agent zero goes m.i.a.

first of all, let's get one thing straight: i really like gilbert arenas. guy is a stud, when he's on, he's as unstoppable as anyone in the league. and a second rounder to boot. love all that. even love the fact that he creates situations where he has a grudge to bear, reminiscent of mj, constantly stoking the competitive fire with fuel...

but man, when the time comes you gotta back it up.

agent zero declares that he is going to score fifty on the blazers the next time he sees them, even tells reporters to circle the date in their calendars. this is personal, nate mcmillan obviously had the pull with coach k. to leave gilbert off of team usa for the world championships. he's been dissed, his manhood has been challenged, nobody ever gives him enough credit, etc, etc, etc.

so, come february 11, he's going to rain down 50, minimum, on the blazers and, i assume, help his team to a comprehensive victory...

now, granted the wiz were without antawn jamison. (and etan thomas as well, after another boneheaded brawl with brendan haywood). however.. washington is one of the best teams in the east (for what it's worth), were playing at home, were trying to set a tone going into the all-star break and were playing a portland team that is an also ran in the west, quietly hoping for some oden/durant love and that relies heavily on three rookies and two sophs.

in other words, the wizards had to be thinking that this was going to be a certain victory... oh dear.

highlights of the night would include:

portland absolutely crushing the wizards from start to finish, with mediocre games from randolph and roy and big contributions from jack, aldridge and dixon. score 94-73.

arenas blames coach jordan's new emphasis upon defense as the main reason the wiz forgot how to score. jordan responds, 'that's stupid'.

agent zero, goes oh for eight from three point land, and finishes with exactly nine points; less than caron butler and deshawn stevenson and exactly the same as donell taylor (???) who played precisely six minutes. genius.

but this night was about portland coming of age. some of the comments after the game really demonstrated that the blazers are now fully nate mcmillan's team; tough, focussed, resilient and possessing a quiet, but steely determination. this was the best night of the season for the blazers, heck, the best night for years perhaps, and may change the way they look at themselves permanently. the gauntlet was thrown and they showed who the better team was and what they are capable of:

"Thats like a dude saying he's going to punch you in your face," said Jarrett Jack, who guarded Arenas for most of the game. (Responding to Arena's promise of 50 points)

"Other than the [20] turnovers, they (Blazers) probably executed the game plan better than we've seen them this season," McMillan said.

"You can't put your finger on it, Portland played good basketball, that's it. They played great basketball on both ends of the floor," Butler said.

"Frankly, we didn't have enough talent on the floor." (Eddie Jordan)

it will be interesting to see if this game galvanises the young blazers, as i think it might, and interesting as well, to see how this affects the confidence and performance of the wizard's secret weapon..

perhaps agent zero should lay low for awhile.

(quotes from the associated press)

(AP Photo/Evan Vucci)