This One's For You, Mr. Pollin.

On the night of the death of one of Washington, D.C.'s most influential citizens, the Wizards finally showed the grit and toughness in tonight's game which their boss showed every single day of his life. Abe Pollin re-invented downtown D.C. He built the area now called Chinatown, turned it into a well-known and popluar place to be, built the Verizon Center and spent $200 million of his own money to make all of this happen. He fired the greatest player ever. He made the President of the United States move seats at a Wizards game because the president was originally in Pollin's seat. And tonight, the Wizards resembled their great owner on the court against the Philadelphia 76ers. JaVale McGee proved, for one night at least, that his lanky body has a whole lot of muscle inside of it. Fighting for loose balls, battling with Dalembert and swatting away a career-high six shots, McGee checked into the game and brought some fire and passion that the Wix have been waiting for from him. Defensively, he most certainly brought his A game and received well-deserved rounds of applause from the fans when he subbed out. And Nick Young, well, he shot. Shot some more. And then shot again. Oh, yeah, and he shot one more time, probably for good luck, until he had 20 points in his second start of the season. All the shooting that he did, a typical occurence when he has the chance, actually was impressive...for one night at least. And on the one-year anniversary of Eddie Jordan's firing from the Wizards organization, he was once again shown the exit to the stadium with an unhappy ending. But his team came so close...thanks to Arenas and his six turnovers. And his 6-14 shooting. And his three missed free throws when the team only missed four total. I know Abe paid Gil over $100 million last summer to keep him in D.C., but I think Jews all over the world are saying "Oy Vey" after seeing Arenas perform this season. His turnover set up the 76ers to shoot the final shot of the game, and it was most likely the spirit of Pollin which kept the ball out of the hoop. Philly was in the midst of a run which brought them within one point with less than a minute left in the game after the 76ers had rallied from 15 down, which would have devastated everyone inside the arena on this already solemn night. But the Wizards prevailed 108-107 behind 32 points and 14 rebounds from the REAL captain of this team, Antawn Jamison (always consistent), 14 points from Andray Blatche and a +15 player rating from the only starter NOT to score (Fabricio Oberto). The Wizards did what they have been expected to do all season...WIN. And with so much emotion inside each player wearing a Wizards jersey, the team that is not used to winning so far this season, or playing good defense, finally did both of these things and brought a bit of happiness to Washington during a sad, sad time...for one night at least.
R.I.P. Mr. Pollin.