Pre-Game Post

Opening Statements: Wizards vs Pacers, Game 11

►Bryan Frantz | Nov 24, 2015

Two seasons ago, the Indiana Pacers knocked the Wizards out of the postseason in the Eastern Conference Semifinals, then lost in the Eastern Conference Finals to the Miami Heat. That Pacers...
Opening Statements: Wizards at Pistons, Game 10

►John Converse Townsend | Nov 21, 2015

Tonight, the Wizards take on the Pistons in Detroit. It’s the first of four meetings against Stan Van Gundy’s guys and there are plenty of reasons to get fired up for...
Opening Statements: Wizards vs Bucks, Game 9

►Kyle Weidie | Nov 17, 2015

Preseason speculation on who would start for the Wizards centered not around who would replace Paul Pierce—Otto Porter was the obvious choice by default of his own success —but who would...
Opening Statements: Wizards vs Magic, Game 8

►Troy Haliburton | Nov 14, 2015

Teams: Wizards vs Magic Time: 7:00 p.m. ET Venue: Verizon Center, Washington DC Television: CSN Radio: WNEW-FM 99.1 Spread: Wizards fav’d by 5.5 points. Coming into this season the Wizards were dead set...
Opening Statements: Wizards vs Thunder, Game 7

►Sean Fagan | Nov 10, 2015

Teams: Wizards vs. Thunder Time: 7:00 p.m. ET Venue: Verizon Center – Washington, D.C. Television: CSN / NBATV Radio: WNEW-FM 99.1 Spread: Thunder fav’d by 5.5 points. If the pixel generators on the internet are ever tried...
Opening Statements: Wizards at Hawks, Game 6

►John Converse Townsend | Nov 7, 2015

Ever woken up to the smell of something rotten? Instead of a dark roast tickling your nostrils, you get weeks-old salmon that ended up in the trash after your roommate’s late-night cleaning...
Opening Statements: Wizards at Celtics, Game 5

►Bryan Frantz | Nov 6, 2015

Teams: Wizards at Celtics Time: 7:30 p.m. ET Venue: TD Garden, Boston, MA Television: CSNHD Radio: WNEW 99.1 Spread: Celtics fav’d by 1.5 points The Boston Celtics are quietly one of the most interesting teams in the Eastern Conference...
Opening Statements: Wizards vs Spurs, Game 4

►Bryan Frantz | Nov 4, 2015

The Wizards have played the Spurs 98 times in 39 years. In that time, San Antonio has 59 wins to Washington’s 39. In the 21st century, the Spurs have won 26...
Opening Statements: Wizards vs Knicks, Game 3

►Troy Haliburton | Oct 31, 2015

Two games into the Pace-and-Space Era for the Wizards has left diehard fans of the Washington professional basketball team in the precarious position of being content with not only the end...
Opening Statements: Wizards at Bucks, Game 2

►John Converse Townsend | Oct 30, 2015

The last time my byline was on this here Wizards Basketball site, I was spiking pop-snaps () in celebration of the Wizards best-in-the-preseason-NBA Offensive Rating. Today, I write to remind you that Washington is...
Opening Statements: Wizards at Magic, Game 1

►Kyle Weidie | Oct 28, 2015

Tonight officially kicks off this website’s ninth season of blogging/covering/pixel-ing the Washington Wizards professional basketball team. The franchise made the playoffs in three of the prior eight seasons and was damn-near-bottom...
Opening Statements: Wizards at Raptors, Preseason Game 7

►Rashad Mobley | Oct 23, 2015

At one point during the Wizards’ preseason game against the Heat, ESPN’s Hubie Brown mentioned that the game was a great dress rehearsal for Miami. The Heat’s second-to-last preseason game was just the second time ever...
Opening Statements: Wizards at Heat, Preseason Game 6

►Conor Dirks | Oct 21, 2015

My TAI colleague John Converse Townsend writes that the Wizards have the highest Offensive Rating of any NBA team in the unfortunately irrelevant preseason, and that the team has buttressed John...
Opening Statements: Wizards at Bucks, Preseason Game 5

►Kyle Weidie | Oct 17, 2015

Let’s cut to the chase. What’s left of the preseason now is Kelly Oubre’s opportunity. And maybe/hopefully allowing guys who’ve been hurt to get their feet wet (Jared Dudley is the...
Opening Statements: Wizards at Sixers, Preseason Game 4

►Kyle Weidie | Oct 16, 2015

A new stretch-4 option is back up from being down; another is still down, never got up. Here come the Wizards. “Forward to begin rehab immediately,” read the sub-headline of out-of-the...
Opening Statements: Wizards vs Knicks, Preseason Game 2

►Kyle Weidie | Oct 9, 2015

Wizards Preseason Game No. 2 is here. A chance to see that wholesale changes in Randy Wittman’s offense are not merely an aberration (they aren’t), and an opportunity to drink...
Opening Statements: Wizards vs Sixers, Preseason Game 1

►Kyle Weidie | Oct 6, 2015

With mostly the same players, aside from an aging, one-year mercenary future Hall-of-Famer, the previously reluctant Wizards of Randy Wittman aim to turn a new leaf this evening. They don’t exactly...
Opening Statements: Rd. 2, Gm. 6 — End of the Beginning or Beginning of the End?

►Sean Fagan | May 15, 2015

Down 3-2 in their series versus the Atlanta Hawks, the Wizards are looking down the barrel of the end of their season and all the uncomfortable questions that are raised...
Opening Statements: Rd. 2, Gm. 5 — What If This Is As Good As It Gets?

►Rashad Mobley | May 13, 2015

Moments after Paul Pierce hit his improbable bank-shot to win Game 3, John Schuhmann of NBA.com asked him why the Wizards offense had been so effective without John Wall. That game featured...
Opening Statements: Rd. 2, Gm. 3 — 5 Ways to Beat Atlanta Without John Wall

►Adam Rubin | May 9, 2015

I get it. John Wall is injured. But the last time I checked this is a seven game series and both rosters are populated with NBA players. If you want to...
Opening Statements: Rd. 2, Gm. 2 — One Adjustment to Rule Them All

►Adam Rubin | May 5, 2015

Before the series started, the big question was how Washington’s ground-and-pound front court of Nene and Marcin Gortat would match up against Atlanta’s more versatile duo of Paul Millsap and Al...
Opening Statements: Rd. 2, Gm. 1 — Sever Your Memory

►Conor Dirks | May 3, 2015

As the Wizards’ playoff intermission comes to a close after the briefest of first acts, and with too much time to watch the Atlanta Hawks struggle with, and eventually handily dispatch, the...
Opening Statements: Rd. 1, Gm. 4 — Polished and Proud in Pursuit of History

►John Converse Townsend | Apr 26, 2015

“We’re still on life support. It’s not over yet.” That was Raptors head coach Dwane Casey after Game 3. “There’s no ‘give-up’ on this team,” he added. The series is not over yet, it’s...
Opening Statements: Rd. 1, Gm. 3 — A Victor’s Pursuit of History

►Chris Thompson | Apr 24, 2015

So, a hilarious and wonderful thing has happened, the hilariousness and wonderfulness of which increase in direct proportion to one’s distance southward from the U.S./Canadian border. What was clearly a joke—the...
Opening Statements: Rd. 1, Gm. 2 — Raptors Are For The Birds

►Sean Fagan | Apr 21, 2015

One of the most depressing events in recent history happened in the not-so-recent past when scientists, who spent years locked in denial, had to reveal that dinosaurs were not gigantic lizards...