1. Home Sweet Home
It took 14 seasons as Chris Webber spent time with four different teams before he finally made his way home. C-Webb will clear waivers today at 2:00 p.m. ET and could possibly be signed by the Pistons later in the day. The last time Detroit brought in a malcontent player it worked out all right as Rasheed Wallace helped bring a title to the Motor City. And just like Sheed in 2004, Webber could be the missing piece that propels the Pistons through the Eastern Conference and into The Finals. But Webber’s presence didn’t help his future teammates any when he sat in the crowd during yesterday’s overtime loss to the Timberwolves.
2. Undercover Brother
In typical super-spy fashion, Agent 0 easily made his way through all the barriers put in his way en route to calmly taking out the bad guy right before he got away. With 48 points already in his back pocket, Agent 0 waited for the most dramatic moment in the game to take his total over 50 for the third time this season; and with the final buzzer sounding, a 24 foot three-pointer swished through the net. His name is Arenas. Gilbert Arenas. But to the 15,524 in attendance at the MCI Center for the 114-111 win over the Jazz, he was simply referred to as “M.V.P.” While his mission of bringing a championship to Washington might seem impossible, Arenas has been achieving the unbelievable all season long. The only other person to score 51 points in that building was codenamed Air, and yesterday marked the seventh time Arenas has put up over 40 points.
3. Synthetic Ball on the Rebound
It took two months, but the players finally convinced David Stern to replace the old new ball with the new old ball (???). However, like cockroaches, just because you don’t see them doesn’t mean they’re not there. All teams in the league were told to keep at least two dozen of the synthetic balls on hand, leaving the door open to the idea that Stern might be looking to bring the ball back at some point. But it will probably take a different form before hitting arena floors across the Association. Looks like Spalding and the NBA have actually decided to question a number of players before attempting to make the next version of the composite ball. Brilliant!!
Monday’s Player of the Day: Gilbert Arenas vs. Utah 41 min, 51 pts (FG: 14-29, 3FG: 7-12, FT: 16-17), 3 reb, 5 ast, 1 stl
Tuesdays’ Game to Watch: Houston (25-13) @ Dallas (31-8) Dallas is really good, but unfortunately for the Rockets they’re even better at home. The Mavs are 17-3 when playing in Dallas as they hope to make Houston the next victim in a long line of fallen opponents. But Houston is no pushover simply because Yao Ming isn’t in the lineup. Behind Tracy McGrady’s high scoring performances, the Rockets, like the Mavericks, are riding a four game winning streak into the Texas showdown. And 40 year old Dikembe Mutombo is pulling down rebounds like a spry Denver rookie from 1992.
Buzzer Beater: Congratulations are in order for the Atlanta Hawks. This once proud franchise is now reduced to celebrating the rare occurrences of back to back wins. Following a shocking defeat of Detroit on Friday, the Hawks pulled out a close win over an equally pathetic Boston club on M.L.K. Day. This marks the first time since early in November that Atlanta can claim a two game win streak. Now, losing streaks on the other hand are much more common for the Hawks as they have already amassed five such marks. “Welcome to Atlanta where the playas play”? Well, it’s not exactly like Ludacris makes it sound.
