I apologize for being M.I.A. since Thursday, but you know, I'm a busy man. And surprisingly I stayed away from D.C. action for the most part this weekend (besides yesterday's Caps game). I enjoyed some quality college basketball, and no, that does not include the Terps ( I thankfully missed Saturday's debacle against Virginia).
In any event, the Wizards did win on Saturday night against Kevin Love and the Wolves, but followed that up Sunday with their continuous road ineptitude. The Wiz are now 1-29 on the road, and are 11 losses away from matching the 1990-1991 Sacramento Kings for the worst road record in NBA history. The unfortunate thing is that the odds are probably in their favor that they will match it. With the Wizards' lone road win in Cleveland, they took the monkey off the back and no longer had the league's attention. That seemed to be a positive thing, but the Wiz immediately reverted back to their old ways. Looking at the remaining road schedule, I circled three games I think they can win to avoid the embarrassing record: @Toronto, @L.A. Clippers, and the highly anticipated season finale @Cleveland.
After what Lebron and the Cavs did to the Wiz in 3 consecutive playoff series', two road wins in '11 with both coming against a more woeful Cleveland squad would be awesome. If that happens, let's chalk that up as a victory for 2011.
And now to the team that has intentions of winning a championship. Watching the Capitals this season has been a roller coaster, but boy are they fun to watch when they win by one goal every game, and playing great defense in the process. Since the deadline deals, the Caps are 3-0, with every win coming by that lone goal. Albeit they were against non-playoff squads, it is impressive nonetheless. The Caps are playing grade A defense, especially on the power play. The Panthers had 7 power play opportunities yesterday, and only cashed in on a 5-on-3 advantage. Neuvirth has been stellar, and is slowly putting a stranglehold on the playoff goalie role. The Caps are now in first place for the first time since December 29th, and that all leads to the showdown in Tampa tonight. Win and get some breathing room, lose and relinquish first a day later after claiming it.
Bottom line from the weekend: The Wizards still stink, and the Caps are surging at just the right time. It's time to get very excited for playoff hockey.
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