(photo credit, CSNWashington.com)

With 3:53 remaining in last Wednesday’s game, Orlando leading Washington 92-87, Jameer Nelson found Jason Richardson cutting toward the basket. Trevor Booker slid over from his man to cut off Richardson, putting both arms straight up and holding position on the right block, which forced Richardson to miss his shot. Booker then won the loose ball rebound battle with Dwight Howard; Richardson, frustrated by the miss, was called for a foul after hitting Booker on the arm. As Trevor ripped the ball away, his right leg inadvertently hit Richardson’s and forced him to fall on the ground.

The Magic guard popped off the ground and immediately got into the face of Booker. He wanted to verbally inform him of his displeasure from the accidental trip. The exchange escalated when Richardson tugged at Booker’s shorts, causing Booker to react by shoving his hands off of him. Richardson then lunged forward as the former Clemson standout stood his ground, apparently ready to throw down. Tensions eventually subsided and both players were assessed double technicals.

Booker commented on the skirmish: Read more »

In going down 102-95 to an Orlando Magic team that appears to be suffering from mental fatigue due to uncertain cohesiveness, at least the Washington Wizards looked better at losing than they have in the past. Similar to the second half of the Milwaukee game, Randy Wittman opted to keep Nick Young and JaVale McGee benched in favor of a starting lineup of John Wall, Jordan Crawford, Chris Singleton, Trevor Booker and Kevin Seraphin. And while this unit struggled out of the gate, they did their jobs and stayed mostly within themselves.

Certainly there were mistakes. Furthermore, missed shots. All to be expected from young team making an earnest attempt while lacking size against a specimen like Dwight Howard and shot-makers who can be trusted to not disrupt the offense. Crawford caught fire with 14 points in the third quarter to go with four assists, giving him a hand in most of the Wizards’ 29 points scored in the period to Orlando’s 25. Once trailing by 17 points in the first half, Washington was down just 71-70 heading into the final 12 minutes. Unfortunately Crawford got cold in the fourth and went 0-for-6 from the field.

But John Wall picked up the slack. He scored 10 straight points for Washington after a timeout at the 10:27 mark of the last quarter when the Wizards were down 79-71. Wall capped his efforts with an assist to Mo Evans for a 3-pointer; it was a 13-4 run that tied the game at 83 with 6:56 left. But back-to-back threes by Orlando’s Jameer Nelson and Ryan Anderson after a Magic timeout at the 6:34 mark helped bury Washington. A long Nelson offensive rebound resulting in a Hedo Turkoglu 3-pointer that put the Magic up 100-91 with 1:32 left served as the dagger. But the point is that the Wizards fought, as a team, and with strong contributions from Booker, Singleton and a handful of others in addition to Wall and Crawford.

The Wizards SAID WHAT?

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{flickr/Keith Allison}

I managed to catch up with LeBron James in the visitor’s locker room before tonight’s Wizards-Heat game. He had plenty to say, on topics ranging from the Orlando Magic, to Justin Bieber, and even Yao Ming.

His most interesting answer was just one word — two letters. When asked if winning games will ultimately change people’s perceptions of both LeBron and the Miami Heat, LeBron responded:

“No.”

Well, I guess not everybody loves a winner. What can he do? What should he do?

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[Editor's Note: Rashad Mobley has reported on the Wizards with media credentials since the 2008-09 season for Hoops Addict. He occasionally contributes to Truth About It.net, providing excellent analysis and a different perspective from his up-close coverage of the team.]

Less than 24 hours after he arrived in Washington D.C., newly-acquired Washington Wizards forward Al Thornton held court in front of the locker previously occupied by DeShawn Stevenson.  He had just led his team in scoring with 21 points on 7-of-12 shooting, and the Wizards defeated the playoff-bound Denver Nuggets.  Under normal circumstances, the members of the media would be focusing on how he was able to score so easily, or how hectic things had been for him recently.

But that wasn’t completely the case.

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Matching up post-game locker room quotes with corresponding facial expressions.

Caron Butler

When asked about the shot Hedo Turkoglu hit with 8.1 second left in overtime, putting Toronto up for good at 109-107 …

“Turkish Jordan.

You know, it’s tough. It was a tough shot. Tried to make him take a difficult shot, and that’s exactly what happened.”

Brendan Haywood

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Everyone is talking about Courtney Lee’s missed ‘layup’ that would have won the game for Orlando. Some even compared it to Nick Anderson missing four late free-throws  in game one of the 1995 NBA Finals, also played on June 7th  [via Slam].

Mentioning Nick Anderson sounds very “woe is us” from Orlando. Thing is, true fans aren’t making the association, rather some professional MSMers.  These hacks need to be called out:

1) D-bag from the AP [via Sports Illustrated]:

A shot that couldn’t have been much easier.

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Wes Unseld Jr. whispers sweet coaching nothings into the ear of Ed Tapscott

Songaila makes his first start of the season……and I know some may be griping about the Lithuanian at the 5 spot, but history tells us that he does play the best defense against Dwight Howard…..then I saw this, which was via this.

Q1

Of course, Dom McGuire handles the jump ball, and loses anyway.

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Ben Q. Rock covers the Orlando Magic at his blog, Third Quarter Collapse. One thing I know about Ben is that he is all over the place, all of the time. Thankfully, Ben had a couple minutes to answer some questions about the Magic in anticipation of tonight’s matchup for the Wizards in Orlando. Enjoy.

Overall, I’m fairly pleased with the offseason moves. To recap: the Magic drafted shooting guard Courtney Lee, signed free-agent shooting guard Mickael Pietrus, and signed free-agent point guard Anthony Johnson. Pietrus is obviously the highest-profile addition, as he instantly won the starting job vacated by Maurice Evans. Pietrus brings three-point shooting and defense, as Evans did, with the added bonuses of being taller, younger, and more athletic. Right now, he’s not rebounding as well as he should, and his tendency to foul makes his defense problematic, but he’s been a real boon to the offense. I really like the signing so far.

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No, this is not Orlando Magic head coach Stan Van Gundy. This is:

Just to set the record is straight, okay? The other guy? Oh c’mon, acting like you’ve never seen Ron Jeremy in a Mario outfit.

ON TAP:
A HUGE Wizards Insider post tonight.

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Well, the Wizards won’t be seeing what’s in these bags of tricks.

flickr photo from Cougar-Studio.com

Why? Because Eddie Jordan has set a curfew for his Wizards team on their 2-game Florida road trip. Curious as to why Eddie would do this, as the Washington Post tells, Jordan has never believed in curfews. Is this a reactionary or preemptive move? In any case, I am in agreement because the idea can’t hurt.

“…..a business trip, not a Florida pleasure trip.” -Coach EJ

Moving on to the Atlanta Hawks loss.

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