I doubt anyone is at the “Gilbert Who?” stage yet, but anyone who’s been watching the Washington Wizards play since Agent Zero went down would be hard pressed to deny that the team has been just plain fun to watch these last few weeks – perhaps because with the big gun out, they are playing like a team. Last night three players had double-doubles and a total of six players scored in double figures as the Wiz took down a scrappy Minnesota squad 102-88.

Caron Butler and Antawn Jamison got theirs – a combined 42 points and 23 rebounds – but found enough shots for everyone else as all five starters scored in double figures. Brendan Haywood continued to erase memories of his dismal ’06-’07 campaign with 14 rebounds and DeShawn Stevenson contributed 4 three pointers.

But the bench also came up big in this win. Can someone tell me what’s gotten into Roger Mason? He dropped 17 points off the bench in just 25 minutes. He’s averaging just under 13 points per game in his last five and is turning into the scoring option off the bench that Jarvis Hayes never could be. Andray Blatche didn’t fill out the stat sheet, but provided energy and toughness down low before tweaking his ankle late in the first half. Same with rookie Dominic McGuire, who is looking more comfortable on the floor as he gets more burn.

Photos by Kyle Gustafson