{"id":1139,"date":"2007-01-22T15:34:07","date_gmt":"2007-01-22T20:34:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/2007\/01\/mr-hibachi\/"},"modified":"2007-01-22T15:34:07","modified_gmt":"2007-01-22T20:34:07","slug":"mr-hibachi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/2007\/01\/mr-hibachi\/","title":{"rendered":"Mr. Hibachi"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mr. Hibachi<\/strong><\/p>\n

By Marty Gitlin
\nWagerWeb.com<\/a> Contributing Writer<\/p>\n

Often when Washington Wizards<\/a> scoring machine Gilbert Arenas<\/a><\/strong> hoists up a shot, he screams out, \u201cHibachi!\u201d<\/p>\n

Well, Mr. Hibachi is hoping to grill the Magic Friday night.<\/p>\n

First place in the Southeast Division is at stake in Orlando. The Wizards (22-16) sit a half-game ahead, but healing Miami should prove a major threat the rest of the way.<\/p>\n

WagerWeb.com lists Washington as a 4-point underdog, but much will depend on Arenas, who has been a bit schizophrenic recently. He erupted for 51 points Monday in a 114-111 defeat of Utah, then scored just 16 on 4-of-14 shooting in a 99-98 victory Wednesday against New York.<\/p>\n

Winning despite an off-night by Arenas, who is averaging 29.9 points a game, should prove heartening. It marked the first time in six games that Washington won when Arenas failed to score 20 points.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the return of Miami center Shaquille O\u2019Neal<\/strong> from knee surgery has been delayed. He will not travel for a game Friday night in Philadelphia. His earliest comeback would be at home Sunday against Dallas in a rematch of the 2006 NBA Finals.<\/p>\n

The Heat are still 2.5-point favorites against the 76ers, according to WagerWeb.com.<\/p>\n

\u201cShaq is working out, feeling good, getting better day to day,\u201d Heat interim coach Ron Rothstein<\/strong> told the Associated Press on Thursday. \u201cThat\u2019s it. Case closed.\u201d<\/p>\n

NO MATCH IN DALLAS:<\/strong> The Los Angeles Lakers have played well despite injuries to center Kwame Brown<\/strong> and forward Lamar Odom<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

But defeating Dallas again? In Dallas?<\/p>\n

Forget it.<\/p>\n

The Lakers were outscored, 69-44, in the middle quarters Thursday night in a 114-95 loss that avenged the Mavericks’ defeat in Los Angeles. The Mavericks are 33-4 since opening the season 0-4 for the first time in franchise history.<\/p>\n

The Lakers were buried at the starting forward spots, where starters Luke Walton<\/strong> and Brian Cook<\/strong> were outscored, 56-17, outrebounded, 21-3, and outassisted, 8-3, by the combination of Dirk Nowitzki<\/strong> and Josh Howard<\/strong>. The Mavericks enjoyed a 53-28 rebounding advantage for the game.<\/p>\n

And for the second game in a row, Kobe Bryant<\/strong> was the lone double-figure scorer among Laker starters with 26 points.<\/p>\n

DRIBBLES:<\/strong> Suspended Denver superstar guard Carmelo Anthony<\/strong> has only two games left to serve on his 15-game suspension. He will miss both games this weekend before returning Monday night against visiting Memphis. WagerWeb.com lists the host Nuggets as 1.5-point favorites Friday night against suddenly struggling Cleveland. \u2026 How was Portland rewarded for its home victory Wednesday night over the Cavaliers, arguably its best performance of the season? With a game Friday night at Phoenix, winners of 11 in a row. The Blazers are 14.5-point underdogs, according to WagerWeb.com. \u2026 Chris Webber<\/strong> is expected to receive more extended minutes for Detroit Friday night in Minnesota. He played just 17 minutes in his Pistons debut. WagerWeb.com lists Webber\u2019s team as a 1.5-point favorite against the Timberwolves. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mr. Hibachi By Marty Gitlin WagerWeb.com Contributing Writer Often when Washington Wizards scoring machine Gilbert Arenas hoists up a shot, he screams out, \u201cHibachi!\u201d Well, Mr. Hibachi is hoping to grill the Magic Friday night. First place in the Southeast Division is at stake in Orlando. The Wizards (22-16) sit a half-game ahead, but healing … Continue reading Mr. Hibachi<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1139","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-press_releases"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1139","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1139"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1139\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1139"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1139"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1139"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}