“What’s going on in here?” A freshly showered Gilbert Arenas calls out to the packed home locker room, following the Wizards 17-point victory over Cleveland on Wednesday, a contest that snapped a six-game losing streak. “So many people in here,” he says, gesturing toward the horde of sound bite hungry reporters.
“There were only about four of you around when we were losing!” Tattooed torso exposed, Arenas turns to center Brendan Haywood, whose locker sits second-closest to the showers, and asks, “You ever seen so many people in here? They care now!” And with good reason.
In what had been a winless November, the Wizards dropping a half dozen straight games by an average of over 10 points each, injuries kept piling up, as did locker room frustrations. The streak appeared to have an elongated future in the second quarter as Cleveland stretched their lead into the high teens. Despite the return of Antawn Jamison, who had been absent with an injury since the preseason, Washington could do nothing to stop the Cavs early, who shot 75% in the first quarter. Haywood continuously left Cleveland center Zydrunas Ilgauskas wide open atop the key for his signature 7-foot-2 awkwardly efficient outside shot. While LeBron James looked to pass rather than shoot early, his 13 first...
