthy All-Star in Bulter should keep the Wizards sailing.
Three years ago, Gilbert Arenas was playing as well as anyone in the NBA. Though never rewarded as an MVP, he was on the short list of best players in the NBA and an NBA All-Star. Injuries and knee surgery derailed his surging career.
But new Washington Wizards coach, Flip Saunders, seems to think Arenas is back to full strength. Read his comments, as reported by Yahoo! Sports:
I don’t see any difference as far as the things that he does now that he was doing three years ago, when he was one of the MVP candidates
That is a scary proposition for the rest of the NBA East, even if you consider that the Wizards were embarrassing last year.After Eddie Jordan was fired 11 games into the season, injuries & inconsistent play sent this team spiraling to the bottom-depths of the NBA. But in the last 6 months, the Wizards have significantly upgraded a roster that produced a franchise-low 19 wins last season. Some of it has to do with players returning from injuries — notably Arenas but DeShawn Stevenson & Brendan Haywood were injured much of last season also.
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