The New Jersey Nets had a road record of 3-16 going into last night’s game against Washington, and although that is not quite as bad as the 0-17 road record the Wizards are sporting, it still is not something to be proud of at all. Avery Johnson might not have been able to coach his team to a successful road record, but prior to the game, he laid out a blueprint on how it could be done:

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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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Another day, another Wizards’ road loss. But unlike Sunday’s game in San Antonio, Washington actually had a chance to beat Houston. In a matchup of two teams going in opposite directions — Houston looking to win its season-best fifth consecutive game and get back to the .500 mark; Washington still winless on the road and losers of nine of their last ten —  the Rockets were nine point favorites. I mention the spread only because the Wizards beat the Rockets by seven points in Washington on November 10. Clearly, a lot has changed since John Wall recorded his first career triple double, as the Wizards have set a new standard for futility on the road (0-15 away from home this season; 16 straight road losses going back to last season, a franchise record).

Some observations from the loss:

• Andray Blatche had a nice game, going 7-15 from the field and finishing with 17 points, 14 rebounds, and three steals. The rebounds were an encouraging sign, given Blatche’s seeming unwillingness to mix it up in the post against physical front courts. He also had a nice steal off an inbounds pass in the third quarter, which led to an easy layup. However, Blatche’s turnovers continue to be an issue: he had six TO’s last night, and is averaging close to three TO’s per game on the season. The bulk of these turnovers came on offensive fouls, as Rockets defenders simply stepped in front of several Blatche dribble-drives, and the contact (as usual) was not resolved in Andray’s favor after he put his head down.
• Blatche’s nightclub pal JaVale McGee had an uneven game. Epic Vale shot 1-5 from the field, and only played 24 minutes as the Rockets used a smaller, faster lineup in the second half. On one particularly miserable offensive sequence near the ten minute mark of the second quarter, JaVale secured the rebound after a Nick Young miss, missed a layup, grabbed his own miss, and then missed all of the rim on a second, fadeaway attempt. Phil Chenier called the last shot a “pass,” but I think he was being generous. But, McGee did work on defense and on the offensive glass; he had three blocks, altered several other shots, and grabbed four offensive rebounds. He also did a nice job staying in front of the Rockets’ guards when caught in the pick-and-roll.One ridiculous play: with about ten seconds left in the third quarter, McGee blocked an Aaron Brooks 3-point attempt, when it appeared that JaVale had no chance of closing out. Instead, McGee’s Wookie-wingspan prevailed. Also worth noting — JaVale led the team in plus/minus at plus-5.
• John Wall appeared to be unaffected by his ailing right knee, as he put a lot of pressure on Houston’s defense, both in transition and off the pick-and-roll. He finished the game with 13 points, five rebounds, six assists, and two blocks. Though he shot only 2-7 from the field, Wall got to the free-throw line 13 times. He also handled Kyle Lowry‘s physical defense well, countering with a combination of hesitation moves and pure speed. Wall’s defense on Aaron Brooks was solid, as Brooks did not look comfortable all night and only shot 5-15 from the field.
• Rashard Lewis started the game at small forward and led the team in minutes with 43. Lewis finished the game with 12 points, nine rebounds, and five assists on 6-16 shooting. He missed both of his 3-point attempts badly, but Lewis made some nice decisions with the ball, finding the open man with quick passes. Given the Wizards’ troubles with ball movement, the presence of experienced decision makers in Lewis and Josh Howard is encouraging.
• With regards to ball movement — it seemed to be a lot better last night, as the Wizards seemingly ran their offense quicker than in the previous two games. Note: Washington scored 80 points in each of the previous two games, so the bar was set pretty low.
• Kirk Hinrich turned in another good performance, with 19 points on 7-15 shooting and five rebounds. Fourteen of Kirk’s 19 points came in the first half. After it became abundantly clear that Nick Young could not guard Kevin Martin (Martin dropped 10 points on Nick in the first quarter), Kirk defended Martin fairly well. Martin finished with 20 points for the game. Outlier stat of the night: Hinrich had zero assists last night, this after averaging nine assists per game since December 15.
• Josh Howard (23 minutes) certainly looks to be taking over Al Thornton‘s (8 minutes) playing time. I can’t say this is a bad thing, given Thornton’s three-point shooting woes (3-20 from deep on the season) and inability to do anything other than shoot contested jumpers.
• Reason why the Wizards lost: they did not score in the last 2:40 of the game, and were outscored 32-20 in the fourth quarter. The three-point defense also failed down the stretch, as threes by Brooks and Martin sealed the game for the Rockets late.
• Only the Wizards’ team defense could make Shane Battier look like Kobe Bryant — Battier finished with 15 points on 6-7 shooting. Battier got into the lane repeatedly, and made several tough shots off the backboard. Somewhere, Daryl Morey was laughing his ass off.
• Kirk Hinrich’s black-eye is awesome. I wonder what color it will be next game.

• The Wizards played well enough without Andray Blatche and JaVale McGee (due to their one-game suspension for getting in a fight with each other at a D.C.-area club) to fall just outside the 13.5-point spread by which the Spurs were favored, losing 94-80 in San Antonio on Sunday evening.
• Washington is now 0-14 on the road for the season and the team hasn’t won in San Antonio since December 11, 1999 — Rod Strickland, Mitch Richmond, Michael Smith, Juwan Howard and Ike Austin started against Avery Johnson, Mario Elie, Chucky Brown, Tim Duncan and David Robinson that night and beat them 99-89.
• They never had a chance to win, but when upsets happen, you say, ‘Well, that’s why you play the game.’ But I guess that only really happens when teams play like they have a chance to win.
• You’ll hear some analysis on the game say that the Spurs were a deeper, stronger team with more weapons. Sure, I’ll concede to that, but not as much as it’s hyped up to be. The answer is actually more simple than that simple analysis. The Spurs move the ball much better than the Wizards, to the tune of 27 assists to 18 for Washington. All the players Gregg Popovich plays buy into his system, they share the ball, and Spurs management has done a great job of providing Popovich with more players who relent to the team concept. The Wizards, on the other hand, seem to go after sheer talent in hopes that they can teach them to play like a team … and that can be a painstaking process, clearly.
• Not sure if it was Manu Ginobili stock-piling points on him early, or if it was just him missing shots, but Nick Young had a retro game, for him. The early futility clearly had an early affect on Young’s psyche. He once called his buddy Andray “Sonic” and referred to himself as “Tails” … guess Tails couldn’t make it without his hedgehog friend in San Antonio. Young went 5-19 from the field with 10 points and couldn’t do much right. His night was epitomized by the .GIF above where, after Manu had already made three three-pointers, Nick just failed to pay attention to him in any regard … more concerned with the potential screen than about the space he’d given Ginobili all night.
• Josh Howard shot 4-12 from the field and really looked to force some things on several offensive possessions. He also had a team-worst plus/minus of minus-12. Of course, here’s where the inaccuracy of plus/minus in it’s ability to give a true picture comes into play. Howard gave good energy and always found a way to get himself involved in plays. In the long run, Howard certainly deserves to eat into Al Thornton‘s minutes … he had six rebounds in 24 minutes to Thornton’s three rebounds in 28. Of course, with the current makeup of the team, Howard looks to get more time at the two.
• Rashard Lewis had 21 points and went 4-8 from beyond the arc, but he needed 19 total shots to get there. Maybe that’s about the efficiency we can expect from him … and making those three pointers does actually make him more efficient (52.6 eFG% vs. the Spurs), especially when that’s an area where the team needs help. Lewis also got 12 rebounds and certainly seems more interested in boxing out than Blatche.
• A lot of people will surely try to analyze John Wall’s return to the court, because it’s popular and brings eyeballs, I suppose, but really, this window — how Wall “looked” against the Spurs — is not really worth dissecting. His stat line off the bench: 19 minutes, four points, 2-9 FGs, no trips to the free-throw line, four assists, four turnovers, four fouls, a block and six rebounds. To me, Wall looked a bit gimpy in his knee at times, maybe it was stiff or whatever, but he did look almost as quick, noted by that sweet spin move he put on Manu before the half. About the only thing I take from Wall’s performance was that he finds ways to impact the game in other areas.
• Kirk Hinrich had 15 points on 7-10 shooting with seven assists and four turnovers. He tried, earnestly. And for some weird reason, Hinrich’s admirable presence makes the Mike Miller and Randy Foye for the fifth pick trade seem even worse. Don’t ask why.

Happy Holidays and Happy December 24th. Whatever you’re doing today, hopefully your’e not working. And if you are, here’s to you. I’ll be kind of working … over at ESPN.com’s TrueHoop blog, I’ll be hosting the show today, kicking off the next six weekdays of various hosts from the TrueHoop Network. So throughout Friday I’ll be doing some things over there, and I’ll be doing some things over here at TAI. Thanks for stopping by.

As for the holidays … after all the feel-good stuff, one of the most important aspects of the holiday season is presents … gifts. Sure, just material goods, but also something our economy pretty much depends on. But we all know that presents are best when you enjoy giving them more than getting them.

Last year, I polled several Wizards about the favorite gift that they gave to someone else for Christmas. This year, I asked many of the players about some of the best, and worst, presents that they’ve ever received. It’s all in the video below …

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Nick, Dray & Dom - photo: Adam McGinnis, TAI

What do we really know after the Wizards’ 108-75 blowout of the Charlotte Bobcats last night?

1) Charlotte is terrible. Yes, they were without Gerald Wallace. And yes, they are still terrible … with no pieces for the future to speak of. None.

2) There’s been a sort of eye-opening moment of clarity after Arenas’ departure. Who knows how long it will last or how much of an effect it will actually have, but for now, the team has been able to re-focus with the ghosts of Agent Zero past and swirling rumors no longer hovering. Not like there can’t be more trades, but none of them will be a “thing” like the Arenas “thing.” — And I think most of these guys realize who Arenas was, how long he was in D.C., and understand, via the “business” of NBA, what such a dramatic move can mean to a franchise … even if they don’t truly understand.

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It’s struck me as odd when recently, before being traded to Orlando, Gilbert Arenas deferred to Josh Howard as a more vocal leader on the Wizards than him. Yes, the same Josh Howard whose past record will almost cause more scoffs than Arenas’ … the same Josh Howard who has played all of five games in a Wizards uniform since arriving via trade back in February, compared to Arenas, who appeared in 357 total regular season games with the franchise since being signed to D.C. by Ernie Grunfeld in August of 2003.

After a home game against the New York Knicks on December 10, Arenas was asked about the then forthcoming return of Howard.

“It’s going to help more in the locker room and on the bench because, you know, he has a strong voice. You know, I usually don’t say anything, but he’s more of a vocal person. So when we have those lulls like we did in the third [against the Knicks], he’s going to speak up,” he said.

When I asked Howard about needing to fill the role of vocal leader after the Miami game on Saturday, he said, “It’s different for me. I mean, I haven’t did this in a long time as far as college, and I led by example in Dallas as far as my play on the court. As far as being vocal, I have to remind myself that I can speak.”

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[UPDATE: Or not ... seems like the President won't be in attendance now, and Arenas has likely been traded to Orlando for Rashad Lewis. "Great."]

The Miami Heat make their way down to D.C. from New York to play the Wizards tonight. I imagine the atmosphere will be slightly different from Madison Square Garden, in terms of expressed fan affection for the home team. Surely many will be showing up more so to boo LeBron James, the energy from which, however, could certainly lead to more cheers for the Wizards. Then again, I will be curious to see how many adoring screams there are for LeBron and Dwyane Wade reigning down from the rafters. Seems like there will be plenty in this city of transient sports fans.

Actually, I imagine the scene at the Phone Booth will be crazier than MSG. Ted Leonsis has already warned that “lots of dignitaries and VIPS” will be in the building, and that means President Obama, as evidently the Secret Service has been making security preparations at the Verizon Center this morning. Oh, and with all the trade rumors swirling, it could be Gilbert Arenas’ last game in a Wizards uniform. Right now, according to the Washington Post’s Michael Lee, he’s still expected to suit up for Washington this evening.

To describe the buzz of emotion that will be going on in the Verizon Center as a circus doesn’t really do it justice — it certainly takes all the attention away from Josh Howard’s potential season debut, in the least. But to get a bearing on the incoming team that will actually be playing basketball against the Wizards, I turned to ESPN TrueHoop’s Kevin Arnovitz, who has been embedded covering Miami for ESPN.com’s Heat Index. And away we go…

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Two initial thoughts upon hearing “strong” Gilbert Arenas trade rumors (via: Yahoo!, Orlando Pinstriped Post, Washington Post):

1) So what? If he’s traded, he’s traded. If he’s not, he’s not. Arenas has had a colorful past in D.C. that will always be remembered, mostly good … but it wouldn’t be colorful unless there’s some bad, and that will be remembered too.

Gilbert has come back relatively quietly this season (aside from emo acts, the fake knee injury, or shoe poop stories). Whether truly humbled, who knows, but he’s at least playing the part. The struggle with whether he should stay or go should now be released, regardless of if the rumors become true or not. People will surely struggle with how to remember him, many will dramatically paint broad pictures with broad brushes … just remember him.

It reminds me of a fight I once had with my girlfriend. It got pretty heated, and in a dead serious moment she looked up at me and said, “I hate to get all Mike Miller on you, but it is what it is.” And then the fight was pretty much over. I cracked up because she had the perfect way to break the tension, and get my attention, rending the conflict silly in the big picture. Then we moved on.

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Remember that goofy Bobby Knight “Game Face” display during some press conference long ago? Whether you do or you don’t, let’s take it to YouTube (it’s No. 2 in the countdown of top Knight soundbites):

But what about pre-game faces? Well, thanks to TAI’s Adam McGinnis, we have some of those faces from last Tuesday’s Wizards-Lakers game below. But first …

Truth About It is giving away more free Wizards tickets, this time two lower-level tickets to Saturday’s Wizards game versus the Miami Heat, courtesy of StubHub.

How do you win the tickets? Like last time, at around 3 PM EST this afternoon, Friday, December 17, I will be posting a Wizards-related trivia question on the TAI Twitter account: @Truth_About_It. The first person to email, NOT Tweet, the correct answer to truthaboutit@gmail.com will have two (2) tickets — Section 117, Row F — waiting for them at the Verizon Center Will Call for Saturday night’s 7 PM game.

The trivia question last time was: “Before playing last game @ US Airways Arena in 97, the Wash. Wizards signed a player who prev. played in 345 total gms as a Bullet. Name him”

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