Denver Nuggets point guard Ty Lawson sat in the far stall of the visiting Verizon Center locker room (aka, the Washington Mystics locker room), picking through a styrofoam container holding his pre-game meal before facing the Washington Wizards. I approached the former North Carolina All-American and sheepishly asked for his availability to talk. Different players respond in different ways to pre-game media requests, and the process can sometimes be awkward. Lawson’s furrowed his brow, cheeks full of chicken tenders, and sternly responded, “Can’t you see that I am eating?” An uncomfortable rush shot through my body, the last thing you want to do is bother a professional athlete before he takes the court… routines, even those including chicken tenders, can be sacred. But Lawson immediately broke in it to a huge grin instead, “I am just playing, fire away with your questions.”

The diminutive playmaker is a local product from Clinton, MD and honed his skills in the basketball breeding grounds of Prince George’s (P.G.) County. Lawson is breaking out in his third NBA season, his first as a full time starter, averaging 15.7 points (47-percent FGs), 6.5 assists, 3.8 rebounds and 1.5 steals. More importantly, he’s led Denver to a 14-6 record, which is second best in the Western Conference. On this particular January 20th Friday night, Lawson’s Nuggets would triumph over the Wizards 108-104. He played a key role with 21 points, nine rebounds and six assists, beforehand admitting that he enjoyed being back home and predicting that his local friends and family would be vocal in the game.

“I went home and saw my mom. It just feels good to be back at home. This is where I grew up so I love it … I got  [friends and family] too many ticket requests. They will be in the stands. They will make it known that they are here.”

During the NBA Lockout, Lawson chose to play in Lithuania for one of the top clubs in the Euroleague, B.C. Zalgriris Kaunas. About his experience, Lawson said:

“I went overseas and tried to get me some Euroball … It was fun. What 22- or 23-year old can say they were traveling the world at age 23? So it was just fun. I learned a lot of things … different culture, different basketball culture. They like to play more physical over there, pick-and-roll, team game.”

Lawson said his time with Zalgris Kaunas benefited his conditioning:

“It definitely helped me. I lost like 10-15 lbs and was in the best shape of my life.”

He halted the interview session to scold a teammate for stealing his biggest chicken tender and apologized to media scrum for the brief interruption before continuing to describe his favorite places to visit during his Euroball experience:

“Moscow, I went to Borat’s country, Kazakhstan … Germany, I just traveled.”

Lawson was unable to check out Germany’s famous high-speed road system, however:

“I wanted to do the autobahns but that was against my NBA contract, so I didn’t get a chance to go.”

He conveyed a sense of pride from his European travels:

“I feel like I am a little more cultured now. See, I got the Lithuanian flag up there (pointing to the name plate on his locker), I am part Lithuanian now.”

The flags of D.C., Lithuania, and Mexico were taped to his temporary road locker stall (pictured above) and his name was replaced by a moniker, “Chico.” Why? From Benjamin Hochman of the Denver Post:

Lawson says he has an alter ego: Chico. That’s the nickname they gave him in Lithuania during the NBA lockout last year. Ty is the guy who just goes with the flow. Chico is the guy who creates the flow for the Nuggets, the guy who could be an All-Star this season.
“He is the tortoise and the hare,” Nuggets assistant coach Chad Iske said of Lawson. “It seems like off the floor, you have to drag him along. He’s so fast on the court all the time that he has to offset it by being so slow off the court. He offsets it by chillin’, I guess.”

“Chico” also relayed a story to Hochman about finding a Zalgris teammate smoking cigarettes in the showers. Not all was smooth sailing overseas for Lawson, as he caused an international basketball stir via social media when some of his Tweets were critical of his Lithuanian club. The misunderstanding could be an example of Lawson’s prankster side coming out, which is revealed in this annectdote from his college days via Hochman’s story:

“Go check your cars.” North Carolina players Tyler Hansbrough, Frasor and a couple of others didn’t know what was going on. Was this some Duke stunt? “Our cars were covered with ketchup, mustard, food,” Frasor said.

One can imagine Lawson the next day, his demeanor so innocent, no one would ever consider him being guilty.

“For two years we didn’t know who did it,” said Frasor, now a video coordinator for North Carolina. “But last year during the all-star break, Ty was in town and finally fessed up.”

Nuggets assistant coach Melvin Hunt calls Lawson the “silent assassin,” lounging but lurking.

“He’ll sneak attack at times, whether it’s your shoes or something may be a little too tight on you,” Hunt said. “Did he just say that? Ty will have you laughing. He brings a group together with his subtle humor.”

Lawson also played with and against John Wall in last summer’s lockout basketball action:

“After the summer, you can see that he can score … I think that he is a pass first point guard right now … He will be able to do both more like Steve Nash, he can score and pass it. I feel like he will definitely come into his own after a couple more years, maybe next year and he will be one of the top players in the league.”

The following video highlights Lawson’s conversation… and do NOT forget about his Mexican side.

Other reads from Truth About It:

• March 28, 2011 -- Wizards Nuggets of Losing From Denver
• March 27, 2011 -- Trevor Booker Shows His Full Repertoire In Mile-High Denver
• January 26, 2011 -- From The Other Side: The Ty and Othella (Al) Show

Score

Washington Wizards 104 vs. Denver Nuggets 108 [box score]

[From my very own old man Wizards logo toasting toaster.]

Stat of The Game

Al Harrington was the stat of the game — 30 minutes off the bench, 29 points, 10-16 FGs, 5-8 from the three-point land, seven rebounds and two assists.

In Harrington’s last four games in D.C., these last two with the Nuggets and the previous two with the New York Knicks, Harrington has played a total of 125 minutes off the bench, scoring 105 points and going 19-31 from deep. His teams won three of those four games — the Knicks lost to the Wizards 96-89 on January 16, 2009 thanks 28 points from Antawn Jamison and 19 points from Mike James.

According to the Basketball-Reference.com database, since 1986-87, 24 NBA forwards have come off the bench to score 25 or more points in 30 minutes or less of action while sinking at least five threes. Before last night, the last guy to do it was Al Harrington, against Sacramento in March 2003; Harrington is responsible for three of the 24 instances. And even though the data set only goes back to 1986 per BBR’s numbers, it’s clear to see, with the first such instance happening in November 1994 via Donyell Marshall of the Minnesota Timberwolves, the initial presence of the three-point shooting forward in the modern NBA. Other names on the list include Reggie Williams, Charlie Villanueva, Austin Croshere, Toni Kukoc, Tracy Murray, Steven Jackson, Terry Mills, Chuck Person, Dennis Scott, and Hedo Turkoglu. Speaking of Hedo, on January 28, 2005, he scored 31 points of 5-7 on threes in 28 minutes off the bench for the Orlando Magic versus the Washington Wizards. Orlando won that game too. -Kyle W.

Scene of the Game

Nick Young’s 17 1st Quarter Points.

Nick takes so many poor isolation shots and rarely passes the ball that it sometimes makes it hard to truly appreciate his offensive game. So let’s do that with a display of his 17 first quarter points…

[via YouTube user clemback]

D.C. Flag 3-Star Ratings w/ Adam McGinnis, Rashad Mobley and Kyle Weidie

<***> Rating the Starting 5, Bench & Coach out of 3 stars.

John Wall
	ADAM McGINNIS: Although Wall’s shot was not falling, he filled up the stat line by nearly recording a triple-double. Ty Lawson took it to him defensively and their battle was fascinating to watch. Critics have singled out Wall for the team’s struggles, his play not being up to par over the first few weeks of the season. He’s  almost a different player now. He is more in control and better using his lateral quickness to slice to the hoop. His assist totals are seeing a bump because teammates are finally knocking down shots off his creation. John picked the wrong time, down five with 40 seconds remaining, to attempt to make his first three pointer of the season. Still, fan can find some solace in the fact that the franchise building block starting to live up to expectations. 2.5 Stars (out of 3)
	MOBLEY: Wall didn’t have the greatest shooting night (4-for-17), but his rebounding (9), and his assists (10) more than made up for that, which is what you want out of your starting point guard.  It just seemed like Ty Lawson was able to match whatever Wall did, and then some (Lawson shot 7-for-17 and had a game high plus/minus of plus-16, while Wall had a game low minus-16). 1.75 Stars
	WEIDIE: What can you say? John Wall disappeared scoring-wise in the late going (4-17 from the field), but he found ways to contribute in the stat book, adding three blocks to 10 assists and nine boards (four turnovers). He also had a team-worst minus-16 in the plus-minus area. Popping up that three on the break with 40 seconds left and down five? Seriously? Wall also really screwed up on that late attempt to foul Denver. Bouncing back against Boson will be crucial. 1.25 Stars
	TOTAL: 5.5 out of 9 stars

Nick Young
	ADAM McGINNIS: Swaggy P came out the gates torching the nets with 17 points on 7-11, 3-5 from downtown in the first quarter.  Bizarrely, he never attempted a shot in eight minutes of action in the 2nd quarter and later wondered why more plays were not called for him in his post game comments. Young finished the game with 25 point on 22 shots. He surprising tallied 4 assists along with 4 steals. Nick’s shooting and scoring resurrection is a big reason why the Wizards have finally snapped out of their offensive woes over the past week.2 Stars (out of 3)
	MOBLEY: After one quarter Nick had 17 points, and was shooting 66% from the field and 60% from the three-point line. The remainder of the game he shot just 27% from the field and 20% from three-point land and finished with 25 points. So much for being on pace for 68.  In isolation, that doesn’t sound like a bad night, and you could argue that Young did his job by helping his team start quickly (the Wizards were up by 10 after one quarter).  But unlike Young, Denver’s Al Harrington used his scoring powers for good and won the game for his team. 2 Stars
	WEIDIE: Nick had a nice start, but again, he needs to figure out how to be there in the end. 17 first quarter points is great, the Wizards need more than 4 points on 1-7 shooting in the fourth. But hey, Nick did have four assists; his per game average is up to a career-high 1.5. Points also deducted for this quote from Nick: ”I don’t know. I was sitting for a while, but I don’t want to make no excuses. I should have gotten back in, and they should have run more plays for me, but there’s no excuses.” 1.75 Stars
	TOTAL: 5.75 out of 9 stars

Chris Singleton
	KYLE WEIDIE: Just because you’re a very good defensive player doesn’t mean you don’t have a lot to learn, rookie. Singleton’s stats look decent — 12 points on 5-8 shooting, 2-4 from deep, with 3 rebounds and 2 assists in 16 minutes — and people again might wonder why he didn’t play more. But with rookies, they got to learn in small doses, and watch a lot. Over a 91 second span midway through the first quarter, Singleton got burned by Danillo Gallinari for 7 points. Singleton once got duped when Danillo turned down a ball screen, and then twice gave the shooter too much space. This isn’t the ACC, son. 1.25 Stars (out of 3)
	McGINNIS: “Tombstone,” the nickname people have glossed Singleton with for defensive reasons, scored 12 points in limited action of 16 minutes. He nailed two smooth threes and struggled defending Danilo Gallinari’s quick release early in the contest. 1.5 Stars
	MOBLEY: Singleton always has the he’s-still-a-rookie factor in his favor, so he always gets graded on a curve.  But the fact that he continues to hustle on both ends of the floor, and display a surprisingly accurate shooting touch to boot, is all the more encouraging. No complaints here. 2 Stars
	TOTAL: 4.75 out of 9 stars

Andray Blatche
	RASHAD MOBLEY: About an hour before tipoff, Wizards assistant coach Gene Banks was running post drills with Kevin Seraphin, Trevor Booker and Andray Blatche.  When Booker was guarding Seraphin or vice versa, there was intensity (as much intensity as their can be when its a) going against a teammate and b) an hour before a real game is to be played), and it appeared that both players were genuinely intent on receiving guidance from Banks and improving their post moves.  When Blatche was involved in the same drill he did not have the same level of concentration. If he made a good play on offense, he’d celebrate, and then give up a basket to Seraphin and Booker on defense.  If he was beaten by Booker or Seraphin, he moped and complained to Banks. Banks repeatedly told Blatche to focus or to get in position, and Blatche seemed less than thrilled. But that’s just pregame right? Blatche’s first shot of the game was an airball from 9 feet away — a feat which was not lost on the relentless boo birds at the Verizon Center. He had two more misses, and then Flip got him out of the game and inserted Trevor Booker.  Booker didn’t exactly play like the second coming of Wes Unseld during the game, but he did manage to do something that Blatche did not, and that’s hit a shot from the field.  Blatche finished with two free throws, six rebounds, five fouls and more boos than I can shake a stick at.  So this is what a player who is willing to die for his team looks like? 0 Stars (out of 3)
	McGINNIS: Dray’s +4 plus/minus means that good things happened when he was on court, which Saunders alluded to in the post game press conference, though it is hard argue that Blatche personally had anything to do with it. The coaching staff’s reluctance to make him accept a super sub role is still a mystifying decision and definitely not helping with the home crowd’s boos. 0.5 Star
	WEIDIE: Feel bad for the guy, really. Flip’s right, boos from the crowd don’t help. But fans are smart, give them credit. They know hustle when they see it and will happily celebrate it. 0.5 Star
	TOTAL: 1 out of 9 stars

JaVale McGee
	RASHAD MOBLEY: Amidst the story lines surrounding the night, three specific people interested me: Mike Wise, Pam McGee and JaVale McGee. Wise was nowhere to be found, despite writing a column that certainly warranted him showing his face. Pam was in her traditional spot behind the basket closest to the Wizards bench, and as fellow TAI colleague Adam McGinnis noticed, she seemed to be jotting down JaVale-related notes. And of course, the son of the hour, JaVale McGee was in attendance as the starting center. The absence of Denver’s Nene meant that, in theory, a dominant performance was possible. But after it all, McGee did not come through with a noteworthy performance. Three blocks were there, the hook shot made an appearance, as did a spectacular Sportscenter dunk. But there were also goaltending calls, his susceptibility to the head fakes of the Nuggets, and his quickness to give up on a play and engage in hero ball.  As for Pam McGee’s assertion that Flip Saunders takes JaVale in and out of the game, not allowing him to get a flow, he played the entire first quarter — a quarter that saw the Wizards score 37 points — and he scored just four points. McGee certainly was not a knucklehead Friday night, but he wasn’t the player he should have been against the Nene-less Nuggets 1 Star (out of 3)
	McGINNIS: It always is a plus when Pierre is not on that Jack-em-Joe by launching jumpers. His hook shot is steadily improving and his hustle is always there, but he needs to figure out a way to limit the goaltends because they have a been problem in the past few games. 1.5 Stars
	WEIDIE: JaVale plays like it sounds like his mother raised him, no biggie. He’ll be alright, eventually. 1 Star
	TOTAL: 3.5 out of 9 stars

The Bench
	KYLE WEIDIE: Shelvin Mack is a solid choice, and becoming the team’s version of comfort food. Have you ever been excited at the prospects of a career backup point guard? I have now. Otherwise, Rashard Lewis, bless his heart, played well, and Jordan Crawford, give him credit, is out there trying. Someone has to have the moxie to try to score on this team of hero offense. Crawford and Nick Young have showed signs of trying to pass more lately, but it’s still not out their system. Feed a cold? Starve a fever? They, and the team, need to keep striving for that middle. 1.5 Stars (out of 3)
	Sub Man of the Game: Shelvin Mack
	McGINNIS: Collectively, one of the better outings of the young season. J-Craw is making better decisions with the ball, and Sweet Lew was not a liability for a change. Shelvin Mack showed he can be a play maker with five dimes, and he got buckets too, finishing with nine points. Birdman completely dominated Jan Vesely, forcing him into three quick fouls in three minutes; the rookie was a non-factor. The 17th pick in the 2010 NBA draft Kevin Serpahin continues to rack up DNP-CDs, hard to justify why he is not in the D-League developing. Guess the Wizards need bodies. 2 Stars
	Sub Man of the Game: Shelvin Mack
	MOBLEY: There were no monster, Al Harrington-like performances off of the Wizards bench, but there are reasons to be encouraged.  Shelvin Mack continues to show that he’s worthy of more minutes and Flip’s trust with nine points and five assists in five minutes.  Jordan Crawford has suddenly become a bit more judicious with his shots, and Rashard Lewis is looking for more resourceful ways to score than just standing behind the three point arc. But given how the Nuggets style of play seemed custom-made for Booker and Vesely, their play was a bit disappointing. 1.75 Stars
	Sub Man of the Game: Shelvin Mack
	BENCH TOTAL: 5.25 out of 9 stars

The Coach: Flip Saunders
	RASHAD MOBLEY: I thought Booker and Vesely needed to get more playing time early in the game, given that the Nuggets are a running team, and both players are bigs who can run. I’m also surprised Saunders didn’t just bench Blatche after halftime, because it was clear that a) he had no juice, and b) the crowd was in his head.  But my nitpicking aside, Flip and his staff has this team playing better the last few games, and that has to be commended. 2 Stars (out of 3)
	McGINNIS: The coach’s performance was above a Five Dollar foot long, but not at level of a chic Dupont Circle eatery. 1.5 Stars
	WEIDIE: Flip’s grasp of his rotation is developing, as he continues to be open tore-tooling. He probably wishes he had his team more prepared on that last fouling play (seems like I’m making a big deal out of his one play, out of many, but late in games is when focus needs to be at its highest… so less slack). 1.5 Stars
	COACH TOTAL: 5 out of 9 stars

Seen on the Scene w/ Adam McGinnis

• I clowned the crowd early because Verizon Center was near vacant at the tip, but the lower bowl eventually filled up and the fans were actively into the game.
• Even though Seinfeld reruns have been in syndication for decades, Roger Mason has never seen one episode of the show. This information was provided during a Jumbotron segment where players had to guess a song, which was Seinfeld theme music. Mo Evans thought it was George Clinton. P-Funk? Really Mo?
• Crawford must have been inspired by Nick Young’s eye-ware after Rockets game because the favorite player of the WizzNutzz was sporting some trendy glasses in post game media scrum.
• Now the most infamous mom in NBA, (congrats Gloria James), Pam McGee, was in her usual seat three rows behind the basket near Wizards bench. After a bad play by JaVale, one fan behind me yelled, “Maybe your mother was wrong, you are a knucklehead.”
• Mike Wise was a no show and did not personally face any of the fallout from his provocative Pam McGee column that allowed the national media another bite at the bash JaVale/Wizards apple.
• I bet it made great radio for his show though on 106.7, and he got his Deadspin link. Mike Wise = Winning! Nice gig if you can get it.
• Reigning MLS MVP and DC United soccer star Dwayne De Rosario was at his second Wizards game in a week. I chatted with him briefly at halftime and came away highly impressed by his basketball knowledge. De Rosario is headed to Florida for two week team training camp and said he is currently in contract negotiations with United. De-Ro assured me that he would likely be back with the Black and Red this season. Side note, the Dwayne De Rosario Futbol Program appears to be a solid endeavor.
• Before the game, SBN’s Mike Prada and I approached Denver Guard Ty Lawson as he ate chicken tenders at his locker. We inquired if he could ask him some questions. His response, “No man, can’t you see that I am eating?” This initially took Prada and I back because some NBA players can be picky at these requests. Lawson then busted out a big smile, “I am just playing, sure, fire away.” Lawson was engaging, well-spoken and provided highly intelligent answers. An amusing moment was when a teammate stole one of his tenders during our conversation and Lawson interrupted us to yell at him “Why you got to take the biggest one?”
• Lawson said he enjoyed his experience playing overseas and that it was a cool cultural experience.
• His favorite place to visit was Moscow and “Borat’s country.”

Top Tweets

@rashad20: You could throw a box of tampax into an nba crowd, and they’d trample everyone in the seats around them to catch it

@MikePradaSBN: Andray Blatche just took the exact shot the Nuggets wanted him to take, and in a blur, there’s a layup on the other end

@BenStandig: And the ultimate insult hurled at Andray Blatche from a fan in the stands. “Hey Andray, you’re worse than Kwame Brown!” Ouch #Wizards

End Scene

QUOTE OF THE NIGHT:

“They’re a good team, they’re just young, and my personal opinion is they are just a couple of veterans away to really kind of help guide them guys and close games out.”
—Al Harrington on the Wizards

“This one hurt, because we felt we were better than this team, and to give it up like that, we shot ourselves in the foot.”
-Jordan Crawford 

Other reads from Truth About It:

• January 20, 2012 -- DC Council Game 14: Wizards 105 vs Thunder 102: From Subway To Chicken Wings
• January 17, 2012 -- DC Council Game 13: Wizards 106 vs. Rockets 114: John Wall’s Big Day Brings No Rewards
• January 11, 2012 -- DC Council Game 9: Wizards 93 vs. Raptors 78: Start Counting At One Win

[Sam Cassell to John Wall, pregame encouragement.]

 Rashad Mobley:

“He’s maturing. Things are, you can just tell, in disarray, not with the organization, but the players on the court … He’s fighting through it. Eventually he’s going to get some players around him and show exactly how good he is.”
-Ty Lawson on John Wall

“Yeah I talked to him about that, because I’ve been in that situation before, I got booed at home [in Golden State] a couple times, I was just trying to tell him to kind of use it as fuel and just try to take it the other way, and shut them up–almost like playing on the road. I hate to see guys like that because like I said, I’ve been there before.”
-Al Harrington on Andray Blatche

When I played basketball with my dad one-on-one in the backyard and lost, it was never the losing that annoyed me most. And it definitely wasn’t the physical beating I’d take from him, because I felt like that made me tougher. What angered me the most was that my father would give me advice on how I could improve, and how I could ultimately defeat him one day. So you beat the pants off of me, and then you turn into a teacher and give me life lessons dad, really? REALLY?

That is exactly what the Denver Nuggets did the Washington Wizards in D.C. on Friday night.  John Wall would lead a fast break which would lead to a Wizards basket, and then Ty Lawson would streak down and get the Nuggets a basket as well. Both the Nuggets and Wizards would shoot an air ball, but the Nuggets would parlay that into a put-back, while the Wizards would lose the ball and fall prey to yet another Nuggets fast break.  Nick Young had a dazzling first quarter, boosting the Wizards to a 10 point lead after the period, but the Nuggets bench methodically got them back in the game, and the Wizards weren’t able to catch fire.  It turned into a game of: You reach, I teach. You think you’re good? Well guess what, we’re better.

After the win, Ty Lawson (21 points, six assists and nine rebounds) and Al Harrington (29 points, including 5-of-8 from three-point land) were not only able to articulate why they were successful against the Wizards, but they accurately diagnosed what was wrong with the team in Washington, and how Wall and Blatche could cope with the dysfunction.  If Oklahoma City Thunder beat writer Darnell Mayberry can see it, and Lawson and Harrington can see it too, why can’t Ted Leonsis?

Kyle Weide:

If you’re down two points and the other team is taking the ball side-out on their end with about seven seconds left in the game, do you foul? Yea, yea, the answer is obvious to you. To the Wizards? Not so much. Well, the answer might be obvious to them too, but on Friday night, their attempt to execute came with all the wrong answers.

The Scene: Danilo Gallinari is taking the ball out of bounds, Chris Singleton is on him. Trevor Booker is matched up against Al Harrington at the top of the key, Jordan Crawford is guarding Aaron Afflalo at the top of the NBA three-point line, John Wall is next to Ty Lawson deep in the paint, and Rashard Lewis is checking Andray Miller on the far side of the lane, near the elbow. Down 106-104, a steal by the Wizards would be gravy, but more importantly, better get that foul. Let’s go to the video…

Disaster. But why?

Crawford makes mistake one: he tries to read the play. It appears that his man, Afflalo, is going to set a second down screen (after Al Harrington) for Ty Lawson, so the point guard can cut to the top to receive the ball. So Crawford jumps the passing lane as Afflalo slips the screen and goes to the left wing.

What happens next is somewhat of a mystery. It’s assumed that Booker, perhaps in thinking that Wall was caught up on a screen from Harrington, goes to switch off on Lawson. It makes sense. If your goal is to foul, you probably want to switch everything. It doesn’t seem to make sense to Wall, however, who keeps chasing after Lawson, almost with aimless movement. Oh, and don’t sleep on the fake of Gallinari, got ‘em all.

So with the sight of three Wizards chasing after Ty Lawson, allowing Al Harrington, who’d gone 5-8 from three-point land on the night (29 points in 30 minutes off the bench), to get the easy dunk, the paddle slipped out of the home team’s hands as the river flowed. The culprits: young John Wall and young Jordan Crawford. These are the little things.

Adam McGinnis:

Andray Blatche has to be the most disliked athlete by his local fan base in all of professional sports. Boos hum off the lips of fans during Blatche’s shot releases. If it goes in, mild cheers; if it misses, which has been quite often, it becomes much worse. Some of the criticism is unfair. Blatche is playing through shoulder problems and has rebounded quite well recently (22 total boards in the two games before Denver), but his dismal play on Friday night emboldens his numerous detractors.

In the first quarter, Blatche shot an unnecessary short fade-away to the utter dismay of the Verizon Center crowd, it went down hill from there. He later had a clear path to the hoop, but shuffled his feet for a travel. The second half began with more Blatche turnovers on isolations. The groans became relentless, undoubtedly playing into his psyche. This was evident where he passed up a drive, instead kicking it back out. On the next possession, he chucked up a long miss.

Blatche checked back in at the five minute mark of the fourth and grabbed a key offensive board. That was quickly overlooked by Wizards faithful when he was questionably whistled for a moving screen, a fifth foul that benched him for remainder of the contest. Blatche finished the game with two points on 0-7 shooting, three turnovers, five fouls, and six rebounds in 26 minutes.

Blatche has brought much of the broad contempt upon himself, especially with his media day comments about being willing to die for the team, yet, showing up out of shape (again) and publicly demanding the ball in the post after the first game, only to keep relying on his erratic jumper. The relationship between Blatche and Washington fans has become so untenable that he has no margin of error as a basketball player. The toxic reaction, while arguably justified, and perhaps therapeutic for a tortured fan base, shows little signs of turning around.

As the losses are likely to pile up, Blatche will continue to be audibly scapegoated for all of the franchise’s ills. Flip Saunders questioned the logic of Wizards fans’ icy behavior toward Blatche:

“Booing is not going to help someone play better…..I don’t think by booing, all of a sudden he is going to go out and get 20 points and 15 rebounds because we are booing him. If that was the case, then everyone would be doing it.”

Denver Forward Al Harrington, as quoted above, spoke with Blatche and recommended he turn the boos into fuel.

Neither Blatche nor JaVale McGee made themselves available to speak with the media after the game.

Other reads from Truth About It:

• January 22, 2012 -- DC Council Game 15: Wizards 104 vs. Nuggets 108: Toast, A Denver Omelette & @JCraw55′s Shades On The Side
• February 2, 2012 -- Stickers for Selflessness: Leading the Charge Against Hero-Ball
• January 30, 2012 -- DC Council Game 20: Wizards 102 at Bobcats 99: ‘W’ is for Wittman

[Ty Lawson - photo: K. Weidie]

The Wizards doubled their win total for the season this week. What’s stopping them from tripling their previous count of one? Why, the Denver Nuggets of course. Tonight’s game will be the only meeting between the Wizards (2-12) and the Nuggets (10-5), the Western Conference foe hoping to remain unbeaten on a five-game road trip. Who’s down for a little 3-on-3? Today, our very own Sam Permutt and John Converse Townsend are joined by Jeremy Wagner of the ESPN TrueHoop Network blog Roundball Mining Co. 

#1)  The ball comes out of the net, and the big man outlets the ball to the point guard to lead the fast break. Do you want that point guard to be 6 ’4″ John Wall who is athletic and fast, but occasionally out of control or Ty Lawson who is allegedly 5’11″, just as fast, not quite as athletic but seemingly more controlled when he leads the break?

PERMUTT: John Wall.  The last two games, Wall has been playing under control and finishing well on the break.  Lawson is so effective in transition not only because of his speed and decision-making, but because he usually has multiple guys running with him.  If Wall can consistently get the same kind of transition options as Lawson gets with the Nuggets (wing players running hard), his decision-making is sure to improve.

TOWNSEND: Right now, I’ll take my guy Ty Lawson (Go Heels!), who plays just as fast as John Wall in the open court. Lawson generals the fastest paced offense in the NBA (98.7 possessions per 48 minutes), and does so with almost unrivaled efficiency: Denver is the fifth-most efficient offense in the Association, scoring more than 105 points per 100 possessions.

WAGNER: I absolutely take Ty Lawson. Wall certainly has the prototypical size, but that is where his advantages over Lawson end.  Lawson is faster, smarter and according to Hoopdata even finishes better at the rim 62.9% to 57.0%.  Lawson’s ability to finish is possibly his most surprising trait.  In summer league his rookie season he had nearly everything he threw up blocked.  He made incredible strides immediately as a rookie and is amazingly effective in the lane.  Add in his tremendous passing instincts and ability to play at warp speed and in control and he is the clear choice between the two to run the break.

#2) Will Wizards take advantage of a weakened Nuggets frontcourt (Nene has been ruled out for tonight’s game and Timofey Mozgov may be limited with a back strain) to win their second consecutive game?

PERMUTT: The loss of Nene definitely helps the Wizards chances of winning, but to a limited extent.  Defensively, Mozgov and Koufos are both big bodies, capable of clogging the paint and grabbing boards.  If the Nuggets need more offensive punch, they can turn to their depth; expect Al Harrington, Andre Miller, and Rudy Fernandez to all play big minutes.  Because the Wizards don’t have a dominant, consistent post presence, the Nuggets can get away with going small—unless JaVale gets his hook shot going.

TOWNSEND: Nene has been dominant on the Nuggets’ current road trek (averaging 17.3 points, 10.3 rebounds and 2.8 assists) and his teammates will surely miss his presence on the floor, both as a passer and a pick-and-roll defender. But the Wizards must take advantage of his absence by attacking the foul-prone Timofey Mozgov and stand-in starer Kosta Koufos. Defensively, Washington must stay close to stretchy forwards Danilo Gallinari and Al Harrington (who has scored 58 points in his previous two visits to D.C.).

WAGNER: With Nene out Denver will rely more heavily on Timofey Mozgov and Kosta Koufos.  Both have had impressive outings so far this season, but as you would expect, they are the exception instead of the rule.  As long as one or the other is in the game, Denver should be OK on the boards. However, if Al Harrington is playing center, or if Danilo Gallinari plays significant minutes at power forward, the Wizards will have a strong advantage in the paint.  I do not think Nene’s absence is enough to make Washington the favorite, but their chances of winning have increased significantly to where this game is nearly a tossup.

#3) The Wizards are coming off a big upset over the Thunder and all the talk within the team is about building on the positives from the surprising win.  Denver is coming off of a solid win against Philadelphia, though winning is a bit more regular for the Nuggets squad (10-5 on the year).  Does either team come out differently than normal after strong performances in the last game, or is it business as usual?

PERMUTT: Denver will be on their toes with the Wizards having just upset OKC, so expect them to be focused and ready.  As for the Wizards, winning back-to-back games against quality opponents will be tough.  After the highs of Wednesday (and Wednesday night, if Nick Young’s post-game interview was any indication of party plans), the Wizards might suffer from a big-win hangover.  The interesting part will be how they respond if they do come out of the gate slowly.

TOWNSEND: Business as usual, though the Wizards won’t be working against the grain so much tonight. The Wizards should hit the ground running, finding the Nuggets’ fast-paced style more familiar, but that doesn’t mean the home team will coast to a victory. The Nug Show are in the tougher defensively than you might think, and I like them to take advantage of favorable match-ups on both ends of the floor.

WAGNER: George Karl’s gospel regularly includes a sermon about how great it is to win half the games on a road trip.  Denver has won the first two contests of a five game trip and the game against the Wiz is their third in a stretch of four games in five nights.  The win in Philly was a game where Denver had exceptional focus and it was clearly a big win for them.  Saturday night they head to New York to face Carmelo Anthony for the first time.  You know that is a contest that many of them have been looking forward to.  Combine those factors and if there is a game on this trip where Denver will not be completely dialed in, it will be this one.

Washington is certainly viewed as a lesser team and the only thing that might cause Denver to take notice is the fact Washington just upset the Thunder. I do not expect Denver to come out flat, but I would be shocked to see them play anyway near their best ball.

Other reads from Truth About It:

• January 22, 2012 -- DC Council Game 15: Wizards 104 vs. Nuggets 108: Toast, A Denver Omelette & @JCraw55′s Shades On The Side
• March 28, 2011 -- Wizards Nuggets of Losing From Denver
• January 21, 2012 -- At The Buzzer: Wizards 104, Nuggets 108 – Advice From Denver, Fouling Down Two & The Andray Blatche Blues

1st Quarter

10:30 - JaVale McGee chases down a long loose-ball rebound, the Wizards were scattered in their transition defense after a wide-open Denver missed shot. Upon securing the ball, McGee really has only one Nugget in front of him, Kenyon Martin. You don’t mind the breaking attempt so much — one man to beat, open court, why not? The manner is the other side. McGee contorted his body, tried to twist around Martin and made life more difficult than it should have been, as opposed to if he’d just gone strong to the rim. Martin intimidation or self preservation, after McGee missed, he loafed a bit which immediately prompted Sam Cassell to jump off the Wizards bench and yell, “GET BACK!” with a wave of his arm. Denver scored on the other end. 4-2 Nuggets.

9:52 – Nene plants himself under the rim as Danilo Gallinari misses a layup, gets the offensive board and gets fouled on the floor. It’s evident that the Wizards need to have people on the court who can clear space. Yi and McGe don’t do that.

9:07 - You can quickly tell that the high altitude is getting to McGee — him expending a lot of extra, unnecessary energy at times doesn’t help. Combined with his asthma, you got to feel for his situation. He fouls Gallinari who makes one of two free-throws. 6-4 Denver.

8:26 - This.

6:53 - Nick Young checks in, being conditioned to the psychology of his game, I can sense he’s going to struggle. I hope he proves me wrong.

5:49 - Yi doesn’t have a chance against Nene on defense. But on the other end, the Chris “Birdman” Andersen is much less effective at guarding a Wall-Yi pick and pop than Martin was, who had to check out with two fouls. Yi gets the jumper, Wall gets his first assist. 16-15 Washington.

4:55 – Kevin Seraphin takes a bad foray to the basket with a semi-open lane and his teammates watching as they gather themselves in the half court. Just because it’s there doesn’t mean you have to take it; Kevin will learn.

4:41 – Nick’s first offensive chance — he makes a curl cut off a ball-side screen by McGee and receives the ball at the top of the arc versus Gallinari for a one on one move. Young misses the contested jumper from the left elbow. I guess Flip would rather him return to the court and get comfortable with one-on-one moves instead of a Rip Hamilton-style play.

4:11 - This time Nick receives a hand-off from Jordan Crawford on the left wing and tries to get even closer to the hoop in a one-on-one move versus JR Smith. Unfortunately, he doesn’t have enough room away from help defense, gets pressured, slips, and misses the shot. With bad offense, the Wizards soon get down 21-16 to Denver.

3:25 – A dribbling turnover courtesy of JaVale McGee.

3:00 – A call doesn’t go the way of Jordan Crawford’s tough, gunning shot, and the Nuggets go the other way. Trevor Booker and Kevin Seraphin need to communicate — or maybe neither could see each other around the large body of Nene — but guarding the same man in transition will always get you beat versus the Nuggets. Raymond Felton hits a three. 25-16 Denver.

1:15 – Young misses a fading attempt from inside the lane in transition. Not a bad shot, he just doesn’t have it so far tonight — understandable, so we’ll see how this develops — but as Seraphin boards the miss and gives it back to Young for a wide open three, he misses again.

Around 40 seconds later, the Birdman would get this fourth block in around six minutes going against Young, who was attempting to take it to the rim in transition.

Nick Young checked in at the 6:53 mark, John Wall scored three free-throws and got Yi a bucket to give the Wizards 16 points at the 5:31 mark, and then the Wizards didn’t score again for the rest of the first period. Young went 0-5 from the floor in the process. 30-16 Denver after one.

2nd Quarter

11:38 – Nick finally gets going when Birdman Andersen gets switched on him for the first possession of the second. The possession requires a reset of Nick giving the ball to Wall and receiving it back, but he nails a long step back two from the top. 30-18 Denver.

9:41 – Yi just gets lost in technique and misses the big picture of the Nuggets running a play that gets the Birdman stuffing a lob dunk behind Yi’s back and down his throat … It’s now getting pretty ugly. 37-19 Denver.

The Nuggets are simply giving a lesson in relentlessness on the offensive boards … while the Wizards are just young foliage.

5:52 - The Wizards are thinking too much — or not thinking — because it’s much too easy for Denver. A simple drive and kick from Felton to Al Harrington nets a trey ball. Timeout Flip. 44-25 Denver.

3:46 - After another miss, Nick draws a foul in an isolation move versus JR Smith on the baseline. No more Rip Hamilton style for Nick, it seems; don’t see too much off-ball movement being set up for him on offense. Then again, when there aren’t many other scoring options, guess you have to run ISOs to get him going. But again, you (I) kind of felt Nick wouldn’t get it going tonight anyway. He had to come back to the court sometime, I guess, so not many excuses for poor shot selection. Young makes both free-throws and has four points on 1-7 shooting. 48-30 Denver.

2:42 - Wall gets closer to the rim versus Lawson and draws a foul again, this time on Kenyon Martin. Wall is 5-5 from the line with nine points.

2:29 - Young is getting duped by Gallinari and the Nuggets setup on defense. Three points from Danilo. 57-32 Denver.

2:20 - Wall keeps earning trips to the free-throw line, makes both — 7-7 FTs, 11 points. 57-34 Denver.

2:04 - And again… another Wall trip to the line, this time in transition. He can live on the line for his career, if he wants. He makes both, 9-9 FTs, 12 points. 57-36 Denver.

0:24.1  – Great run of the floor by Crawford to find Yi for a transition dunk … 62-45 Denver.

Wizards down 64-45 at halftime.

3rd Quarter

10:51 - Nene draws a shooting foul on McGee, his fourth. JaVale just wasn’t moving his feet and was left unable to beat Nene to the spot. Nene misses the And-1 free-throw. 66-47 Denver.

8:02 – The Wizards are down 18 and have had a couple chances to cut into the lead, but the ball is not changing sides enough and it is in Crawford’s hands too much. Wall needs to assert more control on the offense. It’s great that Crawford can handle the ball and that he and Wall might mesh well together in the backcourt, but Wall is the point guard.

7:42 - The ball is back in Wall’s hands, who commands attention. The Nuggets just fall asleep and leave Crawford wide open at the three point line for a make, Wizards down to 15. On the other end, Ty Lawson dribbles it off his foot (thanks to good defense from Trevor Booker). The door is very slightly open for Washington. 69-54 Denver.

6:32 - McGee’s baseline jumper hits the side of the backboard. Yep.

4:08 – Young dribbles a couple times, lazily misses a three … the Wizards are officially defeated, I think. Denver up 78-60.

3:25 – McGee puts in crazy offense and hard work on the offensive boards. Denver 78-62.

2:58 - More bad, forced attempts from Nick. Sure, he’s “stale,” as Phil Chenier says, but the type of shots he’s taking are so mentally terrible. He’s 2-10 from the field on the night.

0:55 - Trevor Booker puts in work and scores five points in a minute. That baby left hook is really coming along. 80-67 Denver.

0:01.6 - Young misses a shot at the end of the third. Again, another attempt of lazy mechanics. He can’t afford to do that coming off an injury … can’t afford to do that mentally as a veteran. 82-67 Denver.

4th Quarter

11:30 – Crawford creates a dunk for Hamady N’diaye. 84-69 Denver.

9:31 – Denver starts the fourth on an 12-4 run and Flip Saunders calls a timeout. 94-71 Denver.

9:24 – Nick Young’s defense is off … and here, out of a timeout, he has an easy chance on offense, but travels.

7:58 – Young gets a step back jumper from the first hash mark after the right elbow … but it was against the smaller Ty Lawson, so it should happen. 96-77 Denver.

7:26 – Young comes back and takes a very tough fading shot. It’s an airball. He was looking for a call, but not making things happen for himself … just hoping it happens.

6:12 – Nick points for McGee to set him a ball screen when the shot clock is around nine. McGee doesn’t see or is unwilling and calls for the ball himself, but the Wizards end up creating space for Young as the shot clock runs down, and he hits a very tough reverse layup. 100-81 Denver.

4:06 - Denver turnover, Lawson fouls Wall in the open court, George Karl clears his bench. Russia, Greece and Italy enter the ball game in the form of Mozgov, Koufos and Gallinari. The game is effectively over as it’s seemingly been for a while.

Denver wins 114-94 … Blatche got burritos, at least.

Other reads from Truth About It:

• January 22, 2012 -- DC Council Game 15: Wizards 104 vs. Nuggets 108: Toast, A Denver Omelette & @JCraw55′s Shades On The Side
• April 9, 2011 -- Ballsiest Wizards Offense Searching For A Defense
• March 4, 2011 -- Losing With Flying Colors: Wizards Splattered Like A Jackson Pollock

That pretty much sums up how it feels to watch and then write about the Wizards these days.  There are instances like this past Wednesday night against the Los Angeles Clippers when the Wizards’ young players seem to put it all together and play competitively, and then there are other nights when flashes of individual brilliance are overtaken by yet another defeat.

Friday night’s 114-94 loss to the Nuggets was no different.  The Wizards dug themselves in a hole with some cold first quarter shooting, they fought hard to close the gap, but in the end, the Nuggets were too experienced and deep for the Wizards.  But if you’re looking for positives, rookie forward Trevor Booker put on a clinic on both ends of the floor during the third quarter. He demonstrated that, even when some veterans get healthy and back on the floor, he needs to still play substantial minutes.

11:34 – 3rd Quarter

Flip Saunders called an isolation play for Booker in the post against the 6’9″ Kenyon Martin. Martin is known for his physical play on both ends of the floor, and this looked to be a challenging post-up for Booker. He faced up like a player of his ability should when attacking the basket, started right, then quickly spun back and executed a perfect jump hook over the outstretched arms of Martin to cut the Nuggets’ lead to 17 points. This prompted Wizards announcer Phil Chenier to say that Booker needs to get more touches down low.

9:45

The Nuggets then turned the ball over, and after receiving a touch pass from Jordan Crawford, John Wall led the Wizards on a 3-on-3 fast break.  Yi was in the middle of the floor, and Booker ran up the left side of the floor, seemingly looking for an alley-oop.  Wall decided to take the open shot, which rimmed out to the left side, where Booker correctly positioned himself.  In one motion, Booker jumped up in front of Nuggets guard Gary Forbes and tipped the ball in with his left hand, which is his strong hand.  It is also worth noting that when the Wizards fast break off of a missed basket, Booker is often even with or ahead of John Wall. One can’t help but think back to Booker’s introductory press conference, when he spoke with great pride about his speed.  He definitely relishes putting it to good use.

7:24

Booker got caught in a one-on-one defensive matchup versus the lightning fast Ty Lawson.  Lawson took  one quick dribble to the right side of the floor, and Booker used his speed to beat Lawson to the spot.  Lawson attempted to change direction, but lost the ball out of bounds.  This may not seem like a significant play, but when you consider Lawson’s game (much like John Wall’s) is based his ability to blow by other guards, let alone forwards, Booker’s defense here was impressive — it didn’t hurt that JaVale McGee was right behind him to clean up if necessary.

6:18

Booker set a pick on Lawson and then received an immediate pass from Wall as he rolled to the basket.  Instead of hesitating or wasting his dribble with lateral movement, Booker went straight to the rim and found McGee for the dunk, but unfortunately he banged his knee in the process.  He limped noticeably up the court, but gave Flip Saunders the thumbs up sign so he could stay in the game.  So if you’re scoring at home, that’s a drive, an assist and toughness displayed in a 30 second span.  Already short on man-power, Flip ended up taking Booker out of the game a few moments later.

2:12

Booker again found himself isolated defensively on one side of the court, but this time it was against Nuggets forward Al Harrington.  Unlike in the previous isolation, when McGee was clearly lurking behind Booker, McGee was too far over to have an impact on the play.  Harrington drove to the basket, got one step beyond Booker and tried to score, but Booker timed his jump perfectly and pinned the shot against the backboard. The ball eventually went out of bounds off of Harrington. His speed and quickness did not come through for him as Harrington went right by him, but Booker did not quit on the play and his timely jumping ability saved him.

1:57

On the very next possession after Booker’s block, the Wizards called another play for Booker in the post — given he scored with ease on this play earlier in the quarter, I found it odd that they waited 10 minutes to run it again.  This time Booker was matched up against the 6’10″ Harrington.  Booker took a few dribbles to establish deeper post position, and then launched yet another left-handed jumphook that went right through the net.

1:29

The Wizards called yet another post play for Booker, but this time he caught the ball closer to the three-point line. He took a few dribbles, fought through the physical defense from Harrington, and got in position for yet another jump hook.  This time Chris “Birdman” Andersen was watching intently and came over for the help block attempt. But Booker shot the lefty hook higher than the Birdman’s reach and the ball gently rolled in.

59.6

Off a Nuggets turnover, John Wall was zooming down the court on the fast break.  To his far left was a streaking Jordan Crawford, and to his far right, lagging a bit behind, was Nick Young. Booker was just inside of Young, but it seemed like that was the type of play where Wall would try to find one of his shooters. Instead, he flipped the ball back to Booker, who attached and drew the foul.  I don’t know whether Wall made that pass because of the relatively low degree of difficulty, or if he was simply trying to reward Booker for his hard play during the quarter,  but it was significant.

Booker had nine points, a block, a rebound and an assist in the third quarter alone, and finished with 10 points and 10 rebounds in 40 minutes overall.  He was unable to prevent the Wizards from losing, but in fairness, he was underutilized despite having a clear advantage over the Nuggets’ post players.  Unfortunately for Booker, he had to leave the game in the fourth quarter with a foot injury. His status for tonight’s game against the Golden State Warriors is uncertain.  Still, during the third quarter of the Nuggets game, Booker demonstrated yet again that he is a key player in the Wizards’ rotation, not just a temporary injury fill-in.

[The author of this post: Rashad Mobley is from the Washington, D.C. area and has been covering the Washington Wizards with credentials for three years.  To learn more about him click here. To follow him on Twitter: @Rashad20.]

Other reads from Truth About It:

• March 28, 2011 -- Wizards Nuggets of Losing From Denver
• January 26, 2011 -- From The Other Side: The Ty and Othella (Al) Show
• January 22, 2012 -- DC Council Game 15: Wizards 104 vs. Nuggets 108: Toast, A Denver Omelette & @JCraw55′s Shades On The Side

Toss out the box score from the game. The final was 120-109 Denver, but I could convince you otherwise. Washington led 56-46 in points in the paint, 32-8 in fastbreak points, they shot 51.2-percent from the field and made 23 of 27 free-throws. The Wizards were only out-rebounded by three (39-36), all in the defensive boards category, had the same amount of assists as Denver (23), and two less turnovers (15-13). Washington blocked nine shots, which may have contributed to the Nuggets’ 13-2 lead in second chance points, because both teams pulled seven offensive rebounds. Andray Blatche’s first quarter shot chart even looked like this:

Too bad after going 6-8 from the field in the first period, Blatche went 2-6 over the rest of the game (9-9 in free-throws on evening, though, for 25 total points).

The Wizards lost because they were the worse team. Denver was able to move around at will for the duration, earning themselves 12 made threes out of 23 attempts … essentially the difference. Washington only made two out of their 13 three-point attempts. The Nuggets always had the game in hand — winning the first quarter 33-26, the second 35-30 and the third 28-23 — because the Wizard were never really mentally around in the first place. Yi Jianlian and Nick Young each had ten points a piece in the fourth as Washington “won” that final period 30-24.

The numbers are convoluted, but the results are there in black and white.

In a related matter, sitting baseline for the game, I decided to shoot most of the photos I took in black & white … some Al Harrington/Heckler photos were clearly shot in color, capturing pretty much the only fan emotion on the night (aside from a collective  disappointing utter from the crowd when two Nuggets on the bench did NOT get shown in jest on the Jumbotron Kiss Cam).

Sure, with a digital camera I could take every single photo in color and convert to B&W using Photoshop, but I preferred the forced nature of a monochromatic camera setting … as the Wizards will ultimately be judged by wins and losses.

A hotly contested Nick Young jumper.

John Wall glides to the basket.

Nick Young keeps flying after a dunk.

[photos: Kyle Weidie, Truth About It.net]

Other reads from Truth About It:

• January 27, 2011 -- ShareBullets: Portraits Of A Young Team & Wizards Picture Leftovers
• February 11, 2011 -- Under The Hoop: Atlanta Hawks vs Washington Wizards
• November 4, 2010 -- Wizards Rewind: A Home Opening Win

If you’re local to the DMV area, you’ll remember Othella Harrington. He left the South from Mississippi in 1992 to be the next ‘big’ big for John Thompson in D.C., in line with Ewing, Mutombo and Mourning. But while Othella had a productive four-year career with the Georgetown Hoyas, and a tenured NBA career (709 games over 12 seasons and five teams), a famed basketball big man he was not.

Al Harrington entered the league out of a New Jersey high school in 1999 and has appeared in over 830 NBA games spanning 13 seasons. Different Harringtons to most, a bullet point on the mental cheer sheets of a couple courtside hecklers aided by libations on a Tuesday night at the Verizon Center. As you can gather (and as the title of the post gives away), the most oft-shouted quip by said hecklers was to call Al ‘Othella’ — they really David Letterman’d it, over and over. And over.

Al took exception as soon as that magical zinger was found by the heckler’s inner heckler early in the game. He retorted, “I’m not Othella, you dummy!” to the degree where you wondered if he really thought that they really thought he was Othella.

Harrington didn’t give much reason for them to stay off his case though, especially after he’d already engaged the crowd. Through three quarters, he’d played just 15 minutes and put up six points and three rebounds, no biggie. The Nuggets were up 96-79 heading into the final period, so Al could always just point to the scoreboard as the calls of Othella continued. But he didn’t.

With more court run in a blowout, the entire fourth quarter to be exact, Harrington brought the derp faces to the heckling duo via 15 points on 5-6 from the 3-point line, giving him 21 off the bench on the night. At around the 9:11 mark, during a stoppage in play, Al made time to go to the corner of the court near where his antagonists sat. He told them to get some new jokes, the message still wasn’t sent.

After scrappy mash of second unit Wizards trimmed Denver’s seemingly out-of-reach from the opening tip lead to just 10 points, 107-97, at the 5:26 mark, Al Harrington buried any hope Washington had. He answered Othella calls and the Wizards’ run with two threes in the span of 41 seconds. Daggers.

The final score: Denver 120, Washington 109.

It’s a simple equation: Hecklers + beer + Al Harrington – Othella Harrington + Calling Al Harrington ‘Othella Harrington’ + Same Ol’ Wizards =

A loss and the shot chart below:

I promise there’s an X under all those makes in the corner, but otherwise, the four made threes near the hecklers’ seats speak volumes. (Harrington also had one in the first half from that same area.)

Harrington confronts his hecklers.

No, two heckler bros standing to the far right, you didn’t lose the game for the Wizards, but adding that whole lemon-lime argyle sweater to the mix really brought the whole scene together. Nice work.

Other reads from Truth About It:

• March 27, 2011 -- Trevor Booker Shows His Full Repertoire In Mile-High Denver
• January 26, 2011 -- From The Other Side: The Ty and Othella (Al) Show
• January 30, 2012 -- From the Other Side: Conversation with Denver Nuggets Guard Ty Lawson, aka ‘Chico’

Denver Nuggets guard J.R. Smith ended the third quarter, by missing consecutive 24-foot jumpers, and his numbers going into the fourth were anything but impressive. He had made one of his six shots, and he only had four points, as his team held a slim lead over the Washington Wizards.

Things certainly did not get any better when the fourth quarter initially started, because Smith picked up an offensive foul trying to run through Nick Young, and then a technical foul for a delay of game violation. Still, Nuggets coach George Karl never removed him from the game, and despite some momentary frustration, Smith stayed composed.

From the 11:33 mark of the fourth quarter (when Smith picked up the offensive foul) to the final buzzer, Smith shot 6-of-10, scored 13 points and led the Nuggets to a 97-87 victory over the Wizards. He shrugged off a poor shooting performance over three quarters, and decided that he could still play a major role in his team’s fate.

The whole time I was watching this last night, I was thinking, this is Nick Young’s blueprint for success.

After averaging 10 points in his second season and teasing Wizards fans with his potential, Young has regressed this year. He’s averaging just seven points a game, and he has missed numerous chances to gain a starting role in the Wizards lineup.   He’ll play back to back good games, like he did against Atlanta and Houston earlier this month, and then he’ll have numerous games (specifically the last four) where he simply does not show up.  The bad games usually follow the same pattern.

Young will come in the game, miss a few easy shots, put his head down, start slacking on defense, force a couple more shots, and then he’ll find himself right back on the bench next to Flip Saunders, all in a matter of five minutes. He may get a few more minutes of playing time in the third quarter, but by then his confidence is gone.  He’ll get some garbage time in the last few minutes, walk slowly off the court at the end of the game, and disappear out of the locker room before the media arrives.

When Young is feeling good, he’ll hit his outside shots early, he’ll drive into the lane with purpose, play excellent defense the entire night, and he can be counted on to hit big clutch shots. The problem is, that version of Young has been seen very few times this season.

Young got an up close and personal look at J.R. Smith’s game last night–particularly in the fourth quarter when they guarded each other briefly. He saw a player who never lost confidence but more importantly never lost the confidence of his teammates and his coach.

This is not to say that Smith does not still have those games where he is abysmal, because last Friday against the New Orleans Hornets, he was just that. He shot 1 for 12 (0 for 6 from three point land) in and scored just four points in 25 minutes of play. But there are two key points to take note of, even in that horrid performance. One, the coaching staff was so confident that a  breakthrough was on the way, they left Smith in the game down the stretch when the game was in the balance. Two, Smith kept right on shooting and attacking as if he just KNEW the next one would trigger a hot streak, even though it never happened for him.

If that were Young, his stat line would read 1 for 5 with two points and 10 minutes played. Smith delivers more often than he fails, and Young is the polar opposite. As a result, Wizards Coach Flip Saunders has little incentive to keep Young in the game once its clear that he does not have “it”.   But if Young kept playing and shooting with Smith-like abandon, his confidence would stay high, more shots would fall, and Saunders (despite his notoriously quick trigger with substitition) would be forced to give Young a little more time to work out the kinks.

Over the summer, Saunders had Young look at tapes of Reggie Miller and Richard Hamilton so he could mimic their shooting-off-screens technique, and watch how they moved without the ball. Hamilton and Miller were established shooters who were guaranteed minutes, so their mind states were much different. J.R. Smith is a bench player whose job it is to provide energy (and occasionally drive the coach crazy). Perhaps Young should tell Saunders he has some new tapes to watch to get him back in the Palace of Good Play.

{J.R. Smith}

{J.R. Smith pictures via flickr/Bryan Thatcher}

Other reads from Truth About It:

• March 28, 2011 -- Wizards Nuggets of Losing From Denver
• January 27, 2011 -- ShareBullets: Portraits Of A Young Team & Wizards Picture Leftovers
• January 26, 2011 -- A Wizards Loss To Denver In Black & White

Ok, it was just one game … two games counting the win against Minnesota. With a 107-97 win over the Denver Nuggets, the Wizards have won two games in a row for just the sixth time all year (three has yet to be accomplished). Is it a reason to think this team just might do something crazy and sneak into the playoffs? Absolutely not. Is it a reason to get excited? A resounding yes.

Energy, effort, hustle and hunger were the themes tossed around the Verizon Center Friday night, the obvious reason why Wizards fans, even those who came to see Baltimore’s Carmelo Anthony, stood up and cheered for a brand of basketball that’s rarely been seen this season, if at all.

“I told guys at shoot-around, ‘We gotta play like a pack of mad dogs,’ and that’s how we played tonight,” said Flip Saunders after the game. The new guys, Josh Howard, Al Thornton and James Singleton set the example and led the way. “Thornton at 6’7″ can play like 6’10″ rebounding-wise, and Josh can play bigger, and of course Singleton. Those are energy guys,” the coach continued.

Thornton can score too, netting 17 of his 21 points in the second half. He arrived in D.C. at 2 am on Friday, and wasn’t able to participate in that morning’s shoot-around, but dug deep and found a way to play some damn good defense against Anthony. “Once Carmelo gets in a groove and gets in jab steps going, he’s very hard to guard. So, I just tried to get in him and frustrate him a little bit and make him take off-balanced shots,” Thornton said. Melo had 23 points in the game, but only five in the second half and zero in the fourth quarter. He shot 1-10 in the second half.

Yes, the Nuggets had to be tired in the second leg of a back-to-back where Anthony had hit a jumper in LeBron’s face to win the game Thursday night in Cleveland. But I’ll also remind you that Denver has the second best record in the Western Conference and these are the Washington Wizards. When asked if all of the new pieces were an advantage because opponents don’t exactly know how to prepare for these new Wizards, Saunders said, “Well, the disadvantage would be that we have a lot of new pieces and we don’t know how to prepare for ourselves.”

In the fourth quarter, Washington out-scored Denver 34-15 with only one starter, Josh Howard, receiving playing time. Mike Miller, Andray Blatche, Randy Foye and JaVale McGee also started to game, but Thornton, Singleton, Nick Young and Earl Boykins finished the game, each, along with Howard, playing all 12 minutes in the final period.

“We don’t play Andray or JaVale down the stretch, yet those are the guys that are up on the bench cheering the whole time in the 4th quarter. We haven’t had that this year. It’s been the guys that are on the floor and the guys on the bench,” said Saunders.

Hear that folks? A team. Not starters versus bench. Not veterans versus youth. A team. And not to say that those factions were previously at odds, nor to indicate so soon that the past two games are a big indictment of Antawn Jamison, Caron Butler, DeShawn Stevenson and Brendan Haywood, although, it’s becoming clear that those guys were less hungry and less capable of unifying than what remains.

“When is the last time you saw Nick [Young] diving on the floor for loose balls and stuff? It becomes contagious,” said Saunders. Later, in the locker room, Nick would say, “When you see guys out there playing hard, you can’t do nothing but join them.”

Young’s biggest play of the game came with 1:47 left in the fourth and the Wizards only up 102-97. He moved his feet against Chauncey Billups and drew a charge on the all-star guard. Washington closed out the game making all of their free-throws, going 22-25 on the night

Wizards fans can only hope lessons have been learned and complacency has been forgotten, now, when playing time is up for grabs, in addition to down the road when roles may be more defined.

So, snicker at playoff talk from the players if you will, or stay bitter at the way the team you used to know horribly fell below expectations, or even get mad because this team isn’t tanking for the NBA Draft Lottery. Take any of these unfortunate attitudes, but know that you could be missing a damn exciting basketball team that’s even worth watching when losing.

And then there was the time James Singleton blocked J.R. Smith so hard a tattoo fell off …

Other reads from Truth About It:

• February 22, 2010 -- Meet Your New Wizards In Portraits & Pictures; And An Oleksiy Pecherov Homecoming
• January 8, 2012 -- The Wizards Said WHAT? And Other Post-Knicks Game Stuff
• January 7, 2012 -- DC Council Game 7: Wizards 96 vs. Knicks 99: Rich Beginnings, Broke In The End

This is Eduardo Alonso Nájera Pérez, a Mexican victim. Probably not of the swine flu, but definitely a victim of capitalist America’s NBA luxury tax, which is designed in a rather socialist manner to penalize those who spend more money.

Many have wondered where Denver would be if they still had Marcus Camby, who was sold to the Clippers for a 2nd round pick. But watching the energy, hustle, and scrapiness of the Nuggets, led by the Birdman Anderson, it’s easy to see how a big like Nájera might fit better than the frail Camby.

Nuggets coach George Karl hated to see the Big Mexican sign a 4-year $12 million contract with the Nets this past summer, but Kiki had an edict from cost-cutting owner Stan Kroenke (even though anyone might question giving that much to a 32-year old). Still, Kroenke and his wife, a Wal-Mart heir, are both on the Forbes billionaires list (Kroenke is ranked 205 and worth a meager $3 billion).

It’s clear that Denver misses a big man to compete with the Lakers. But I’m here to say that the playoffs as a whole misses the Mexican from Chihuahua, the 10th most marketable player in the NBA.

Not only that, but Nájera misses the high altitude of Colorado. He suffered several injuries with New Jersey, including a sports hernia causing him to miss the last couple months of the season, only appearing in 27 games. His minutes per game were almost cut in half, dropping his 12.8 PER average from the previous two years in Denver to 7.7.

Eduardo wanted to be back, but he wasn’t wanted in return. If this year’s playoffs are disappointing, even for a brief moment, Stan Kroenke is one of those to blame. Because of a sports mogul more interested in the bottom line than winning, Nuggets/NBA fans are deprived of NBA relevancy to today’s Mexican issues with one of their countrymen scrapping and hustling to make Denver more competitive.

Other Stuff:

• Eduardo Nájera is the Mexican version of Darius Songaila, FDA approval pending. Their hometowns, Chihuahua and Kapsukas, Lithuania, are in the application process to be sister cities.

• Nájera shares a sickening July 11th birthday with former Wizard/Bullet Rod Strickland and Chris Cooley of the Redskins … and oddly enough, with Korean singer, Kelly Poon and her American counterpart, Lil’ Kim.
• Coulda had more incidents like this:
  

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJrwWdjo5sA

Other reads from Truth About It:

• October 3, 2011 -- Washington Wizards Suspensions & Fines Since 1995
• April 18, 2011 -- Washington Wizards Make NBA Playoff Predictions
• June 28, 2009 -- Point, Counter-Point: Why Didn’t The Wizards Get Vince Carter?

One moment, Andray Blatche is going to the basket aggressively. Blatche, a wiry big man who relies too much on his guard skills, thinks he can comfortably slide by the smaller man and float up a scoop shot.

But then comes the feathered wing of a flying Birdman.

No Way.

No How.

And later on….

Still watching the Birdman sky……

Take a picture Big Oily, it will last longer.
Andray even added a caress of the Birdman’s shoulder to your framed shot.

Sure J.R. Smith dropped 40 points on the Wiz, but the Birdman, behind his career high 18 points, to go along with 11 boards and 6 blocked shots….IN 22 MINUTES!!…..sent DC to loss number 64.

In other news….

OLEKSIY PECHEROV GOT AN ASSIST!

For some reason, these guys decided to burn a Clippers jersey.

Random Posts

• March 1, 2010 -- When Mike James Took A Media Bullet For Gilbert Arenas
• June 24, 2009 -- Mike Miller’s Monkey and Web Reactions
• August 10, 2010 -- ShareBullets: Chasing Summer Basketball and The Definition of ‘Josh Howard Hood’

Well, at least Andray Blatche has that $2,739,669 he’s making this year…..with $9,780,992 coming over the next three years.

But sheesh (pulls at collar), that Nuggets game got ugly fast. The Wiz had a seven point lead midway through the first quarter, but that lasted about the time it takes to microwave a burrito.

Dunk after dunk after dunk later, the Wizards were left with a 21 point loss that seemed closer than the game actually was.

Game Blog at Bullets Forever

Steve Francis Sighting in DC?

“I was at the game tonight. Sucked so bad though. =( Steve Francis sat three rows in front of us. Bf tried to ask him to play.” -via RoboJenny on Twitter

Link Dump:

[Wizards Insider]
The Nuggets rolled over the Wizards in embarrassing fashion tonight with 12 dunks and a bunch of easy lay ups while the injury-plagued Wizards looked totally out of whack. Seriously, after games like this, you have to wonder whether these guys even practice.

[Wizards Outlet]
In addition to the Denver Nuggets’ 43-38 rebounding advantage, and their seven double-digit scorers, and 27-6 fastbreak scoring advantage and 56 points in the paint, another thing that stood out was passing. While the Wizards repeatedly came down the court, made one pass and threw up a shot — and in some cases, a player came right down the court with blinders on and forced a shot, and missed

[Bullets Forever]
You know what’s great about being a Wizards fan? No bandwagoners. If you watch this team, it’s because you love the sport of basketball and you love the team that plays it in the nation’s capital. When you’re 10-40, love of the team and love of the sport are the only things that’ll keep you coming back for more, even when you know the outcome was decided…long ago.

[Washington Times]
Later in the fourth quarter, with the game clock winding down, some Wizards fans started to do the wave – unaware that rookie center JaVale McGee was at the foul line attempting a pair of shots.

“That’s embarrassing,” Jamison said. “Your job is to play, compete and entertain, and it’s pretty bad when the home crowd’s got to do the wave to entertain themselves.”

[Washington Post]
The Wizards, meantime, continue to play with little cohesion. Stagnant possessions too often end with the ball in the hands of a player who is forced to toss up a contested shot, or with a turnover the opponent cashes in on at the other end.

The problem couldn’t simply be attributed to inexperience because the Wizards were dominated just as equally when veterans such as Jamison, Darius Songaila, Mike James and Juan Dixon were on the floor together.

Random Posts

• April 11, 2009 -- Caron Butler Lottery Daggers
• August 16, 2010 -- Playoff Basketball Coming To D.C.
• August 22, 2011 -- ShareBullets: Andray Blatche Had A Wizards Birthday Cake!

Denver Nuggets

[Pickaxe and Roll]
I think there are different answers depending on whether you are talking about the goals of management or the goals of the players. Management has clearly been geared towards the future. The Camby trade revolved around future cap flexibility. They traded their first round pick for a future first round pick. Older players Camby and Najera have been sent packing in exchange for younger players. Management would never admit it, nor should they, but I do not think they expect anything other than another first round exit at best from this squad. Prediction: 47-35

[The Nugg Doctor]
The goal for this team is to not be content just making the playoffs, but to finally advance in the postseason. For five straight seasons the Nuggets have been one of only four teams in the league to make the playoffs in said consecutive years and are the only team to have not made it to the conference semis. Prediction: 44-38

Minnesota Timberwolves

[T'Wolves Blog]
I’d like to say that the playoffs are the goal for this team. I think if you went around the locker room that’s the answer that most players would give you. However, given that this team is largely the same as the squad that went 22-60 last season, that we still don’t have a true starting point guard or basically any center, and that we’re still being coached by Randy Wittman with his mind-boggling 96-192 record, I’m going to hold off on declaring Minnesota a contender for the West’s 8th seed. I’d love nothing more than to drink the McHale Kool-Aid and be preparing for a 42-40 finish, but I just can’t bring myself to it. Prediction: 33-49

[Empty The Bench]
The goal entering this season has to be locking up a low-level playoff spot, no matter how unlikely that may seem right now. If Jefferson continues his All-Star trajectory, Randy Foye finally lives up to the draft-night swap for Brandon Roy, Mike Miller thrives as a primary weapon outside, Corey Brewer emerges as an athletic defender who can run the floor, Kevin Love becomes the inside presence and passer the Wolves offense needs to outscore teams, Sebastian Telfair continues his maturation as a true backup point, Rashad McCants embraces his role of microwave off the bench, Craig Smith keeps cracking skulls in the paint, and Ryan Gomes continues to be professional and efficient beyond his years, well, then they just might have a chance……Ok, so they don’t have a chance. Prediction: 32-50

[Canis Hoopus]
OJ Mayo and a stash of contracts were traded to the Griz for Kevin Love, Mike Miller, and a serviceable 2nd string center with an expiring contract. Oh yeah, Brian Cardinal was in there too. At the time I called this deal highway robberyand I stand by that take. When it went down on draft night, Wolves fans were faced with two negative frames in which to place the trade into context: a) The team just pulled another Roy/Foye trade. b) The team that traded one of the greatest 4s of all time for Al Jefferson just picked another 4. Prediction: 36-46

Oklahoma City Thunder

[Baller Blogger]
Develop the young guys and win enough games to endear yourself to the new home crowd. Obviously, this team is not going to contend for a playoff spot. However, they should expect to win at least a handful more games than they won last year. I think they’ll be disappointed if they don’t win at least 25 games, with 30 as an outside possibility if Durant and Green both make huge improvements in their second seasons. Another thing to look for is in-season trades. GM Sam Presti has shown a pretty good mind for getting the best out of trades, and there are some solid assets here (Collison or Smith especially) who could be traded to a contender for draft picks. Prediction: 24-56

[Blue Blitz]
On the court, this team has absolutely no expectations. Almost everybody predicts them to finish dead-last in the West. Player-wise, we are looking to develop everybody. If we can find a star out of the blue, like David West was when the Hornets were here, we’d consider it a successful season. We’re not looking to put a win-loss total on the Thunder this year. We just expect them to go out there, try their hardest, and have some fun. Prediction: 17-65

[The Thunderworld]
Most people are picking them to finish last in not only the West, but the entire NBA. Most experts don’t think they’ll improve on their 20 wins from last year. But by playing good .500 ball at the Ford Center this year, they’ll be assured of 20 wins right there and then if they play decently on the road, they could be looking at a 30 win year, which would be a huge, huge boost. Look, no one gave the 2005 Hornets a prayer to compete. They won 18 games the year before and appeared to have gotten worse. But behind a bump from a rabid city and a really, really good point guard, the team challenged for a playoff spot. There’s no reason the Thunder can’t aspire to do the same. Prediction: 30-52

Portland Trailblazers

[A Stern Warning]
The Blazers do not have any illusions of grandeur in their goals for this season. The team knows that they are young and will need at least another year to bond as a unit that can even consider challenging for a title. Integrating four rookies into a squad is never an easy task, regardless of their talent levels. Last season was an unexpected surprise, as a team that was predicted to fall dismally with the l
oss of starting 20-10 player Zach Randolph and the season-ending injury to Oden, managed to pull to .500 with the second most exciting winning streak of the season (after that of the Houston Rockets). Thus this season the expectation is that the Blazers will do one better, move into the playoffs and whilst not looking to go all the way, will pick up the experience needed to take them where they want to go in future seasons. Prediction: 45-37

[Blazers Edge]
In the past month, I’ve heard the Presidential candidates debate ad naseum whether to use a “hatchet” or a “scalpel” to reform government. I think it’s safe to say that General Manager Kevin Pritchard and Assistant GM Tom Penn are scalpel-wielding roster-reformers. Every move they make is precise and accurate. Like watching a surgeon dissect a dead animal, it’s a thing of beauty. What? Prediction: 49-33

[Rip City Project]
Playoffs, playoffs, playoffs. Despite the incredibly tough state of the Western Conference – and with some teams on the decline – the Blazers goal is clearly making the leap and making the playoffs. More importantly, that’s the immediate goal the coaching staff has instilled in the players in an effort to, we would guess, curtail the championship expectations. To pull a card out of the cliché hat, if the team is playing hard and taking the long-term journey in year-to-year steps, all is well. Prediction: 46-36

Utah Jazz

[UtesFan89]
Two years ago, this team surprised (and took advantage of an easy road) and made it to the Western Conference Finals. Last year, it got a bit tougher, and they could only make it back to the Conference Semifinals. You’ve got the fact the team stood still this offseason though and you throw in the fact that so many players are potentially entering contract seasons, and it just seems like management thinks this team is perfectly built. And, as a result, the goal has to be to win the NBA Finals. No one has any idea what the team will look like at this point next season, so you can’t just say “win in the next couple years”. The team is built to win now and, if the team stays together, win in the future. Might as well start winning now though… especially with no guarantee on how long the team will actually stay together. Prediction: 58-24

[SLC Dunk]
For two years in a row now they’ve been the fourth seed in the West but have had to open on the road in Houston. They’ve been able to overcome both of those first round series, but if the Jazz are to advance deep into the playoffs, they have to have home-court advantage. They haven’t had that veteran experience yet where they can win on the road consistently. Until they do, they’ll need to play their series at the ESA. The Jazz have as much talent as any other team in the league. There is no reason that they can’t contend for the title. They have the offense, the drive, and the youth to match up against any team. But a defensive stopper would be nice. Prediction: 56-26 (prior to Williams’ injury)

Random Posts

• January 27, 2010 -- The Lake Show Sets The Example: Wizards Post-Game Locker Room Portraits & Quotes
• November 14, 2010 -- Player Lock: Meretricious McGee
• March 19, 2008 -- Wizards Live Game Blog: at Orlando Magic: Game 67

—-
About That Nuggets Game [live blog]

With 5:41 left in the 4th quarter, as Linas Kleiza was hitting two FTs to push the Denver lead to 12 at 96-84, Carmelo Anthony, who at the time had 40 points, checked back into the game.

Normally, I would not blame a team for bringing their superstar back to the court with a 12 point lead. Five minutes and forty-one seconds is a lot of time….we know this is the NBA. But, it’s the manner in which the Nuggets carried out the remainder of the game that makes me object. Denver’s intent was not so much to put away the game as a team, rather so ‘Melo My Man could put on an individual show and go for an individual achievement.

Eddie Jordan has his opinion on the subject: “The end part of that game I felt was a little bit on the classless side,” Coach Eddie Jordan said after his team’s sixth straight defeat. “But we all have our ways and when you get your butt kicked, the other team can do whatever it wants to do. But I thought it was very classless to close a game out like that. I have my opinion; I can say what I want to say. That’s what I thought it was.”

I understand Eddie’s frustration. No one likes to be embarrassingly kicked while they’re down. But my thoughts are close to those of Jake on Bullets Forever.

1. Did the Nuggets have the right to put Carmelo on the court? Yes, just as the Wizards had the right to double Melo off the ball so he would not achieve fiddy.
2. Do I blame Denver for doing so? No, with that much time, no lead is safe.
3. Does Eddie Jordan have a beef? It’s certainly his right to complain as well. But I think he’s making his comments more for his own team. The Wizards effort against the Nuggets was not bad, but the team needs to play with more pride to succeed.

—-
On To Rise In Phoenix (hopefully)

Remember when the Wizards were last in the desert? I do. I watched the game at Buffalo Billiards in Dupont Circle with a group of friends. Gilbert dropped 54 points in a dramatic 144-139 overtime win. That night was my first public witnessing of Gilbert’s “arrival” in DC, outside of the phone booth. Buffalo Billiards, or most any bar in the District, is not known for becoming captivated by an NBA game, much less one involving the hometown Wizards. But that evening, people who otherwise could not name more than two Wizards were incapable of averting their eyes.

Tonight is a Mentally Tough Game. It’s unlikely that Caron Butler or Antonio Daniels will play. They probably shouldn’t. Phoenix is a very smart basketball team led by a top 5 NBA point guard. We’re all weary of their incendiary offense. I’m not sure I’ve ever hoped for a morale victory before, I suppose tonight will be the first. Essentially, the young Wizards must learn and show growth in a game like this. Because of the aforementioned reasons, they cannot afford to relax for one second. They can’t incur cerebral breakdowns. They must be mentally tough.

—-
In Other News

• Why is Andray Blatche sad these days? Mac G’s Word has the answer.

• Gilbert Arenas has created a new beverage called an Agent Zero. It’s half Corona, half Shirley Temple, and 100% fruity.
• Also from that DC Bog post about Gil’s drink concoction, we learn that Arenas once had keloids in the crotch region. That doesn’t sound very Agent Zero-like.
• Gilbert the Prankster will always have the last laugh. I think Nick Young got off easy.
• Gilbert Arenas in a Q&A with Slam’s Michael Tillery:
  

  “Watching the game like a coach. It’s easy to watch it as a player. You see things and you try to figure out what coach is talking about. As you sit there, you begin to think like a coach instead of a player.”

  I look forward to seeing the results of his mentally maturing basketball IQ. After all, gathering intelligence is what agents do.

Random Posts

• December 14, 2007 -- Live Game 22 Blog: Washington Wizards @ Miami Heat
• October 14, 2010 -- ShareBullets: JaVale McGee Teaches The Hook Shot
• September 17, 2010 -- Removing Washington Bullets Gear From Production: The Inside Story

Gilbert Arenas has a new blog post and yes, he knows that it was a bad shot last night against the New Jersey Nets. All is forgiven.

Plus, he covers it all in this entry [his knee, his talk with Kidd after the Nets game, the celebrity blogger award, and A.I. being back in the phone booth]….thanks to Gil for being more the informer and less the entertainer for a change.

I’ll be at the game tonight, but will take notes. Go Wizards.

Oh yea…actually, there is one key to the game: The Verizon Center Crowd.

Random Posts

• August 27, 2009 -- Who Is Randy Foye?
• October 24, 2011 -- ShareBullets: John Wall Is Bummed, Nick Young Is Am Appy
• June 15, 2009 -- How the Washington Wizards Turned Around the Lakers’ Season