[The DC Council -- After each Wizards game: setting the scene, rating the starters, assessing the bench, providing the analysis, and catching anything that you may have missed. Unlike the real DC Council, everything here is over the table. Game 17 contributors: Markus Allen, Adam McGinnis and Kyle Weidie.]

[NOTE: Per news, Flip Saunders has been fired, and Randy Wittman will replace him. The content below doesn't not reflect knowledge of that, and only pertains to last night's game. The TAI crew will be ready with thoughts on this coaching move by the Wizards at some point soon. Also note: Markus Allen is from Severn, Maryland, has been a Wizards fan since the early 2000s, and is currently attenting Mississippi State University. This is his first contribution to Truth About It.net.]

[The Wiz Kids celebrate a home win over Philly last season. - photo: A. McGinnis]

Including two preseason contests, the Washington Wizards have already faced the Philadelphia 76ers four times this season (out of 18 total games, including preseason). Tonight represents the fifth meeting, and at that, the Wizards are searching for their first road win in about 300 days (March 13, 2011 against the Jazz in Utah was the last time). You know the drill… three questions, three answers… Tonight we have Jordan Sams from the SB Nation Sixer blog Liberty Ballers, along with TAI’s John Converse Townsend and Kyle Weidie. Away we go…

#1) In two meetings against the Sixers so far, John Wall has averaged 13 points, 6.5 rebounds, 7.0 assists and 6.5 turnovers. His current turnaround, however, started with a great second half in that Jan. 14 Saturday night contest — in the four games since that Sixers matchup, Wall has averaged 25.8 points, 8.0 rebounds, 8.3 assists and 3.5 turnovers. Philly’s own Sweet Lou (Williams) has averaged 21.5 points in 25.4 minutes off the bench against Washington this season. Which player is more likely to get over 25 points tonight and why?

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When John Wall “Dougied” in front of an elated Verizon Center crowd before his professional home debut on November 2, 2010, the Game Changer’s career would be forever linked to the Philadelphia 76ers. Little did anyone know at the time how this connection between Wall’s Wizards and the 76ers would epitomize the ups and downs of his personal and team success. Philadelphia has sky-rocketed into its current perch amongst the best of the Eastern Conference, while Washington has plummeted to become a national punch line for sports futility. The relationship between Wizards and the 76ers has seen its triumphs, torment and just plain weirdness in the brief Wall era.

Going into the 2010-11 season, similarities between the teams were striking. Wall was the first overall pick in 2010, Philly selected Evan Turner second. Both teams were led by veteran teachers (Flip Saunders and Doug Collins) who had past playoff success. All-Star guards Andre Iguodala and Gilbert Arenas were viewed as possessing albatross contracts that needed to be moved in order for the teams to rebuild. A crop of young players in Thaddeus Young, Jrue Holiday, Lou Williams, JaVale McGee, Nick Young, and Andray Blatche littered their rosters.

Wall won each of his first two meetings versus Philly in thrilling overtime fashion, and a budding rivalry seemed in motion for these two NBA cities separated by only 132 miles. However, Washington has now lost four straight to Philadelphia by double-digits, including the most recent 103-90 defeat on January 14th.

In the original ‘Teach Me How to Dougie’ game, Wizards reserve Cartier Martin hit an improbable three point shot to send the game in overtime. Washington eventually pulled it out 106-105 on the strength of free throws, and Wall produced an eye-popping stat line: 29 points, 13 assists, 9 steals and 8 turnovers.  Wall’s first pro game, seen on TNT, was a dud blowout loss in Orlando, and while he performed much better in his second game (28 points and nine assists), the Halloween weekend loss in Atlanta garnered little attention. The 76ers victory affirmed to the sports world that the one-and-done hot shot out of Kentucky might be worthy of all the hype.

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[The DC Council -- After each Wizards game: setting the scene, rating the starters, assessing the bench, providing the analysis, and catching anything that you may have missed. Unlike the real DC Council, everything here is over the table. Game 12 contributors: Adam McGinnis and Kyle Weidie with first-hand coverage and John Converse Townsend from watching on T.V.]

Score

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The Wizards weren’t necessarily really, really bad in their 103-90 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers on Saturday night, they were just normal bad. For one, don’t take credit away from the Sixers. Good team. For two, Washington seemed to earnestly try in small doses to pass the ball to each other. It’s just that usually when they did, the passes were not crisp, or the recipient couldn’t finish, or a number of other things that just don’t seem to go a bad team’s way happened — no help from the refs, plenty of missed shots from point-blank range, etc.

Philadelphia scored 27 points off 18 Washington turnovers, 21 of those points came in the first half off 13 turnovers (seven in the first quarter, six in the second). Andre Igoudala got points with ease for Philadelphia when needed, finishing with 23 on 9-16 FGs with five steals, five assists and seven rebounds. Igoudala also had teammates who filled in with help. Thaddeus Young chipped in a solid 18 points off the bench, Wizard killer Lou Williams had 24 points on 4-6 from deep.

The money quote from Flip Saunders after the game: “The first half we looked like ‘Space Jam’ where everyone lost all their talents and couldn’t do anything there for a while. But I told them, when you haven’t passed the ball very much, and you’ve been holding the ball and holding it, then all of a sudden, as a team, when you try to start doing it, it’s like guys aren’t ready.”

The difference being: Michael Jordan brought the ToonSquad back to a fictitious, animated victory in the 1996 movie. The Wizards, well, they are living real life and the only Jordan they have is Jordan Crawford. A 1-11 record is in the books… Lights Out Wizards. Read more »

[Lou Williams - photo: K. Weidie]

As I publish this post, the Wizards are down 52-40 to the Philadelphia 76ers at halftime. After a relatively decent first quarter where Washington outscored the Sixers 26-23 behind 11 points from Nick Young on 4-7 shooting and 10 points and five rebounds (three offensive) from JaVale McGee, things came more back to reality. Philadelphia out-scored the Wizards 29-14 in the second quarter. It’s not that Washington was wholly selfish as usual, they just found a way to bumble opportunity, even when Philadelphia gave them a couple chances with turnovers (six, leading to four Washington points). But the Wizards turned the ball over even more, giving it away 13 times leading to 21 Philadelphia points at the half. Below are some speakable quotes from Flip Saunders, Sixers coach Doug Collins, and notorious Wizards killer Lou Williams from before the game started.

Before the game Flip Saunders was asked how a coach sends the message that selfish basketball won’t be tolerated. Flip said:

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Ready again folks? What game is this? Game 12? The Wizards are 1-10? It all seems like it’s becoming a blur real fast. Thankfully this post will be simple. You know the drill. Three questions, three answers… featuring Michael Katz from SB Nation, and TAI’s Adam McGinnis and John Converse Townsend. Start it up…

#1)  Fact of Fiction: Flip Saunders’ job is contingent on how the Wizards play over the next stretch of five home games in a row, against Philadelphia, Houston, Oklahoma City, Denver and Boston.

KATZ: Fiction. Bless Flip Saunders, who is basically living Stand and Deliver: How do I reach these kids! Bless Andray Blatche, who in an attempt to stick up for Saunders, basically admitted the Wizards have tuned him out. Flip will eventually take the fall for the 2012 Wizards — because someone has to — but right now does it make sense to pay Saunders (in the third year of a four-year $18 million deal) *and* someone else when Washington will struggle regardless? I think Flip is safe unless someone outrageous happens … which of course is not out of the question.

McGINNIS: Fiction. Although Leonsis has replaced coaches with the Caps before, and Wizards now have the same exact record of 1-10 when Eddie Jordan was fired in 2008, I do not see the owner making a change. Leonsis has a plan where Flip and Grunfeld are major players, and he is sticking to it, regardless of outside opinions.

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[The DC Council -- After each Wizards game: setting the scene, rating the starters, assessing the bench, providing the analysis, and catching anything that you may have missed. Unlike the real DC Council, everything here is over the table. Game 11 contributors over television screen: Rashad Mobley, Arish Narayen, and Kyle Weidie.]

Score

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It’s hard to know what to say after witnessing the effort from the Wizards on Friday night. Well, witnessing over television most of the second quarter, all of the third, and most of the fourth — more than enough. There wasn’t much to see aside from a handful of main players, including franchise poster boy John Wall, quit on the team and quit on themselves. The result was a widespread infection of basketball that would make an AAU coach cringe, but these guys are supposed to be professionals.

And so the Philadelphia 76ers mopped the floor with the Washington Wizards, 120 to 89. Just about the biggest accomplishment by Flip Saunders’ team was doing their part to fatten up the citizens of Philadelphia. With just under seven minutes left in the fourth quarter, Philadelphia’s Jodie Meeks made the second of back-to-back threes, putting the Sixers over the 100 point mark with a 102-72 lead. And with that triple-digit milestone, all fans in attendance were awarded free Big Macs.

Caron Butler once said that you gotta laugh to keep from crying. A DC Council post for this game is to come, but until then, let’s take a look at this dribbling display from Jordan Crawford. In your mind, play Yakety Sax (also embedded below), or the Cantina Song from Star Wars (yep, embedded below as well). Enjoy

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On draft night back in 2010, the Wizards and the Sixers were two bad teams who felt like they had received significant upgrades with the additions of John Wall and Evan Turner respectively.  Turner still comes off the bench, but the addition of Doug Collins along the maturation of Jrue Holiday, helped the Sixers reach the playoffs last year, along with a strong 7-3 start this year.  The Wizards were back in the lottery last year, and are far and away the worst team in the NBA this season.  To put it mildly, the Sixers have passed the Wizards by.  These two polar opposites will clash in Philadelphia tonight, but before that Truth About It writers Kyle Weidie and Rashad Mobley, along with the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Sixers beat writer (and former Wizards beat writer for the Washington Times) John Mitchell answer three questions…

#1)    In Kate Fagan’s well-written blog entry on Monday, she broke down the reasons why Philadelphia is playing so well offensively this year.  One of the main reasons for the offensive efficiency, is that Doug Collins and his coaching staff realized that his personnel excelled at running the pick-and-roll, and he needed to customize his offense to match their strengths.  Given that the John Wall is struggling offensively, and the Wizards as a whole are struggling on offense—they scored just 64 points in a loss to Chicago—should Flip Saunders look to make adjustments to the offense? Or are the Wizards just in a bad shooting slump?

MITCHELL:   I honestly don’t know what Flip can do to ignite the offense. John Wall is an electric talent, but he probably played with better talent at the collegiate level than he has in Washington.  Nick Young, allegedly and offensive player, was reportedly seeking $9 million annually yet he’s back in Washington hitting just 38 percent of his shots. With the Wizards, the ball too often sticks. That’s not a good thing.

MOBLEY:  The Wizards are in a bad slump but it has nothing to do with shooting, and everything to do with where they are mentally.  John Wall and Andray Blatche are missing baskets at point blank range.  Nick Young, as many times as he keeps the Wizards in the game with his scoring, is still forcing shots.  There have been very few possessions for the Wizards this season, where precise passing and patience led to any easy score.  If Flip can somehow get this team to do that, the offense would be more efficient.

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