Gilbert says…

in his latest blog entry:

If we’re going to pull out this series, we’re going to need a miracle. We’re going to have to dig. We’re going to have to play big. Everyone is going to have to bring their A games. We can’t have no let downs now.
It’s one of those things where we’re going into the lion’s den. That arena is going to be ready for us. They’re going to bring out the boo birds and call us every name you can possibly think of. They’re going to boo us from tip-off until the end of the game.
For us to silence that crowd, we’re going to have to get out to a quick start and try to get up big to get the fans out of it a little.

Very sensible, of course. One wonders, though, if the Bullets are capable of it at this point. Did Washington shoot its last bolt on Sunday? It sorta felt like it. Lebron knows what he thinks about Washington’s chances to overcome a 3-1 deficit:

“Do I think they can do it?” James asked before offering his blunt answer. “No.”

Brendan Haywood, who has definitely earned his money this season and postseason, remarked thusly about Lebron James complaining about hard fouls in this series:

“C’mon man, this is the playoffs. He wears 23 and he wants to be Michael Jordan. I respect that because he’s a great player. But look what Mike went through. Mike got fouled way worse than this. You know what I’m saying? Nobody is trying to hurt him. Everybody is trying to play basketball, trying to win, trying to play tough. Leave it alone.”
…
Haywood on whether he’s ever heard an NBA player claim that another team is trying to hurt them: “No, I don’t ever remember a player coming out and saying that another team is blatantly trying to hurt me but the game has changed a lot. Back in the day, you couldn’t have said that just because of the nature of the game with the Bad Boy Pistons, the Knicks…you would have been seen as flat-out soft. But that is how the game has changed. They are not about flagrant fouls or tough play. It’s all about fluid motion and scoring a lot of points so it’s different. When I was growing up, you never heard that. I never heard Magic say it. Or Mike. Or Larry (Bird).”

Haywood has a good point — what Lebron has endured in this series is nothing compared to what Jordan repeatedly went through against Detroit. Lebron and his coach have done too much whining in this series, but since Deshawn Stevenson opened his mouth and spat out words he has not been able to back up, Washington is hardly in a position to call anyone else a bigmouth.