[Rodrigue Beaubois stands annoyed after another foul was called on him.]

Before the game I ran my mouth off to just about anyone who would listen at UNLV’s Cox Pavilion that I was intrigued by the Roddy-Wall match-up, clearly, a Samhan-McGee ‘opposites attract’ battle, and finally, perhaps Hamady N’diaye versus Moussa Seck in a Senegalese throw down.

Well, Beaubois couldn’t do anything but foul Wall and was switched off him, the newly acquired Ian Mahinmi started for Dallas and mostly guarded JaVale, and Seck didn’t even see the court. Damn the summer league (just kidding, I love you).

Two things are below: 1) quick post-game chats with John Wall, Rodrigue Beaubois and Dominique Jones in video form; and 2) the second piece by Arish Narayen, a contributor to Truth About It. Arish previously broke down the Wizards’ small forward situation. Here he takes a look at summer league game three against the Mavericks.

Post Game 3:

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Sebastian Pruiti, founder and editor of NBAPlaybook.com and NetsAreScorching.com, has had the opportunity to watch Yi Jianlian for the past two seasons and in a conversation with Truth About It, said:

Yi is an incredibly inconsistent player.  There are days where he looks like he finally solved the puzzle and will turn into a pretty solid offensive player and then the next game he will go 2-15 from the field.  Something he has always been ripped for was [his] lack of aggression, and last year he tried really hard to dispel those thoughts…maybe too hard.  Most times he made the catch he wouldn’t even look for the shot and he’d put the ball on the floor, but teams started to pick up on it.  If he can find a happy medium he might do pretty well offensively.

On the defensive end though, he is absolutely lost.  That is part of the reason I think the Nets traded him besides the cap relief.  I don’t think he would have got much minutes this upcoming year, just because Avery wouldn’t allow his terrible defense to hurt the Nets.

That isn’t exactly a ringing endorsement of the 22 (or is it 24?) year old stretch four.  To sort out any misconceptions and better determine Yi’s worth, it’s time for another installment of CHECK MY STATS, unofficially sponsored by Synergy Sports Technology.

OFFENSE

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Doing some spring cleaning while watching the NBA playoffs on Sunday, I found myself ripping off covers of old ESPN The Magazines and trashing the rest, but not before quickly flipping through to make sure nothing was keep-able.

Times were different in December 2007. Well, not so much for Wizards fans. The turmoil was just getting started with the news that Gilbert Arenas would be having a second surgery on his knee just two weeks old. That December 3rd edition of ESPN The Magazine ironically had part of an NBA advertisement featuring a picture of Arenas and the words, “Where I’m back happens.”

In that same edition, which had Terrell Owens giving Tony Romo ‘bunny ears’ on the cover (Jason Witten was in the picture too), was the above ‘Got Milk?’ advertisement featuring two former Dallas Mavericks, coach Avery Johnson and player Josh Howard.

December 2007 represented some of the last days of NBA harmony for each Howard and Johnson. The Mavericks as a one-seed lost to the eight-seed Warriors the previous Spring, an ’06-07 season where Howard also represented the Mavs in the NBA All-Star game. But from there, it would go further downhill.

The Mavs finished ’07-08 as a seven-seed in the West, losing to the New Orleans Hornets in the first round. Johnson was fired days later. Howard would subsequently go through a tumultuous six-month span in 2008, including some off-court incidents that severely damaged his public image.

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Quinton Ross has a player option for $1,146,337 million next season. I’m sure some Wizards fan out there don’t want him to take it. Get over it. He probably will.

But yea, Ross is bad … well, at least his stats are, which certainly serve as a partial reflection of his abilities as a player, but are incapable of telling the whole story … such as his reputation for being a good defensive player, which can certainly be debated.

Leading up to Saturday’s game against the Jazz, in Ross’ 19 games and 193 minutes with the Wizards he had a PER of -0.3.

On Saturday, taking and making one shot, along with committing a single foul in five minutes of action pushed his PER with the Wizards into positive territory at 0.1.

Bless his heart. But I’d definitely rather Ross than Stevenson. He’s easier to tolerate, if you will … and kinda less hideous to look at.

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Two of the three below are gone, the third on this Wizards Mount Rushmore might be gone by President’s Day. And that would make not one, but two banners needing to be removed from the 6th Street facade of the Verizon Center in 2010.

“Character, Commitment, Connection”

-Wizards 2009-2010 Season Motto

The Wizards aren’t putting Josh Howard’s face next to that on a banner anytime soon … unless they want to ad a fourth ‘C’ for cap space. Like Caron Butler, Howard was once an All-Star. And like the one they call Tuff Juice, the one they call J-Ho has recently fallen far from basketball skill grace.

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Ready for a sports cliché? Wait for it …. wait for it …. here goes …. “Games are not won or lost on a single play.”

Not exactly comforting to Wizards fans. Definitely not comforting to certain players in the Wizards’ locker room. Especially not comforting to head coach Flip Saunders.

After overcoming just 15 assists to 14 turnovers for the game and a seven point deficit with a minute left, the Wizards fell short by just one point to the Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday night. Down 94-93 with 6.7 seconds left, just after Brendan Haywood drew a huge charge call on Dirk Nowitzki, Caron Butler had the ball in his hands to win the game, either with a shot or a pass to a teammate.

After receiving the inbounds pass, Butler halted any previously set up process and dwindled clock with unproductive bounces of the ball, something you can’t exactly afford when you’re down. He drove left against Shawn Marion into the strong side help of Jason Kidd. With good defense quickly closing up the lane, Butler threw up the only shot he could muster, a weak, fading attempt that was sent back in his direction by Marion. Game over. Fans were left baffled.

No, games aren’t won or lost on one play, but when it came down to one play, why did Washington screw the pooch in between taking it out for a nice seafood dinner and never calling it again? There must have been a better way for the Wizards to court their first three-game win streak of the year. Perhaps being on the same page as to how the final play was to be executed would have helped.

Flip Saunders wasn’t baffled. He was down right pissed, at least for the two minutes of his terse press conference. When asked about the game’s final play, Saunders said, ”That wasn’t the play we were supposed to run.” He reaffirmed his previous statement and followed with, “It’s not what was designed,” when asked how the play was supposed to be run.

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{Game Faces}

A focused pre-game Gilbert Arenas.

A plotting, thinking Flip Saunders.

Contrasting bench facial expressions.

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There are two states Wizards fans should be in after last night’s game: anxiousness relieved and mid-range.

Between Jamison being out for the next ten games or so, and an inconsistent preseason where the Wizards’ major players didn’t really see a ton of court time together, fans really didn’t know what to expect on opening night … in hostile territory and against a team that many expect to be amongst the best in the West (after the Lakers and Spurs).

There are certainly many different types of swagger, just ask Dan Steinberg. What was seen last night was ‘Sustainability Swag’. Every time Dirk started heating up, every time you thought the Mavs might make a run, the Wizards’ veterans came together and withstood oncoming water like a brick wall. The Wiz didn’t dazzle and amaze. They simply looked good. They were poised. Such composure and consistency on the court has been a rare sight for this franchise. Enjoy this one folks, you deserved it.

But at the same time, it was just one game. Wizards fans should stay mid-range, which is the basketball version of ‘Staying Medium’ … via Jim Zorn. Not to associate the Wizards with Dan Snyder’s sinking Titanic. Zorn seems like a good guy, but aside from that, the philosophy of not getting too high or low after wins and losses is a good one. Yes, beating Dallas was a great win that puts others on notice. But again, it was just one game, this team needs something more sustaining.

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{Gilbert Arenas in the now dead gold jersey - flickr/Keith Allison}

It was a tale of two quarters for Gilbert Arenas. In the first, he frustrated fans and probably his coaches and teammates alike because he didn’t even take a shot when opportunities were ample. Did he lose his offensive mojo and become the Agent Austin Powers instead of the one they call Zero? Arenas did have four assists to a sole turnover in the 9:12 he played first quarter, but that’s not exactly going to make the Wizards’ offense better.

Before the game, Flip Saunders said “I think with Gil, my thing is going in, playing in 10 minutes and that’s pretty much it. If he feels pretty good about where he’s at, then come back a little bit. If he doesn’t come back it doesn’t mean, ‘Oh somethings wrong with Gil.’”

With the ‘same’ passive Gil to start against Dallas, did Saunders really have a choice but to play him more?

“He needs to get that aggressiveness so other guys can get used to playing in that type of environment,” said Saunders after the game. When asked if he encouraged him at halftime, he said, “We all encouraged him. I told him, if he’s open and doesn’t shoot it, the next guy you pass it to is probably going to be covered.”

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5:35:20 PM: Walking to the Phone Booth for the only Wizards preseason home game. #ipodcheck ‘All I Need’ Jay-Z, The Blueprint

5:41:46 PM: “Got fiends throwing up on themselves like Willie Beamon.” #jayz

6:57:54 PM: At the Verizon Center, nothing crazy. Missed Flip Saunders’ court interview. Not much to ask the players about in the locker room bf game.

7:08:24 PM: Seen in the Wiz crowd: a bald headed white dude with a Nick Young jersey, but it’s not Dan Steinberg.

7:09:43 PM: Tweet bf Wiz-Mavs start: Stevenson starting for the Wiz, Drew Gooden at C for Dallas .. hope Haywood abuses him.

7:16:25 PM: Haywood getting offensive rebound then fouled by Gooden then crumbling 2 floor holding his ankle sends moans & cuss words through crowd.

7:17:40 PM: But Haywood OK. Also, Wiz making the 3 white guys sit @ the end of the bench again. Tuff Juice scores 7 of Wiz 1st 11 points. Jumper = Wet.

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The Wizards will play the second game of their preseason slate against the Dallas Mavericks tonight … the only home preseason game on the schedule. It will televised on Comcast SportsNet and can be heard on DC’s 106.7 The Fan.

Also, I’ll be reporting from the game, and likely doing another live Twitter post on Truth About It (of course, this time within the NBA guidelines of a three ‘Tweet’ limit during each quarter and one during each of the two quarter breaks (but no limit on pregame, halftime and postgame Tweets).

But in terms of the Mavs, fellow TrueHoop Network blogger, Rob Mahoney of The Two Man Game, agreed to answer a couple questions about his team. Here that goes …

[UPDATE: Head over to The Two Man Game to see my return answers to Rob's questions.]

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(Photo by Glenn James/NBAE via Getty Images)

check more (and video) at You Got Dunked On.com

The Wizards were just what the Mavericks needed on Saturday night….yep, that’s my cliche opening sentence. How ’bout it?

I watched all the way up until around ten minutes left in the 4th quarter, the Wiz having just gone down by 13 points. It was at that point I felt a loss was imminent, secure in the fact that it was time to go out drinking.

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