- For the first time all season, Gilbert Arenas came out during shootaround.  He didn’t do anything except take jumpers, and do a few light drives to the basket, but considering he has yet to play this season, this is quite a big deal.  After he worked up a sweat for about 10 minutes, he signed a few autographs and ran back into the locker room.  I wonder if the new atmosphere around here has caused him to speed up his timetable a bit.

-Before every game, there is a Verizon Center staff member who lets me know whether it’s safe to enter the visitor’s locker room to speak with the opposing teams and coaches.  Today when I spoke with that guy, I asked him about former coach Eddie Jordan. He just shook his head and said it wasn’t fair.  He mentioned that he loves new coach Ed Tapscott, but Coach Jordan deserved more.  That seems to be sentiment around the arena with staff and other journalists.

-I spoke with guard Dee Brown before the game and asked him if he and the players felt more pressure now that Jordan was gone, and he said definitely.  He said there was already a tremendous amount of pressure on the team being 1-10, but now everyone would look at the players even more closely.  He also said that the fact that Coach Tapscott plans on shortening the rotation a bit is also on the player’s minds.  No one wants their playing time lessened or cut altogether.  When I spoke to Brown after the game, he mentioned that he definitely played more aggressively, since he basically viewed this game as an audition for more playing time.  Brown responded by scoring a season high 10 points, while going perfect from the field.

-Coach Don Nelson was the most tight-lipped coach I have spoken to in this young season.  I asked him what advice he had for Coach Tapscott, and he mentioned they had been together in New York, and he loved him.  When I asked him what advice he had for Eddie Jordan, he just said it was tough that he got fired, but he was a good coach.  One thing he did say is that newly acquired guard Jamal Crawford would be in the starting lineup.  When I asked if he had practiced on whether he was ready, Nelson said, “No, but he’s here; we gotta play him, right?” I got the distinct impression while talking to Coach Nelson that he was not at all thrilled about the trade, but he was going to deal with it as best he could.  When I asked if he was scared about being overconfident, he laughed and said no, because his team wasn’t very good anyway.   During the game, Coach Nelson only got up from the bench one time, which I find extremely odd.  From my vantage point, he looked like a coach who feels like he cannot reach his team, which is hard to fathom given that he is a legendary and creative coach.

-Coach Tapscott told the us in his initial pregame conference said that he definitely felt the butterflies and the jitters, but he was confident that he’d shake them by the opening tip.  He also said he was quite sure one of the players would pat him on the back and let him know that everything was alright.  Right before the opening tip, he went down and shook everyone’s hand, and he looked at ease.

-Coach Tapscott also said that he made very few changes offensively.  He said he gave the players more defined roles, and he would shorten the rotation to eight or nine players depending on the match-ups on any given night.  The starting lineup for tonight will be the same as it was on Saturday against the Knicks– Dee Brown, DeShawn Stevenson, Caron Butler, Antawn Jamison and JaVale McGee.  Aside from the starting five, Nick Young, Andray Blatche and Dominc McGuire played major minutes.

-One of the major changes Tapscott did mention was defense.   He said he wants his team to be much more physical than they had to start the season.  He said that he didn’t want his players to be afraid to knock someone down while they were attempting to get to the rim. He said right now, teams don’t fear driving against the Wizards, and he wants to change that starting tonight.  At one point, Dominic McGuire fouled Stephen Jackson especially hard, and immediately, Tapscott jumped off the bench, clapped his hands, then said something to his team.  When asked what he said after the game, Tapscott said he told his team,  “Now that’s a hard foul.”

- Prior to the game, Tapscott acknowledged that he did not want to get a in chessmatch with Coach Nelson because Nelson was the king of looking for and creating mismatches.   At one point in the game, Kelenna Azubuike kept posting Dee Brown up, and it was causing problems for Brown.  Tapscott responded by putting in the lineup of 6′5″ DeShawn Stevenson at the point, 6′7″ Caron Butler at the off guard, 6′9″ Antawn Jamison at the small forward, 6′11″ Andray Blatche at the power forward and 7-foot JaVale McGee at center.  This lineup was originally unveiled during the Utah victory, and by unleashing it again, it contributed to the second victory of the season.  We’ll see if Coach Tapscott uses it again on Thursday against Orlando.

-The one thing that Coach Tapscott stressed was he wants his team to have a signature. He looked at the members of the media and told each one of us that we have a distinct signature that we are known for whether we like it or not.  He wants the Wizards to be known for something from now on.

-I don’t know if it’s because the Golden State Warriors are in town, or whether it’s the fact that Eddie Jordan’s firing was unpopular in this town, but the crowd is noticeably smaller this evening.  When the Wizards ran out for pregame warm-ups, there were numerous boos and “Bring back Eddie” chants. By the end of the game, Coach Tapscott got a standing ovation for leading this team to its second victory.  There are two more home games this week, and I am quite sure the fans will go back to booing if he’s not victorious in both games.

-Coach Tapscott said that even as the Director of Player Personnel, he still thought of things that he could do to improve the team.  He said this wasn’t a slight to Coach Jordan, but if you’ve ever been a head coach, or a scout or player evaluator, you never get out of that mode.

-McGee opened up with an alley-oop, then blocked a shot and drove for yet another dunk, which was an unusually quick start for the rookie.  In the second quarter, McGee played extremely well. Although he picked up his third foul towards the end, he scored eight points, grabbed three rebounds and scored on a big alley-oop.  McGee clearly has not worked up enough of a reputation to get foul calls.  At least three or four times a game, he gets called for borderline calls. 53 seconds into the second half, he picked up his fourth foul and ended up sitting on the bench the remainder of the quarter.  By the time he re-entered the game with seven minutes left, the Wizards were already leading comfortably.  He finished with a career-high 14 points and 5 rebounds.

-Tonight was Blatche’s best game of this young season and quite possibly the best game he’s ever had in a Washington Wizards uniform.  He had 25 points, 12 rebounds, five assists, five blocks, two steals and just one turnover.  Every move he made seemed to be the right one, and given that he was firmly entrenched in Coach Jordan’s doghouse, it had to be especially rewarding for him to play well in Coach Tapscott’s debut.  After the game, Tapscott said that he understood there would ups and downs with Blatche, but he would be patient.  This was a far cry from Coach Jordan’s tough love approach.  Despite entering the game to a chorus of boos, Blatche came out of the game with seven minutes left to a rousing standing ovation.

-The Warriors don’t really have a true point guard, and it shows. There’s no offensive continuity at all, and although Coach Nelson’s teams are known for their freewheeling style, even they could use a facilitator. Second year guard Marcus Williams was inactive; Monta Ellis is suspended.  Half of the Warriors’ 26 assists came from forward Stephen Jackson and shooting guard Jamal Crawford.   The loss of Baron Davis definitely still haunts this team.

-Caron Butler and Antawn Jamison led the team in scoring once again, and that was by design.  After the game, Coach Tapscott said that he wanted to make sure that the offense was constantly run through the both of them, and he wanted the them to catch the ball in the post first, and then work their way out to the perimeter.  He also said that he wanted at least one of them on the floor at all times to maintain continuity.  They both played 38 minutes. Butler’s line: 35 points, eight assists, six rebounds and three steals.  Jamison’s:  25 points and 11 rebounds.  After struggling to find that third scorer for the first eleven games, five Wizards ended up in double figures.

-I came into this game looking forward to seeing rookie guard Anthony Morrow.  He came in averaging 14 points a game, and on November 11th he scored 37 points, which is an all time record for an undrafted rookie.  Tonight,  he played just 15 minutes, and although he had six points and six rebounds, much of that came during garbage time.  Through three quarters, he had no points.  I don’t know if he fell into Coach Nelson’s doghouse, or if it was just an off night.

-It will be reported that Eddie Jordan was responsible for the Wizards’ bad record, and Ed Tapscott was the reason they won because the players responded much better to Tapscott.  But as well as the Wizards played, Golden State and the effort they showed was absolutely terrible.  The true test will come on Thursday when the Orlando Magic come to town.  For whatever reason, this Golden State team had nothing this evening, and I have to believe they fed off of Coach Nelson’s laid back attitude tonight.

-Coach Tapscott joked to the media that he was proud of his team for holding Golden State to a 69% free throw percentage, which was lower than their usual 72%.   Everyone in the room starting laughing immediately.  Tapscott then said when he said that joke to the players, no one laughed, because they thought he was serious.  “At least I know they take me seriously,” Tapscott said.

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