Sixteen losses in a row and counting. The Wizards showed some bright spots in Tuesday night’s loss to Houston, such as JaVale McGee. Actually, he was pretty much the only bright spot. Well, James Singleton played okay.

Andray Blatche’s 31 points, 10 rebounds, four steals, three assists and three blocks you say? Well, when you play 41 minutes and receive the ball ALL. THE. TIME. (he took 23 shots) you are supposed to put up those numbers. He still has too much Tin Man in him … no heart … especially when it comes to rebounding toughness.

The Wizards mostly showed that they did not deserve to win. I’m sure some are saying, ‘Hey, those guys competed without Foye, Thornton, Gee, etc.’ But the Rockets also competed without Kevin Martin, Shane Battier and Jared Jeffries. Plus, the Wizards were beaten by Chase Budinger. Enough said.

Nonetheless, below are the notes and observations I took/made as I watched the game on delay at my leisure.

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Okay. It’s not worth playing the “what if” game with Jermaine Taylor. You do remember Jermaine Taylor, right?

Jump back to June 25, 2009, the night of the NBA Draft and “this guy’s” (me) birthday. Oh yea, Michael Jackson died that day too.

Draft night was a bit anti-climactic for Wizards fans. They were already having paper goodness dreams of Randy Foye and Mike Miller teaming up with the Big Three, et al., also knowing that there was no way fan draft darling Ricky Rubio could slip to the departed fifth pick. Oh, wait …

In any case, pick #32 was worth paying attention to. Would the crafty Ernie Grunfeld, a man seemingly able to load his team with win-in-the-now veterans and promising youth (now with fleeting promise), find another second round gem a la Michael Redd?

“Anything is possible!!” Grunfeld screamed from the draft war room. “Loading up the pump, I’m loading up the Uzis, I’ve got a couple of M-16s, couple of nines, couple of joints with some silencers on them, couple of grenades, got a missile launcher. I’m ready for war,” said Grunfeld, quoting Kevin Garnett under the tutelage of Flip Saunders. [Note: Grunfeld did not say any of this.]

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After Tuesday’s game against the Rockets, James Singleton said, “After every game I go home and watch film. I look at more of the negatives than the positives because the positives are going to happen. But the negatives you want to keep to a small minimum.”

And while there isn’t any adjusting I can personally do for this Washington Wizards basketball team, these screen-shot posts tend to focus on the negatives for the same reason outlined by Singleton. The positives are going to happen because that’s what the Wizards are trying to do. I want to know when they weren’t trying. And away we go…

“This” guy.

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I plan on breaking-down Tuesday’s loss to the Rockets in screen shots at some point in the near future. But until then, here are some pictures of various Houston Rockets from the pre-game shoot-around followed by some of the best of what was said about the game.

No longer your daddy, just Battier.

Argentine Thoughts.

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If you saw the Wizards-Rockets game on Tuesday night, you know part of the story (in case you didn’t, the Wizards lost 96-88). If you’ve read recaps from various sites, you know another part of the story … from someone’s perspective. If you were lucky enough to be in the locker room after the game, your knowledge of the story gets even deeper. Not everyone can be so lucky. But if you’ve come here, you can at least know part of what it was like with this video comprised of Wizards player quotes and responses to the questions they were asked.

More to come …

As I’ve stated, Ron Artest was unjustifiably tossed from Friday night’s game against the Lakers, which has since been downgraded to a flagrant 1.

The best part about Arest’s ejection wasn’t the quiet exit, but in the midst of slapping dejected fives to anything that moved, Ronnie tossed one the cheerleader’s way, via her pom-pom, and moved on in a matter of fact manner.

Seriously. It’s supposed to be the EENNN BEEEE AAAAA playoffs. Teams send messages to each other. Let it be.

Instead, NBA refs get to be the ones sending messages. Is that what fans want? Doubt it.

So I’m watching Ron Artest, who was having a terrible ‘crazy pills = horrible shot selection’ Ron Artest kind of night in the first place, get kicked out of game three in Houston with a flagrant 2 for no apparent reason.

Hard foul on softy Gasol, no biggie … just a sharp knock of the ball out Pau’s hands, the Euro goes flop-flying, and all of a sudden it’s D-Day. Artest gets kicked out because there is less than a minute on the clock, the Lakers have the game in hand, and because he’s Ron Artest.

“I don’t think that was a flagrant …. You know, I’m an 80s baby, so that shoulda been two shots and be done with it.” -Kobe Bryant

Back to game two.

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Caron Butler is out again (I guess this is the “tanking it” that many have been calling for — you know and I know that if this game meant something, Tuff Juice would be spilling himself on the court.)

Q1

11:48: Andray v. Yao….Ming stars off with a fade away miss, Blatche played decent D on him the last time out.

11:00: Instead of staying with Battier,Young zones to Scola with the ball….Jamison is there, but could stand to be closer as Scola can shoot…..Who’s Your Daddy Battier is open in the corner for the swing pass…..three ball. 3-2 Houston.

10:46: Andray takes a college three (top of key) with 15 on the shot clock — don’t care if you’re open Andray — No, No, NO!!

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I guess I should be okay with missing 75% of last night’s game between the Wizards and the Houston Rockets, even though I still do want to see the debacle with my own eyes. I got to watch the 2nd quarter from a bar at Reagan National Airport while downing multiple double Ketel One & tonics…..not sure if the binge was more celebratory as the Wiz were up 29-17 after one quarter, or anticipatory, sensing the ultimate outcome after the lead was squandered to only a one point advantage at the half. In any case, here’s a run-down from the best of the web:
——————————————
[ESPN.com Box Score]

The Washington Wizards appear to have solved their hole-digging slow starts now that speedy point guard Dee Brown and athletic center JaVale McGee start alongside All-Stars Caron Butler and Antawn Jamison and ironman DeShawn Stevenson. Finishing games, however, remains a different story.
[The Washington Times]

I can’t remember seeing a game so completely dominated by a player who scored four points in the fourth quarter but that’s what happened tonight as the Houston Rockets ran everything through Yao Ming when it counted, spread the floor with shooters and used a 27-6 game-ending run to put the Wizards away.
[Wizards Insider]

McGee, who was making his second straight start, did what he could, but the Rockets went after him relentlessly, time and again feeding the ball to the 7-foot-6, 310-pound Yao. As a result, Yao (18 points) dictated the game’s tempo in Houston’s 103-91 victory, while his teammates took advantage of the Washington defense whenever it sagged to stop him.
[The Washington Post]

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In anticipation of tonight’s game between the Washington Wizards and the Houston Rockets, the guys at The Dream Shake were gracious enough to answer some questions I had about their team. Read on……

[Update: My answers to questions from the Dream Shake]

1) Before the season, I berated Michael Wilbon on Bullets Forever for writing what I considered to be a hack-job of an NBA column. Part of my issue with his piece was misplaced optimism about the Houston Rockets. This is what I said:

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Jeff from CelticsBlog.com is doing the grunt work to put together a comprehensive NBA preview from bloggers ’round the ‘sphere. The Atlantic Division Preview was first, and now the Southwest Division is out. Here are the highlights from the participating bloggers for each team:

Dallas Mavericks

[Mavs Moneyball]
The single biggest move made in the offseason was the dismissal of head coach Avery Johnson and the hiring of Rick Carlisle. The Mavs have the luxury (or curse) of having their core team signed for some time. This continuity will certainly help the team transition under a new coach, as they only need to adapt to him rather than a bunch of new faces.
Prediction: 55-27

Houston Rockets

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Bullets Forever with the usual pre-game run down, and some thoughts about the locker room changes. I had my own thoughts there and here.

The Wizards are going to need the A game tonight so let’s start the show:

1st Quarter

Shane Battier starts out hot on Caron Butler, who looks uninterested in worrying about him on defense – Who’s Your Daddy Battier hits Houston’s first two buckets. 4-2 Rockets.

10:30 – No double team on Yao Ming to start…probably because he didn’t receive the ball in good position, so Brendan Haywood was able to hold his ground, forcing Ming to pass.

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>> Our very own Agent Zero now has a bond with Boston fans. He also defends the comments he made in Sports Illustrated in his new blog entry.

>> Wow….Chicago Bulls fans are even more upset with their team’s 0-3 start than the Wizards fans are. I guess it’s more surprising because most “experts” picked the Baby Bulls to do better than the Wiz. Not really sure why. But to be chanting Kobe Bryant’s name during games? That would never happen in DC…I hope.

>> Speaking of chanting names, Rocket’s fans are calling for more run for Stevie Franchise. Look, I know he’s a local DC guy, but I’ve never been a fan of Steve Francis. For one, I can’t stand it when privileged athletes whine about where they get selected in the draft, but to cry? On top of that, his ‘ball pounding a hole in the floor’ ways are not exactly conducive to a Rick Adelman offense.

>> Hey, if you’re going to play rough, you gotta protect ya boys.

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