By @KeithFirmin

Date: 30th December 2005
Location: Verizon Center, Washington, D.C.
Game: Regular season match-up between the Washington Wizards (113) and the Miami Heat (128).
Gilbert Arenas points total: 47
Point of note: Gil pulled out this performance against the 2005 NBA Champions. Yup, he scored 47 against the eventual title winners.

Gilbert Arenas vs Miami Heat: 47 points and some snazzy assists

FIRST QUARTER:

4-0 Miami: 10:59 remaining – Gil kicks off his evening with a ‘simple for him’ jumper following a hand-off.

6-4 Miami: 10:01 remaining – A jumper in transition, in traffic, off the dribble from about 20 feet out hits the bottom of the net. GILBERT ARENAS IS GOOD AT BASKETBALL.

8-6 Miami: 9:56 remaining – Jason Williams is left stranded on D thanks to a back screen which gives Arenas an open look for three.

14-9 Miami: 7:21 remaining – A baseline cut from the weak-side from Gil has him open long enough to get the ball and turn and hit a jumper. Hilariously, Jason Williams is chasing round after Gil like a little puppy chasing after a bigger dog. Even funnier is Shaq’s commitment to stepping out on Gil – he barely bothers moving.

23-18 Miami: 2:59 remaining – Arenas runs to the top of the arc and gets the ball. From there, he stops for a split second and assumes the school taught ‘triple threat’ pose, drawing in his defender who makes a lazy attempt to steal the ball as Gil blows by him. Once in the paint, Arenas is met by the giants of the Heat but adjusts his body in mid-air, moving the ball from both hands to only his left before laying it up and in for one of those beautiful circus shot moves that were his trademark. He draws the foul. God damn, you were good Gil.

SECOND QUARTER:

28-21 Miami: 1:36 remaining – Gil crosses up D-Wade, leaving him rooted to the spot before drilling a pull up J from 18 feet like it was nothing.

28-25 Miami: 54.7 seconds remaining – From three point line to three point line, Arenas dribbles the ball up court before hitting the three and tying the game. That’s how he do.

42-34 Miami: 6:52 remaining – Gilbert Arenas doesn’t miss jumpers. That’s a fact. I don’t care what NBA.com says, he just doesn’t miss them.

54-44 Miami: 3:16 remaining – The degree of difficulty in this shot is about an 8 out of 10. It starts off in a fairly standard way for Arenas – a simple screen set on his defender – except neither defender switches off of Gil so he has two Heat players trying to stop him as he drives baseline. In one motion he stops, gathers the ball, elevates, shakes off the defender and pops the short range jumper for two.

HALF-TIME

THIRD QUARTER:

The broadcast shows some Gil related stats that basically just alert everyone to how awesome he is. I don’t even know why they bothered telling us, we already knew.

67-49 Miami: 9:11 remaining – A strong move in the paint from Gil is finished with a short jumper.

71-61 Miami: 8:24 remaining – Agent Zero backs down his defender in the paint, slips the double team and throws the floater up which Shaq is called for goal tending on. Oh and Arenas drew the foul as well. Gil is casual like that.

73-67 Miami: 8:03 remaining – Simple kick out to Arenas for three.

84-81 Miami: 3:54 remaining – Mr Arenas is in full flight mode, leading the fast break and drawing the foul as he crosses the three point line before finishing with a lay-in. Man, Gilbert was so good at getting to the free throw line back then. Didn’t matter if he initiated contact or not, he got calls. That’s the sign of a superstar.

17, 12, 15. Those are the quarter-by-quarter stats of Gilbert Arenas against the Miami Heat. Is there a chance that Gilbert Arenas was underrated? A lot of the hype he got was generated by his post game quotes and quirky persona but as an actual talent, he was incredible.

FOURTH QUARTER:

114-103 Miami: 3:40 remaining – The ball is handed off to Arenas at the three point line, Gil kind of drops it but into his own path where he gathers it and takes a long two which hits.

It was Arenas’ last bucket of a game the Wizards lost but that didn’t stop Arenas finishing the game with 47 points, 7 rebounds and 8 assists.Gilbert Arenas vs Miami Heat: 47 points and some snazzy assists