Boy did some of you “whiff” on a throw away funny line in my blog post of yesterday.
“Wicked Pixels.”
Not evil pixels.
Wicked.
Like we played Boston twice – Boston – you know “wicked good.” “Wicked funny.”
“Wicked Pixels.” That is all. Thank you.
Tag Archives: Boston Celtics
Hard Work Pays Off
Thank you Wizards fans. Thank you for a wonderful season and for all of your support. Thank you; thank you; thank you. Thank you for believing in what we are trying to build – together – here in the DMV.
We ended the home season in a fun way with an OT win over the Boston Celtics. The Celtics didn’t play their full contingent of players and we had a large contingent of players in suits on our bench as well. But the players that did put on jerseys played with intensity and with heart. I am happy we won for our fans.
We all had fun. The team started to play like a team with great upside this last month of the season and we are optimistic about our future. Youth must be served!
Our President of basketball operations; our coach; our ownership group; our staff; and our players all say thank you. Come along for the ride. One more game in Cleveland on Wednesday and then off to a busy off season. We look forward to the next season and to a great unveiling of our new uniforms and court design; the draft; and everything else dedicated to improving the team. I thought you would enjoy reading this story by the way.
Dirty Dozen
For a time, I grew up in Lowell, Massachusetts. That was my parents’ hometown. I graduated from Lowell High School.
I made many friends in Lowell, mostly playing on high school and church basketball teams. I played point guard – don’t laugh – I could shoot and I had a pretty good basketball IQ. At least that is how I remember it! 
When I was able to invest in the Washington Wizards, I would go see the Wizards play the Celtics in Boston and we would all get together at the game. One memorable game was when all my friends got to meet and hang out with Michael Jordan after a game. It was a lifelong memory to many of my sports addicted friends. It was a joy for me to offer up this kind of memory to my friends.
From time to time my friends would make the trek to see me and take in a game here in DC.
Last night was no different and 11 of my childhood friends came to see the game. They were honestly happy to know that now we now own the Wizards and we have become their second favorite team in the NBA.
They trashed talked me in a friendly way. I had to remind them that the last time they came and visited the Wizards won at home against the Celtics in their championship year.
The game started and whoosh – before you knew it – we were down 16 points.
But we didn’t lose our composure. We kept chipping away at that lead.
And soon it was tied. Our coaching staff did a remarkable job last night fitting in rotations without Kirk Hinrich and Josh Howard in the lineup and Nick Young having a tough night in terms of shooting percentage.
And then John Wall hit an improbable bank shot 3 pointer and there you go. Wizards win – Wizards win. A quality win against a really great team.
My friends had a wonderful time. They leave with a loss and for the moment, I get to shut them up about Celtics mystique.
Thank you Wizards fans for being so supportive last night. It felt great to get that win at home.
I vow to build a team that is of high quality, a generationally great team and one that sells out the building WITH JUST OUR FANS. We will compete for division titles and then championships at some point in our rebuild. That is the plan.
I know we have many great fans sitting on the sidelines awaiting results from us. It is my job to activate your latent interest in basketball and our team. I get it and I promise to never rest until you are in our building cheering our team on.
Kudos to the players and staff for last night’s win. It was a fun game and a fun night. Thank you.
Celtics Game This Saturday Night
I believe we will be sold out. Thank you.
But I don’t have to do the “Dougie” as I stated clearly the games against the Lakers, Heat and Celtics wouldn’t be considered in my offer to dance.
This means we will see many local fans that are Celtics fans at this game. Same as we did against the Lakers and Heat and the Knicks game, too.
We are up in ticketing based revenue about 30 percent year over year. Thank you Wizards community and fans. The more local fan support we get, the better we play it seems at home. Just check the record. We are 4 games over 500 at home. We have yet to win a game on the road. Gulp!
We have sold many thousands of new season tickets compared to last season to our fans. My goal is first to get to 10,000 season tickets and then to 12,000. That is an aspiration.
We have a lot of work left to do and there are now always about 5,000 unsold tickets for every game. Those tickets are being bought on a game day basis or in the secondary market by fans of these specific teams. That is how we get to a sell out against some of these teams.
My goal is to sell all of our tickets to our own fans via season tickets but we have miles to go before we sleep.
I wanted you all to have a heads up beforehand. I have seen the movie before. All we have to do is improve and win. We will sell out every game and play every game in front of own passionate fan base.
I Am Not As Easily Embarrassed
The Celtics have a very good team; a deep team; a vet team; and a team that has been together for a long time. An elite team indeed. A proud franchise.
They went to the finals last season. Many pick them to do the same this season.
They have “embarrassed” Miami already twice this season.
We are rebuilding our team. We have a few key players out with injury. We played in a back to back road game after a win at home. It wasn’t pretty but we got to measure up what a great team looks like and we stayed pretty even for about 20 minutes. They have way more depth and size and weapons than we do right now – that is for sure. The bar is set high. It doesn’t intimidate me or us though. It shouldn’t you as a fan either.
I was happy with how we played hard and how we are playing younger players and rookies to get them minutes in hostile environments.
I remember when we played in Buffalo a couple of years ago with the Caps. Buffalo had a great team and we were “embarrassed” by their vet team – their first place team – and the Washington Post reminded me of how far we had to go to be considered an elite team.
Well. There you go. Things can turn around. Patience is key. Gauging best practices is important too. Live and learn. We are improving game by game. I see it in lots of little ways. We have a million miles to go on our journey together but I wasn’t embarrassed in the least last night. If it doesn’t kill you it makes you stronger. Keep the faith and I hope to see you all on Friday night at home.
Storied Franchises
Not since 1984 had a Boston Celtics team won an NBA championship but that drought ended last night with their huge win over the Los Angeles Lakers at Boston Garden. It is amazing how time flies and how a franchise can go that long without a title yet still be considered an elite team. The Celtics have a lot to be proud of. They rebuilt the team – literally – in the off season and Danny Ainge, the Celtics GM, delivered a championship. I thought the Celtics played great team defense and shut down Kobe Bryant while distributing points and touches well to their big three of Pearce, Allen and Garnett.
It was an amazing experience to see Kevin Garnett weeping after the game, tears of pure joy and elation. He is no longer the best player in the league to NOT win a crown.
It is good for professional sports to have teams such as the Boston Celtics and the Detroit Red Wings win their respective league’s championships. These teams are national brands and have deep passionate fan bases around the nation. TV ratings are strong and merchandise sales will be brisk.
Our goal is to break through to become one of these great enduring franchises but that only can happen when we win a crown ourselves. Well-played Boston Celtics. Congratulations.