Look, the Washington Wizards gave Jeremy Lin a wide open lane to dunk. You understand, don’t you? Let’s watch.

Yikes. Not good. I’m not sure if Jordan Crawford or Mo Evans or Jan Vesely froze, but… um… wow. John Wall and Trevor Booker also totally got duped by Lin turning down Tyson Chandler’s screen. So, team effort. Evans was asked about the dunk after the game. Let’s watch his answer.

Yes, it is just Wizards basketball right now. Also, take note of the crowd cheering Lin’s dunk. Very loud.

John Wall on the Verizon Center fans:

“When you play against certain teams, you already know the crowd is against us sometimes. So we just go out there and play. You make it a game, the crowd gets on your side.”

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The Wizards and Knicks face off for the second time this season, the previous meeting coming in Washington, a 99-96 Knicks win (the Wizards have only one trip to New York on their schedule). Without much deliberation, let’s get into tonight’s 3-on-3, featuring John Kenney (@JohnBKenney) of KnickerBlogger.net, the TrueHoop Network’s Knicks blog, along with TAI’s Rashad Mobley (@Rashad20) and myself, Kyle Weidie (@Truth_About_It). Three questions, three answers starts now…

#1) When John Wall and Jeremy Lin (as a member of the Dallas Mavericks ) faced off in the 2010 NBA Summer League, Wall had trouble defending Lin (as did Lin with Wall). John went under a lot of screens and Jeremy made him pay. The Wizards won 88-82, thanks to 23 points from Cartier Martin, but Lin did score 11 fourth quarter points. Tonight will be the first meeting between the two since. Considering the environment (especially Lin’s recent boost into the limelight as the Knicks prepare to play Washington without Carmelo Anthony (groin), Amar’e Stoudemire (death in the family) and Baron Davis (presumably a beard-related injury or ailment otherwise)), how will this Wall-Lin matchup play out?

KENNEY: While many have focused on Lin’s offensive explosion, his defense has also been pleasantly surprising. Wall’s athleticism makes him a tough matchup to defend, but if Lin’s performances against Deron Williams and Devin Harris are any indication, he’ll do a fine job. (I also wouldn’t be surprised to see 6-foot-5 Iman Shumpert defend Wall at times.) And on offense, I expect Lin to score around 20 points, while delivering a number of nice assists to Tyson Chandler. The one concern should be that Lin must avoid foul trouble. If Lin is out for extended periods of the game, that means more Toney Douglas (currently in the worst slump of his career,) which helps explain why Lin played the entire 2nd, 3rd AND 4th quarters against the Jazz. Luckily, having Tyson defending the rim is a good safety net against Wall blow-bys.

MOBLEY: Based on the results of the last two Knicks victories, Lin will have to carry the offensive burden in order for his team to win–which is the equivalent of playing with house money. He’ll play loose and carefree. Coach Randy Wittman will tell Wall to run the offense and play within himself like he did against the Raptors. But Wall will struggle to balance that with his own competitive streak, and his numbers and overall game will suffer.

WEIDIE: Jeremy Lin will get his… Why? Because he’s a smart player, has great confidence, New York will be in desperate need of scoring, and Washington’s bigs are generally inept of pick-and-roll defense (aside from rookie Jan Vesely). Screening action has proved to be Lin’s bread and butter in his two dazzling games with the Knicks. They honeymoon, however, will be over for Jeremy tonight. Not that the Wizards will intimidate a depleted Knicks squad by any means, but I think John Wall remembers that Summer League battle and his athleticism advantage will overwhelm Lin (even though Lin has legitimate 6-foot-3 height). Before the game Sam Cassell was telling Wall in the locker room that Lin will try to bait Wall into some charges, so watch out for that.

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John Wall, Flip Saunders, Andray Blatche, Nick Young, Trevor Booker and Carmelo Anthony speak on it from the locker room after Friday’s Wizards-Knicks game…

Words & Links…

[Michael Lee - Wizards Insider]

On a night when their most experienced player looked lost and confused, the Wizards nearly rode the infectious energy of two of their least experienced players to the first win of the season. Trevor Booker and Chris Singleton were drafted in the past two Junes to provide hustle and defense for a team deficient in those areas, and they both made a case for more playing time in the Wizards’ 99-96 loss on Friday to the New York Knicks.

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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 7 contributors: Rashad Mobley, John Converse Townsend and Kyle Weidie.]

Score

Washington Wizards 96 vs. New York Knicks 99 [box score]

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The New York Knickerbockers (2-4) will make their first and only trip to the nation’s capital tonight to take on the winless Wizards at 7 p.m. The Knicks will play on the road tonight, but have built a six-game winning streak against the Wizards, and haven’t lost at the Verizon Center in nearly two calendar years. While they’re struggling defensively, the Wizards can neither score nor pass the ball, averaging just 85.2 points, the second-lowest mark in the league, with an Eastern Conference-worst 14.8 assists. For our latest 3-on-3 preview, John Converse Townsend and Kyle Weidie are joined by Mike Prada (@MikePradaSBN) of the SB Nation blog Bullets Forever to discuss a few of tonight’s top storylines. 

1. Knicks Coach Mike D’Antoni and Washington general Flip Saunders are in trouble according to ESPN TrueHoop editors Henry Abbott, J.A. Adande and Kevin Arnovitz. Who will outlast whom?

PRADA: D’Antoni will outlast Saunders, because while the Knicks are struggling, the Wizards are often looking like a team that isn’t even capable of competing.  The Knicks also have some new pieces to integrate, particularly on the back line with the Tyson Chandler situation.  I suspect both will be fired — New York isn’t exactly a patient place — but I’m banking on Saunders getting the ax first.

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[UPDATE ON TRADE, via Washington Wizards press release: "...they have acquired forward/center Ronny Turiaf, a 2013 second round pick and cash considerations from the New York Knicks along with a 2012 second round pick from the Dallas Mavericks.  The three-team deal also sends Tyson Chandler, the rights to Ahmad Nivins and the rights to Giorgos Printezis from Dallas to New York while the Mavericks will receive Andy Rautins from the Knicks and a 2012 protected second round pick from the Wizards." NOTE: cash considerations is likely $3 million, max allowed by rule.]

Accountability. That’s exactly what Ronny Turiaf brings to the Washington Wizards as they finalize a trade for the 6-10, 245 lbs. big man with the New York Knicks. Accountability and, per the video above, crazy reactions. Oh, and also, Ernie Grunfeld once again uses cap space to make out like a bandit, so it seems.

Turiaf is a 28-year old veteran (29 in January) of six NBA seasons and 358 games. In terms of size (between 6-9 and 6-11), experience (over 300 NBA games, 30 or younger), and the statistical metric, PER (between 14.2 and  14.4), Turiaf’s career could compare to the likes of Danny Schayes, Mel Turpin, LaSalle Thompson, Jahidi White or Jeff Foster. [stats via Basketball-Reference.com]

Okay, so those comparisons aren’t exactly ones to get enthused over. But what do you expect? All of the aforementioned were serviceable bench big men at one time or another in their careers, but with Turiaf, there are caveats. First, a disclaimer: Marc Berman of the New York Post is reporting that the Knicks would not receive anything in return. In fact, they might be paying the Wizards to take Turiaf off their hands. Why? New York is about to sign Tyson Chandler, and they would like to clear Turiaf’s $4.36 million salary off of their books. That salary only lasts through this 2011-12 season. The Washington Post’s Michael Lee reports on Twitter that the Wizards are possibly giving up a second round draft pick, but that could easily be similar to the non-conditional pick Grunfeld gave the Sacramento Kings for taking Dominic McGuire’s salary off Washington’s hands in February 2010 (and the Wizards under the salary cap at the time).

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Sit back folks. I know it’s hard to digest losing the opportunity to watch John Wall, Jan Vesely, usually JaVale McGee, Trevor Booker, Jordan Crawford, Nick Young, Chris Singleton, and others play basketball for the Washington Wizards. It’s the pits. On the other hand, I shrug my shoulders. What else are those who will inevitably return to the game when they start playing again supposed to do? We get ready for the long haul.

But don’t worry folks, this site will carry on just fine. Friends have asked me what I’m going to do during the NBA Lockout. One, I’m going to miss taking pictures at games. There’s nothing like being right there, and photography from the baseline has, at least for me, allowed for new ways to express basketball from different visual perspectives. I’ll also miss the ability to interview players about things that don’t necessarily pertain to basketball or the game at hand — Christmas presents, nicknames, clothing/shoes, and those who never made it being some of the topics.

And that’s what this Wizards-related website often is all about… an outlet for creativity, no matter the pixel medium. So while there will be no games for a long time, it seems, basketball doesn’t go away. There’s history, there’s some old games to break down, there’s forgotten about projects that deserve attention. Of course, all of this as time with regular life allows. But to exist, we certainly don’t need NBA basketball. They’ll be back, one day.

Dave Stallworth

Dave Stallworth was born in Dallas, Texas on December 20, 13 days after Pearl Harbor. He is one of the all-time greats out of Wichita State. Better than Xavier McDaniel, once wrote Bob Lutz of The Wichita Eagle. For that matter, I suppose, better than Antoine Carr, Cliff Levingston, and Cheese Johnson, who is not to be confused with Cheese Wagstaff.

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The end of the Slam Dunk contest on Saturday night signified the end of any Washington Wizards involvement here at NBA All-Star weekend in Los Angeles.  My plan was to attend the game, tweet a little during, and then hang around the media scrum afterward to see if I could snag something interesting.  Luckily for me, something interesting fell right into my lap involving Deron Williams of the Utah Jazz.

First, a little background.  A week and a half ago when Jerry Sloan resigned, there were rumors and reports that Williams was the reason.  At halftime of a game against the Bulls, Williams and Sloan had argued (as they had several times during the year, and as Sloan has done with other players, such as Karl Malone, many times before), and when Sloan retired the next morning, Williams was essentially blamed. He was not happy about it at all. Williams lashed out at the media and named names over the radio airwaves on KFAM 1320AM:

All those guys, Ric Bucher, Chris Broussard, they’re all in our locker room everyday.  I’ll let them report what they want to report, that’s what they are paid to do. That’s why I’m always short and rude with the media, because they’re your friend. Ric comes in and sits by me every time I see him, acts like he’s my friend, but the day they find something they want to spin, they jump on it. That’s why I am the way I am and will continue to be the way I am.

I had just talked to Williams about a month earlier in Washington, and he was nothing but forthcoming to both myself and David Aldridge.  Even when I talked to Williams after the All-Star practice this past Saturday, he didn’t appear short or rude. Rather, his answers were expansive and thoughtful, and I appreciated his time.

But Sunday, after the All-Star game, Williams was asked about something Ken Berger of CBS Sports.com, had written in an article earlier that evening.  Berger wrote the following: Read more »

Dateline: New York; Road Losses: 21, 0 Wins; Knicks 115 – Wizards 106.

What it was: Andray Blatche being Andray Blatche, somehow getting the ball stuck to his hands too many times on offense in the end instead of John Wall, who, some say, is the face of the franchise. But that wasn’t the game changer, it was the Wizards, themselves … being themselves. The Washington Post’s Michael Lee wasn’t sure if he’d ever seen Flip Saunders as animated as he was during a late-game timeout. The way Flippery stormed off the floor on television after the loss sure got my girlfriend to notice.

Blatche will be the most glaring non-existent in the box score — six points on 2-10 shooting with five rebounds, two steals and three turnovers in 28 minutes — but it could have been anyone on this night. The Wizards lost as a team. Not all the Mustafa Shakur’s can overcome 10 first quarter turnovers for the Wizards, three by John Wall and three by Blatche. Different cities, different names, different night, same result that can neither be explained nor coached away … at the this time.

Flip Saunders after the game:

“Can’t feel sorry for yourselves … no one else is going to feel sorry for you. Hey, I said one of the most impressive things we had, we came to the bench and Hilton [Armstrong], who hasn’t played in six or seven games, he was getting into the guys, telling them, kind of getting on them, you know, ‘Can’t hang your heads, you got to get into it … what are we doing?’ And we need more of that. Some of the guys feeling sorry for themselves because they’re not playing well or whatever, that doesn’t matter. It’s what your team does, not what you do individually.”

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The Washington Wizards were down five points to the New York Knicks Friday night with 52 seconds remaining when John Wall stole the ball from Amar’e Stoudemire. Wall quickly raced down the court in his customary Mach-1 speed and raised up for the finish. The play unfolds in the following pictures:

{photos by Adam McGinnis}

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{photo: Adam McGinnis}

The NBA is all about the Pick & Roll, right? John Wall, even in limited games thus far, is getting a crash course in the adjustments he needs to make in execution on both ends of the floor. The transition from college to pro involves more games, more minutes and more plays per game, and a majority of those plays involve … you guessed it, the Pick & Roll. So, if Wall is going to get better running the P&R on offense, and better at defending the plethora of young point guards in the League trying to do the same thing, he has plenty of opportunity.

After Friday’s game against the Knicks, I asked Flip Saunders to speak on Wall’s P&R execution and progression. Saunders said:

“Some of those plays are designed as a decoy to get other players open. I think what’s happening is John — we watch film, we have to watch more — he’s got to make the adjustment of understanding when players are going under those screens a lot, that’s when he can be more aggressive to the paint, and a lot of times, he’s kind of walking off those screens. When you slide off those screens, the defense doesn’t have to commit.”

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Prominent film maker and New York Knicks superfan Spike Lee was the court-side guest of Wizards Owner Ted Leonsis at the Wizards game last Friday night, a 101-95 Knicks victory. The duo struck up a friendship while Leonsis made his first film for his movie production company Snags Films, and Lee will return the favor by hosting Leonsis for a Wizards-Knicks game at MSG in New York. Lee’s presence highlighted the boisterous number of Knicks fans littered throughout the Phone Booth. Shouts of “M-V-P!” showered upon Amar’e Stoudemire and the Knicks’ recent stellar play obviously motivated the fans of the away team to be louder than usual.

The crowd was still 70-30 or 60-40 Wizards fans, but the heavy noise of Knicks cheers made it seem like the home team was outnumbered. Washington’s own sideline heckler and basketball personality, Miles Rawls, shouted across the court at Leonsis to move Lee down to a different spot. Unlike some of those scattered online voices who were critical of Lee’s seat, I am perfectly OK with it because the owner can host anyone he wants to. Lee’s appearance is positive exposure and maybe a rivalry in the future. I am more worried about Al Thronton’s continued disappearing act and trying to comprehend how Kevin Seraphin can go from starting to inactive in back-to-back contests.

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From FreeDarko’s Undisputed Guide To Pro Basketball History:

“Madison Square Garden, the game’s most hallowed arena, is the Mecca of Basketball. But this nickname had little to do with devotion to the sport; it was borrowed from the Shriners’ Mecca Temple, a venue that hosted boxing and wrestling matches in the ’20s and ’30s.”

Don’t forget to go buy that book, here’s a reminder why.

So, what happens when some of the Wizards’ big men go through their pre-game warm-up routine while some of the Knicks City Dancers do the same, on the same court? Or when Andray Blatche keeps loose with a game of one-on-one with Sam Cassell?

This video:

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Some might say, ‘So goes John Wall, so goes the Wizards.’ Maybe, but not really. This team has a lot more talent past their leading point guard, they just need to figure out how to put it together as a cohesive unit.

There were a lot of things which contributed to the Wizards’ 112-91 loss to the New York Knicks in a packed Madison Square Garden on Friday night. Almost too many to digest. What stood out most to me were the defensive rotations. The footwork was simply too slow and players were not running to their spots.

And while many want to point to youth and inexperience as the causes of problems high and low, and validly so, Andray Blatche, a tad ironically, attributed his team’s struggles versus the Knicks to lack of communication and the fact that it’s so early in the season, refusing to use youth as an excuse.

So what’s the answer? It’s pretty much a combination of everything. This team will get better with time and patience. Of course, with the roster constructed as it is, that patience will continue to be heavily tested because of the meager options Flip Saunders has to work with in the post and little availability of dependable outside shooters whose overall play (defense, passing, etc.) doesn’t turn out to be a negative.

Gilbert Arenas returning to form helps a little. Josh Howard getting back will too. Otherwise, get ready for some hard pills to swallow Wizards fans. This team will get better, but that doesn’t necessarily mean mounting wins.

The subtle occurrence, about to be slightly magnified by this blog’s humble reach, doesn’t mean much … unless you’re a fan of basketball nuance. And I’m assuming that you’re already a fan of John Wall, who recently made a small display that he would not be intimidated by Amar’e Stoudemire, ironically nicknamed “STAT” (standing tall and talented), even though he’s below average in a main big man stat category, rebounding.

It’s late in the first quarter in the Wizards’ October 17 preseason game against the New York Knicks in Madison Square Garden. Raymond Felton, foolishly, according to the television analysis of Walt “Clyde” Frazier on the MSG Network, thinks he can play big boy veteran and pressure Wall far away from the basket.

Foolish indeed. Wall can’t shoot and Raymond Felton is Raymond Felton. His 6’1″, 205 lbs. physique, while stout, simply cannot keep up with the size and speed of Wall.

Felton goes to pressure Wall out near the Knicks mid-court logo, perhaps partially to avoid a sensed screen from Yi Jianlian. Wall counters by going away from the screen and attacking Felton by trying to get by him. The ref blows the whistle, much to the chagrin of Felton — rookies ain’t supposed to get calls. Sorry buddy, this is John Wall. Felton goes to take issue with the ref nonetheless.

But the foul and resulting opinions aren’t the issue here. It’s what’s happens afterward. Wall, like many NBA players are wont to do, goes to shoot a post-whistle fadeaway, more meaningless than the meaningless preseason game in which it takes place.

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