Yes, Gilbert Arenas makes his return to Washington with the Orlando Magic tonight to face his old team. But more importantly ... the Wizards are back at the Verizon Center -- a place where they score more points on average than their opponents!
John Wall and co. are back in the district after going 0-4 on the latest rendition of their traveling sideshow (The Wizards are now 0-25 on the road, thanks to poor road defense and a lack of several other critical elements needed to win basketball games.)
Somewhat surprisingly, the Wizards have been respectable at home, owning a 13-10 record at the Phone Booth. That's in line with more well-regarded teams like the Knicks (13-10), Suns (14-10) and Rockets (13-10), and it's ahead of Eastern Conference 8-seed contenders like the Bobcats (12-11), Pacers (12-11) and Bucks (11-10).
But this four-game home stand will test the Wizards. The Magic, Hawks, Bucks and Spurs are coming to town, and they bring a combined record of 122-74 (.622 win percentage).
Making it even tougher is the personnel of these opponents, each of which should expect to exploit the Wizards lack of interior defense. Dwight Howard, Al Horford, Andrew Bogut, Tim Duncan are all stopping by. Good luck, Andray Blatche, JaVale McGee and Hilton Armstrong.
Tonight's game, however, will be as much a chance to revisit the Arenas saga -- and look at where it's gone -- as it will be about basketball. Story lines like that sometimes take precedence over the game in an 82-game season, especially one like this Wizards campaign.
Gilbert has already said some interesting stuff in an exclusive interview with Comcast's Chris Miller. Check it out and join the discussion on Bullets Forever.