Stat Line: 10 points (2-8 shooting, 1-4 beyond the arc), 1 assist, 2 rebounds, 0 steals, and 2 turnovers in 19:10 (-19).

Shoes: Gil II Zero TS Lightswitch Home (even though they were playing in Detroit).

The good news from last night is that Gilbert should be able to play again tonight, which is good both for Gilbert as he continues his recovery but of course it’s good for the Wizards since they’ll need all the players they can get for tonight’s key game against Philadelphia. A win tonight would just about wrap up the 5 seed and set up Wizards vs. Cavs: Round 3.

The bad news is that if the team plays like they did tonight, the third meeting is going to end up a lot like the first two.  Gilbert struggled, the rest of the team struggled, and G-Wiz couldn’t even board the plane.  It was just a bad night all around.  One of the good things about Gilbert is that you rarely see him have two bad games in a row, so expect to see a much better performance tonight back at the Verizon Center.

Stat Line: 13 points (5-14 shooting, 1-5 beyond the arc), 3 assists, 1 rebound, 4 steals, and 1 turnover in 24:21 (+7).

Shoes: Gil II Zero DC Football/Chocolate City which were given to a lucky fan after the game.

The big thing that I’m going to take away from Wednesday’s game against Boston is Gilbert’s steals.  Like I mentioned in the game against Miami, the key to Gilbert’s return is going to be how he performs in the fast break and since forcing steals is a really, really good way to start a fast break, I’d say he succeeded in that regard tonight.

As you can see from the stat line, his shot was off tonight.  Part of that was the Celtics D, part of that was bizarre phenomenon known as an off night.  It happens sometimes.

Two other quick notes from the game:

• This was the most minutes Gilbert has logged in a game to this point in his comeback.  The training staff has given the coaching staff strict orders to keep him from playing more than 20-25 minutes a game, so I don’t see him exceeding tonight’s total by much.
• Have you noticed that Gil hasn’t really talked since he made his comeback?  You’re not the only one.

Stat Line: 13 points (4-10 shooting, 3-5 from beyond the arc), 8 assists, 5 rebounds, 0 steals, and 1 turnover in 20:10 (+14).

Shoes: Gil II Zero UNDRCRWN.

You might remember a few weeks ago that Rod Benson suggested that Gilbert should come down to D-League to start his rehab. Last night against the Heat, Gil essentially got that chance and he got to do it with his Wizards’ teammates to boot. It was a win-win situation for everyone involved (well, besides the Heat) and the results show that.

While the numbers were impressive, Gil’s main contribution had less to do with how much he put up and more with how he did it. Let’s let Mike O’Koren explain:

The Wizards have been forced to play at a slower pace without Arenas all season but he helped them post 20 fast-break points last night.

“We haven’t had that in a long time and the byproduct of those fast-break points was Gilbert Arenas, when he has the basketball and the way he pushes it,” said associate head coach Mike O’Koren, who handled the pre- and postgame news conferences for Coach Eddie Jordan, who has been battling flu-like symptoms and a severe sinus headache. “Our big guys, they see a lob pass or a pass ahead and they are going to run extra. That’s a big reason why we won this game, we got easy buckets.”

More than anything else, Gilbert’s effectiveness for the rest of the season (especially if he’s restricted to 20-25 minutes a game) is going to be measured by how well he creates and capitalizes on fast break opportunities. Antonio Daniels is a very solid point guard, but he’s much more effective in a half-court setup than he is running the break. If Gil can come in and help get easy points like he did tonight, he’s going to give the Wizards a dangerous new dimension as they enter the playoffs.

Stat Line: 17 points (5-9 from the field, 2-3 from 3 pt. land), 1 rebound, 2 assists, 0 steals, 4 turnovers in 19:57.

Shoes: Benihana Hibachi Edition. These are the shoes that he was originally going to wear against Detroit.

Accounts from the Game:
Ivan Carter
Mike Jones
Mike Wise
TruthAboutIt’s Live Blog
Awful Announcing

After surprising just about everyone in the building by making his comeback last night, Gilbert continued to amaze by coming out on fire shooting. As far as shooting and scoring go, this was probably Gilbert’s best performance since he got injured the first time, back last April. Outside of the points, the rest of his game was still rusty, but hey, that’s why they call it a rust game. The rest of the game will come back to him as he gets more and more acclimated to his teammates both offensively and defensively.

Luckily, Friday night’s game is against the hapless Miami Heat, which should give him plenty of chances to get some quality on-the-floor time with his teammates, which should help speed up the process of re-building the chemistry lost by all of his time out with the injuries.

Gilbert sat out tonight’s victory against the Sixers with lingering knee pain. As you may remember, he sat out the last match-up against Portland as well. Eddie Jordan hopes to have him back for Friday’s game against Golden State which would mean that he anticipates not having him for Wednesday’s game at Charlotte too. Since there’s nothing to recap from tonight’s game, let’s get everyone caught up on all the links as of late. First comes a story from DC Sports Bog about 6 women from Iowa who were committed to getting one of the jerseys that Gilbert throws into the stands after each game. Last week against Minnesota, the group finally got an opportunity and they wouldn’t let anything get in their way:

The jersey flew through the air toward Young. Time stood still. And then? Chaos. A 20-something fan flew over Young’s back and tried to tear it out of her hands. They struggled. Security approached. Curse-words were issued. The kid kept trying to claim the piece of blue fabric that the OGA crew had spent two years and nearly $10,000 attempting to acquire.

“I wasn’t about to allow that to happen,” Young told me. “I was like, ‘I will bite you!’ I had to rip it back from him….One of the girls was like, ‘I always thought of Amanda as sweet and innocent, but I saw a side of her I hope never to see again.’ “

The Bog also has the latest info on the GilTV commercials which you might have seen before they were pulled down, and reports that Gilbert says there is a blog coming out tomorrow so keep your eyes open for that.