[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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Andray Blatche got a haircut. Finally.

I wasn’t a big fan of Andray’s spiderweb hairstyle. So, as you can imagine, I was delighted that he introduced that maze of hair follicles to a pair of trimmers. Tweeted Kyle Weidie before last night’s game versus the Sacramento Kings:

“No more rollercoaster hair-do for Andray Blatche folks…”

Because this season has been as dizzying as an old-fashioned barber shop pole, Blatche’s haircut was of the utmost importance — it signaled a return to normalcy.

“When everything goes back to normal, I’ll have a straight haircut,” Blatche explained last week. “Hopefully my life will get in order and I’ll have a straight regular cut.”

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Barkley works the Shake Weight, a Wizards ticket giveaway, commentary and links …

First, TAI is giving away two tickets to Wednesday’s game versus the Pacers (courtesy of StubHub). The seats are good (Section 101, Row L … behind the Wizards’ bench) and John Wall is good (as in he’s back and should be playing). You can win these two free tickets by being the first to email the correct answer to the trivia question I will post from the @Truth_About_It Twitter account at 11 am EST on Wednesday, December 29. The answer must be emailed to truthaboutit@gmail.com.

Also note: The Wizards are pulling something out of the Miami Heat’s playbook to get fans to arrive to games early (not sure if the idea actually originated with the Heat, but they did do something similar earlier this year). Starting when the doors open at 6 pm for Wednesday’s game versus the Pacers until 6:30, the Verizon Center will be offering food and drink discounts outside of section 107. [via @WashWizards]

WIZARDS-ROCKETS.

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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.

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John Wall is going to attract a lot of attention from opposing defenses this season … this is plain and clear to see. It’s all about how he reads that attention and the decisions he makes.

Let’s take a look at some moving GIFs from Sunday’s second-to-last Wizards preseason game against the Knicks in New York.

One, Hilton Armstrong should be commended for the good, hard screen he sets here. Wall comes off hard and fast, giving poor Timofey Mozgov a couple changes in direction, and attracting FOUR Knicks to him in the paint, thinking he will drive left, when Wall kicks it out to an unguarded Yi Jianlian at the three-point line on the right wing. Yi misses the jumper in this instance, but it’s about as open as he’s going to get. Wall is going to change Yi’s career if he can knock down that shot with consistency.

Here the Wizards get a chance to re-set their offensive possession.

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Look, I know we’ve spent a lot of font sizes and word counts on Gilbert Arenas, adding binary code to the matrix. And the more I analyze, the more I feel like I’m nit-picking and contributing to the whole absurdity of the scene. So, it’s worth taking a step back and saying, ‘this is all pretty silly, isn’t it?’

That it is.

A recent piece by Jake Whitacre on SB Nation about the rise and fall of Gilbert Arenas and Clinton Portis (and their swagger) got me thinking … do we want winners or do we want entertainers?

Well, both. But the former almost always begets the latter, and it clearly doesn’t always work both ways, at least in the recent history of D.C. sports.

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A D.C. pic, links and commentary …

[A basketball court, Marie Reed Recreation Center, Adams Morgan, Washington, DC - K. Weidie]

Is this meme too old yet?

Not when the mustache wears sunglasses too.

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CNBC Sports Business Reporter Darren Rovell recently revealed that in late December 2009, the NBA suspended production of retro Washington Bullets merchandise as a result of ‘Locker Room Gun-Gate 2009-10: A Gilbert Arenas-Javaris Crittenton-John Wayne-Peter Vecsey Story.’

Now, Rovell reports that, “the league has approved licensees to make retro Bullets items again.”

In TruthAboutIt.net’s never-ending quest to search for the truth, about it, site investigators have discovered the behind the scenes process of removing Washington Bullets retro items from production. The following footage has never been seen before, ever. I’m talking never. Except for now.

Click the image below to begin your journey
(RSS feed readers, you have to actually come to the site … it’s an animated GIF ‘n’ stuff.) Read more »

{flickr/Wootang01}

Ted Leonsis is pleased as punch with the Yi Jianlian acquisition (or a juice box — the above picture evidently advertises juice, and not milk). Can’t blame him too much … although, there is certainly reason to be skeptical of Yi. I do think he will be a pleasant surprise. It just all depends on your baseline standards for being surprised.

In linking Michael Lee’s Sunday story about Yi in the Washington Post on his blog, Ted’s Take, Leonsis writes:

He is 7 feet tall. He is fast. He is talented. He is still developing.

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