It was late in Wednesday night’s Wizards win over the Indiana Pacers. John Wall had just used his all too familiar quickness to dart past Darren Collison and then shuttle the ball to Nick Young in the far left corner for a three-pointer that put the Wizards up 100-84 with 2:23 left in the game. But in the process, Wall took a hard tumble to the floor — thanks to some Pacer I assumed at the time — I just remember Wall’s reaction. He flipped the referee an incredulous look, searching for a reason why he didn’t blow the whistle.

The next thing I knew, after a whistle had blown for another reason on the other end of the court (Andray Blatche fouled Tyler Hansbrough while shooting), Wall was in Josh McRoberts’ face, directly in front of where I sat on the baseline taking photos.

Why was he so angry? Why was he getting in the grill of a dude six inches taller and 45 pounds heavier? It had clearly had something to do with Wall’s crash to the hardwood on the opposite baseline. The referees quickly broke up the bout of chest bumping and words and assessed Wall with a technical foul. But his emotion wouldn’t let it go; he looked and gestured toward McRoberts and the Pacers’ bench as the two teams went into a timeout. Wall’s teammates and coaches had to restrain him. Cooler heads ultimately prevailed, and the Wizards held off the Pacers in that last stretch of the game. Let’s go to the video to see exactly what happened…

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Maybe it’s a good omen that the Wizards won their last home game in 2010 as we go from the year of the tiger to the year of the rabbit in 2011. Great, more missed bunnies at the rim … kidding.

So let’s begin to kick-off the new year on a more positive note by looking back at some of the pictures from Wednesday night’s 104-90 win versus the Indiana Pacers that I took from the baseline. But first…

Congrats to Jennifer Lin, who was the first to correctly answer the Twitter Trivia for free tickets to the game (courtesy of StubHub), which was:

In Wizards-Bullets franchise history, 6 players from U. of Maryland have been drafted by the team. Name 3 of them.

Jennifer’s answers were Steve Blake (’03), Juan Dixon (’02) and Lawrence Boston (’78). Len Elmore (’74), Howard White (’73) and Will Hetzel (’70) were also franchise draftees from UMD-College Park.

Pictures with captions.

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Recently I had a chance to interview Clark Kellogg over the phone. It was set up by a PR team in conjunction with promoting the Capital One Cup, which is a new award to be given out to the top men’s and women’s collegiate athletic programs (you’ve likely seen commercials about this on ESPN).

Points for the Cup will be accumulated according to how schools fare across 13 tiered men’s and women’s Division I sports programs (Men’s: Tier 1 – football, basketball, and baseball; T2 – soccer, swimming & diving, outdoor track & field, and lacrosse; T3 – cross country, wrestling, ice hockey, indoor track & field, golf, and tennis; Women’s: Tier 1: volleyball, basketball, and softball; T2; soccer, swimming & diving, outdoor track & field, and lacrosse; T3: cross country, field hockey, indoor track & field, golf, tennis, and rowing — Tier 1 sports are worth three times the points, Tier 2 sports are worth two times, and Tier 3 sports are worth their actual point number. Sports are tiered to “reward success in sports with the most student athlete participation and fan interest.”).

Schools with the most cumulative points across all men’s and women’s sports will each be presented with a trophy, $200,000 to fund student-athlete graduate-level scholarships, and will be honored at the ESPY Awards held in July. Top 10 finishers for men’s and women’s sports cumulative point totals will also each be recognized.

Kellogg was selected by Capital One to be an advisory board member for the award along with Doug Flutie, Brandi Chastain, Lisa Leslie, Robin Ventura and Rece Davis.

So, you’re probably asking yourself, ‘Why would a Wizards blogger want to interview Clark Kellogg?’

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Skates. They can be roller or ice.  But they can also happen on the basketball court.

“Putting someone on skates,” means to initiate an offensive move which makes the defender appear like he’s wearing one of the aforementioned … like he’s sliding (or rolling) in a direction beyond control.

Recently, Duke’s Josh McRoberts, who plays for the Indiana Pacers in the present day, gave young JaVale McGee, of the Washington Wizards, a pair of skates. With a couple hard dribbles to the right and a cross behind the back to the left, McRoberts sent McGee slippin’ and slidin’ all over the court. Let’s watch in GIF form.

Now, to McGee’s credit, the youngster immediately bounced back up and attempted to block McRoberts, but was ultimately unsuccessful, sending the Pacer to the free-throw line for two shots. That was McGee’s third foul in just under six minutes of action in the first quarter. He was subsequently summoned to the bench. Let’s look at another angle…

In other news, McRoberts kinda-sorta looks like a much taller Charlie from “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia”.

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The last game of the Wizards season is here and I don’t know how I feel. I’m glad it’s almost over, but not glad that they are missing the playoffs, obviously. In terms of reflecting upon the season, that’s much too hard to do right now. So much to consider. But all of the players and coach Flip Saunders will be asked to do so after the game against the Pacers tonight. In lieu of what was rumored to be an exit-interview-esque, end-of-the-season media day on Thursday, the Wizards are cramming everything into the post-game media festivities. So, as you can imagine, even with bad team, albeit under abnormal circumstances, there are hoards of media at the Verizon Center this evening who haven’t sniffed the arena’s hardwood since the trade deadline. And prior to that, the Gilbert Arenas fiasco.

There will be plenty of questions about summertime plans, free-agent wishes for some, hopes for next year for others, and thoughts on what it was like to be a Washington Wizards in 2009-10 for all. To think about all that’s gone down this season is mind-boggling. Forty-one home games up, 41 down, and I’ve attended them all. Even though this has been epically horrible as a Wizards fan, I wouldn’t trade the privilege I’ve been afforded to cover the team and it’s personalities from up close for much. I can guarantee there will be plenty of looking-back on the past, in the future. But until then, I’m going to sit back and try to enjoy the last NBA basketball game I will attend until next October.

Some pregame pictures from Adam Douglas:

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{Immediately after giving him pre-game a fist-bump, Flip Saunders gave his embattled 23-year old forward a pat on the backside.}

How about we talk about some basketball for a change? I mean, that is why we all are here, right? Seems like nothing but bad, non-basketball court related Wizards news to talk about lately. Well, aside from the impending Ted Leonsis takeover. But let’s get back on the court and talk some roundball!

Oh wait … the Wizards are in the midst of a 13-game losing streak, the worst in franchise history and the third time such a streak has occurred.

Dan Steinberg put out a great account of the previous 13-game losing streak on the DC Sports Bog, my favorite is loss number five,  which involved a personal 11-2 run by the Miami Heat’s Khalid Reeves. My favorite loss from this current 13-game losing streak would have to be loss number three against the Celtics in Boston … you know, the JaVale McGee ‘Fish Out of Water’ game.

I took some notes on Wizards lucky loss #13 against the Indiana Pacers on Wednesday, here they go …

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The below piece originally appeared in ESPN’s NBA Daily Dime on March 25, 2010. Click the link for the full version available on ESPN.com.

{Flip Saunders and Andray Blatche exchange a fist-bump prior to Wednesday’s game against the Indiana Pacers.}

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Andray Blatche has had quite a past 36 hours. He went from NBA Most Improved Player candidate, well, at least according to Tuesday’s pre-game fliers handed out by the Wizards’ marketing team, to only playing seven minutes that night against Charlotte and sulking on the bench, to being accused by Flip Saunders of not wanting to play nor be coached, to hitting the D.C. sports media circuit on Wednesday, defending himself and calling his coach’s charges a bold-faced lie, to starting last night in Indiana, leading his team in scoring with 21 points in a 99-82 loss to the Pacers.

Yep, quite an eventful 36.

More curious to most is not how Blatche responded on the court after such a tumultuous run, but how he was not suspended for the game against Indiana after his prior actions. Whether Blatche really refused to go back into Tuesday’s game against the Bobcats as his coach originally indicated remains a “he said, he said” situation. But the fact which Blatche cannot contest is that when his coaches tried to talk to him, he refused and planted himself at the end of the bench.

So why no suspension? Maybe Saunders wanted to see how the 23-year old would react as a player. Maybe Wizards team president Ernie Grunfeld stepped in with an executive decision. Just like what really happened between Gilbert Arenas and Javaris Crittenton, we may never know. Right now the player seems content with calling the ordeal a misunderstanding, while still curiously maintaining that he did nothing wrong, and the coach seems content with moving on.

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NOTE: I’ll be chatting about tonight’s Wizards-Clippers game on www.CSNWashington.com at 10:15 pm. Come by and hang out if you’re up … and by “up” I mean both awake and down to watch the Wiz.

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I’m doing this post for a couple reasons: I can’t escape the carnage of Saturday night, and in his post-game interview, Brendan Haywood mentioned some repeated, successful plays run between Earl Watson and Tyler Hansbrough. I wanted to investigate further.

“We didn’t make defensive plays at the end of that game. They ran the same play with Earl Watson and Hansbrough three, four times in a row … didn’t make an adjustment, no help on the weak side, nothing was done.” -Brendan Haywood

I’m not sure how many times the specific play with Watson and Hansbrough was run throughout the course of the game, but I’m going to focus on the final 1:22 where it was run twice in a row.

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In my initial Wizards-Pacers game post, I was completely remiss in not mentioning the foul with 0.5 seconds which gave Mike Dunleavy the game winning free-throws.

In his post-game interview, Brendan Haywood cited the defense allowing Earl Watson and Tyler Hansbrough to do whatever they wanted in preceding key possessions as one of the main causes of defeat (along with a horrendous second quarter), but I got the feeling that most everyone on the team felt they got cheated out of a win because an unjust foul was called.

Is that so?

“The call … I looked at it ten times, that call at the end. They called the foul on Brendan Haywood. If the foul was called on Brendan Haywood, the game was over … so that was a bad call.” -Flip Saunders

“Uh … yea … the score says they won, but you know …” -Antawn Jamison

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“Gilbert has ice water through his veins and he knocked them down. It was a very strange ending.”

Former Wizards coach Eddie Jordan said those words over 1,000 days ago. Down 106-104 on March 4, 2007, Gilbert Arenas drove to the rim against Mikael Pietrus of Golden State and drew a shooting foul that some called questionable. Warriors Don Nelson stormed off the bench, the referees assessed him a controversial technical. When the ensuing confusion was finally quelled, the refs put 0.1 seconds on the clock and Arenas calmly sunk three straight free-throws to win the game 107-106 on his home court.

But those were different times. That was a different Gilbert Arenas. And Saturday night’s game ended in a very different manner for the Washington Wizards. The basketball gods have evidently swung their pendulum of favor in the opposite direction.

I’ve seen crazier NBA endings. Reggie Miller’s eight points in nine seconds (ironically the name of the TrueHoop Network’s Pacers blog) comes to mind.

I’ve seen more shocking happenings solely involving the Wizards. Just look up a game against the Toronto Raptors on March 30, 2007 (26 days after the infamous Don Nelson tech).

I’ve also been in more sad, heartbroken locker rooms. Try being in one after a 5-seed expected to make noise in the NCAA Tournament goes down in the waning seconds to a 12-seed.

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Feel like I keep saying this, but here goes … The Wizards really need to win tonight against Indiana.

Enough about getting on the right track, pushing the tempo, finding a way to get Caron Butler involved, making free-throws, starting with energy, winning the battle on the boards, etc., etc..

All of that stuff is important. But the “this game starts and ends with _____” fill-in-the-blank cliché comes down to pride. Seems pretty simple.

Play like you want to win the game. Play like you have too much pride to lose to a team that should be inferior (especially without Danny Granger). A team that demoralized the Wizards last time out … known to many as “The Honeydew Game.”

The Wizards haven’t progressed much since candy dishes and fruit plates were strewn across the visitor’s locker room at Conseco Fieldhouse over a month ago. They currently stand equal to Indiana at 7-13. If the time to turn this thing around isn’t tonight, it might never happen.

I may have another post closer to game-time, but until then, here’s some video and links from the past couple of days. Read more »

It’s baffling how for the second game in a row the Wizards came out flat and lacking energy. You’d think that with the sour taste of a 19-win season still fresh, this team would play like they have something to prove. Guess not. Against the Pacers, the poor effort continued for the duration of the game as the Wizards fell 102-86.

So what is the reason? Is it still a matter of everyone getting used to their roles and flow in a new offensive system? Is it still a “process”?

The effort part is clearly on the players, evident by the strewn candy dishes and honeydew melon that resulted from Antawn Jamison’s post game tirade.

Flip Saunders seemed to be as confused about how to maneuver his team as anyone (which immediately conjured up images of Charlie in “It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia” in my mind — just see seconds 15-18 in the clip below).

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Caron will have his work cut out for him in trying to guard Danny Granger tonight. And the best way to combat a guy averaging 23 points per game (tied for 16th in the NBA)? Attack, attack, and attack him on offense.

Granger has been mad lately. He evidently stormed off without talking to the media after the Pacers lost to the Nuggets on Tuesday. The next night, he came back and scored 21 points on 7-18 from the field in win against the Knicks.

But things still aren’t all that great for last year’s Most Improved Player. He’s been struggling with an injury to his right heel (bone bruise), and some say he hasn’t been able to get good lift on his jumper … this is evident by his 40.3% from the field and a True Shooting Percentage (TS%) of .534 in four games this season.

Caron Butler, as we know, isn’t faring much better on offense. He’s shooting 39.6% from the field (.473 TS%). He missed the Wizards’ home opener against the Nets (and most of the previous game in Atlanta) because of a bruised knee-cap, but his struggles aren’t believed to be of a physical derivation.

So what’s the deal with Tuff Juice? Why has he been getting caught “watching the show,” as he says?

It’s hard to put a finger on it. When Butler is trying to be aggressive on offense, he tends to pound the ball into the floor, stagnating ball movement and not creating for his teammates as they watch. Other times, Caron simply hasn’t inserted himself into the offensive rhythm, electing to observe while Gilbert Arenas tries to do his thing.

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I mentioned the Bullets Forever idea of trading Mike James and Javaris Crittenton to Indiana for Travis Diener and Jeff Foster in the previous post, ‘Finding A Big Man For The Washington Wizards’ … which could quite possibly the first ‘two white men for two black men trade’ in the NBA in decades, if not ever.

Naturally, I wanted to get the opinion of a Pacers fan-blogger on the potential deal. Tom Lewis of Indy Cornrows was kind enough to weigh-in via email:

[The] proposed trade definitely makes sense from an emotionless nuts and bolts perspective. I do think the Pacers are willing to move Foster and with Mike James involved the team could have additional cap room next summer. Plus, as an added bonus, assuming Jarrett Jack does not re-sign and the team keeps A.J. Price in play, James may be a good mentor for the rook since both hail from Amityville, NY.

The Diener/Crittenton parts appear to be a wash. Diener is in the last year of his deal and Crittenton has a team option next summer. Crittenton has some known flaws, namely his ability to shoot the three and too many turnovers which are two areas Jim O’Brien values highly which he proved last season by moving T.J. Ford out of the starting lineup. The physical upside to Crittenton’s game would be worth the gamble though since the team could let him go after the season, not a bad worst-case scenario.

Diener has been pretty efficient running the Pacers offense when healthy which he wasn’t for much of last year. Plus, he can knock down perimeter shots which would probably be the determining factor between the two if Jim O’Brien has a say.

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I’m a huge Antawn Jamison fan. He’s a classy dude, I’ve nicknamed him ‘The Gentlemen’ (hasn’t caught on), and the women folk say he’s got eyebrows for days.

Jamison is the current patriarchal cornerstone of the franchise. This year’s team MVP? Unquestionably. He possesses the never-quit attitude that should be infecting the locker room via leadership by example … Jamison is quite the opposite of past clubhouse cancers, like Christian Laettner.

But sometimes, everyone needs to be questioned, Jamison being no exception.

Jamison’s struggles on defense are no secret. He has aging lateral movement, and as discovered this year, he’s not an adequate substitute for Brendan Haywood‘s post defensive communication. Are we to just accept Jamison’s “unique” scoring ability, rebounding numbers, and minimal turnovers as big pluses? Or should Flip Saunders seek improved defense out of the starting lineup?

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