[The Wiz Kids celebrate a home win over Philly last season. - photo: A. McGinnis]

Including two preseason contests, the Washington Wizards have already faced the Philadelphia 76ers four times this season (out of 18 total games, including preseason). Tonight represents the fifth meeting, and at that, the Wizards are searching for their first road win in about 300 days (March 13, 2011 against the Jazz in Utah was the last time). You know the drill… three questions, three answers… Tonight we have Jordan Sams from the SB Nation Sixer blog Liberty Ballers, along with TAI’s John Converse Townsend and Kyle Weidie. Away we go…

#1) In two meetings against the Sixers so far, John Wall has averaged 13 points, 6.5 rebounds, 7.0 assists and 6.5 turnovers. His current turnaround, however, started with a great second half in that Jan. 14 Saturday night contest — in the four games since that Sixers matchup, Wall has averaged 25.8 points, 8.0 rebounds, 8.3 assists and 3.5 turnovers. Philly’s own Sweet Lou (Williams) has averaged 21.5 points in 25.4 minutes off the bench against Washington this season. Which player is more likely to get over 25 points tonight and why?

SAMS: John Wall. While I have tremendous respect for Jrue Holiday’s man-to-man defense, but the Sixers will be without both of their centers – Spencer Hawes and Nikola Vucevic – for tonight’s game. Elton Brand is also a listed as a game-time decision with stomach problems. The Sixers are already a weak team in terms of interior D, so missing two, possibly three of their best interior defenders could result in a layup drill for Wall.

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[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 12 contributors: Adam McGinnis and Kyle Weidie with first-hand coverage and John Converse Townsend from watching on T.V.]

Score

Washington Wizards 90 vs. Philadelphia 76ers 103 [box score]

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[Lou Williams - photo: K. Weidie]

As I publish this post, the Wizards are down 52-40 to the Philadelphia 76ers at halftime. After a relatively decent first quarter where Washington outscored the Sixers 26-23 behind 11 points from Nick Young on 4-7 shooting and 10 points and five rebounds (three offensive) from JaVale McGee, things came more back to reality. Philadelphia out-scored the Wizards 29-14 in the second quarter. It’s not that Washington was wholly selfish as usual, they just found a way to bumble opportunity, even when Philadelphia gave them a couple chances with turnovers (six, leading to four Washington points). But the Wizards turned the ball over even more, giving it away 13 times leading to 21 Philadelphia points at the half. Below are some speakable quotes from Flip Saunders, Sixers coach Doug Collins, and notorious Wizards killer Lou Williams from before the game started.

Before the game Flip Saunders was asked how a coach sends the message that selfish basketball won’t be tolerated. Flip said:

“It’s a fine line because there are so many young guys. You don’t want them to play looking over their shoulders, that you’re going to take them out at every mistake. But I think that we probably have to be… that’s probably what has to happen, because we can’t… it’s not fair to the team, it’s not fair to them. We want to do aggressive-type things. If you’re playing aggressive offensively, and you’re taking good shots and you’re open, that’s different than taking a contested shot.”

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The Washington Wizards and Philadelphia 76ers may as well been two ships passing in the night last season.  The Wizardsbeat the Sixers twice in overtime early in the schedule, during a time when the Wizards looked promising and the Sixers were struggling mightily.  Later in the season, the Sixers defeated the Wizards twice by double digits, en route to a seven seed in the 2011 playoffs–the Wizards finished 13th in the Eastern Conference and 18 games behind the Sixers.

This season, the young Sixers will attempt to build on their first-round playoff exit while the Wizards will be looking to join the party.  Their respective journeys start tonight at Verizon Center, as they kickoff their abbreviated two-game, home-and-home preseason slate with each other.  But before that, TAI writers, John Converse Townsend and Rashad Mobley, along with Carey Smith from the ESPN TrueHoop Blog Philadunkia, address issues for both teams.  Three questions, three answers start now…

1)  According to the TrueHoop blog Philadunkia, Evan Turner has been working with a shooting coach and his shot has improved.  John Wall spent the entire summer showing off his improved jumper and all-around game.  Which player has more pressure to succeed in their second year?  Who will be more successful?

TOWNSEND:  Expectations are certainly higher for John Wall in 2011-12, but Evan Turner is under more pressure. Wall’s productive first season earned him recognition as one of the league’s brightest young stars. Turner, meanwhile, was largely forgotten, despite being the second overall selection in the 2010 draft; the 6’7” shooting guard struggled with his jumper, particularly beyond 10 feet, and failed to create consistently around the rim.

SMITH:  Nationally I think there is more pressure on Wall to take his game to that “next level.” He was the No. 1 overall pick and started nearly every game he played in last year. He is considered the face of the Wizards franchise, a rising “star” in the League and has a major shoe campaign. Unfortunately Turner doesn’t have that resume – yet. Therefore he does not have the national pressure that is on Wall.  However, at the local level I would say that there is significantly more pressure in Philadelphia on Turner to improve. And in Philly it’s about more then just seeing the No. 2 pick in the 2010 NBA Draft improve as a player and live up to the status that comes with his draft slot. A majority of Sixers fans desperately want Turner to improve significantly this year because his speedy development would make Andre Iguodala and his monster contract expendable. Many, including myself, believe shedding AI9′s contract would get the Sixers closer to contending in the East. In short, Turner’s improvement is the key for the Sixers jumping from a playoff team to a legit threat in the conference. Now that’s pressure. Turner will be more successful at improving his play this year. Here’s why: Turner is a project who showed flashes of real potential last year. Thus, any improvements he made in the offseason will be very noticeable in 2011-12, highly praised, and as a result, his during-lockout work will be viewed as very successful.

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Usually this feature is called “Perfect Play” and breaks down an exceptional Wizard set from the game. Well, after last night’s blowout loss to the 76ers, business as usual just feels unnatural. It was a depressing performance from a team depressed by the impending trade of Kirk Hinrich and Hilton Armstrong to Atlanta.

The following play is one I would argue is exemplary of the reason the Wizards looked so terrible. It would be facile to just show Wall tossing a three off the backboard or an ugly Blatche isolation. The truth is, there is often real motion in the Wizards offense, it just doesn’t yield anything faintly reminiscent of teams like the Boston Celtics.

The Wizards were going through their offensive actions, but with no production, with no meaning behind the motion. It took eight frames to document this play from the beginning of the fourth quarter, I hope you stick around for the end, I’m sure you’ll be disappointed with the result (but hopefully not with the analysis).

On the floor for the Wizards: John Wall (2), Nick Young (1), Josh Howard (5), Trevor Booker (35), and Kevin Serphin (13)

On the floor for the 76ers: Lou Williams (23), Evan Turner (12), Andre Iguodala (9), Thaddeus Young (21), and Marreese Speights (16)

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[It's bad enough that the Sixers mopped the floor with the Wizards on Wednesday night... Making matters worse, this fan represented Washington in the city of Philadelphia.]

Tuesday night in Washington against the Indiana Pacers, Andray Blatche helped the Wizards dart out to a quick start and a 30-25 lead after one quarter by contributing 12 points himself. Then Jeff Foster did his best Dennis Rodman impression by grabbing seven rebounds against JaVale McGee in the second quarter, as the Pacers held the Wizards to just 19 points while scoring 33 of their own.  Just like that, Washington was down 58-49 at the half and never recovered en route to 113-96 loss.

Last night against the resurgent 76ers in Philadelphia, the Wizards started off with a strong effort once again. In the first quarter, John Wall had nine points and six assists, and Blatche and Young had eight and seven points respectively.  The score was 31-24 after one quarter, and it appeared as if the Wizards had quickly learned their lesson after a sluggish performance the night before — a performance that made Flip Saunders question who and was not entitled to playing time.

Then that evil monster called the second quarter showed up and decided to spook the Wizards once again. This time, Josh Howard was the main target. Kirk Hinrich was in street clothes and probably getting text messages about the trade of he and Hilton Armstrong to the Atlanta Hawks, which meant that when Wall came out of the game with 8:52 left in the second quarter with the Wizards up 33-29, Howard had to play backup point guard for the second consecutive night.

The first time the 6’7″ Howard got the ball, he attempted a 10-foot jumpshot and it was blocked by the 6’1″ Sixers guard Lou Williams. The next time down the floor, Sixers guard Jrue Holiday played tight on-ball defense against Howard (who clearly is not used to playing point guard, let alone having to contend with a lightning quick natural point guard), and it drew the Wizards completely out of their offense.  Still, Nick Young hit a tough shot and the game was tied at 35.  On the next offensive possession, Howard was not as fortunate. Rookie Evan Turner forced him into making a bad pass that was intended for Rashard Lewis. Then Thaddeus Young stole the ball, streaked down the court and Howard was forced to foul him. Young hit both free throws to put the Sixers up 37-35.

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Cartier Martin is like Clockwork. You need him to be that guy? He’ll be on time. Play defense, hit a corner three, box out and keep the other team from getting a second possession, hit a last-second, game-tying three? He’ll do it. I don’t know if “Clockwork” will stick, but that’s what I’m calling him.

Beautiful shot by Cartier last night by the way. He only sent the game into overtime, no biggie. Kirk Hinrich was supposed to be the decoy, Nick Young the first option and Martin the second, according to Flip Saunders. Let’s take a look after the jump:

To be a Debbie Downer for a second, that buzzer beater allowed the Wizards to have 34 points in the fourth quarter, bringing their total to 106. The Sixers had the same total at the end of four, but scored 40 points in the final period.

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In the previous entry, I touched on the Wizards post-game locker room atmosphere after beating the Sixers. Thinking about the game again last night and this morning led me to pause … they were really, really close to losing another heart breaker. Momentum really could have shifted had Lou Williams hit that wide open corner three, which would have given the Sixers a 100-98 lead, potentially capping a 10-2 Philly run since Eddie Jordan called a timeout after Caron Butler’s big dunk.

But thankfully, Williams’ shot was off, the Wizards made their free-throws, and the Sixers made some mental errors (fouling down three with 34 seconds left? … what was that?). It could have been a much different locker room, one that wasn’t seemingly so naively content with a single win.

And that’s why I’m a tad excited for tonight’s game in Milwaukee, just another chance to see what the Wizards are made of. I’ll have more on the Philly game to come. But until then, below the video highlights are several links of interest.

{award nominations}

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flickr/Keith Allison

If the Washington Wizards prefer to lie amongst the weeds and surprise everyone, a panel of 53 ESPN experts is trying to make that happen (despite the Wizards being voted by the same ESPN panel to have the biggest turnaround this upcoming season).

Tied with both Philadelphia and Toronto to achieve 39 wins, and finish seventh through ninth in the East (the averages actually break out to PHI – 39.4, WAS – 39.1, TOR – 39.0), the ESPN panel believes that the Wizards will be fighting just to make the playoffs.

Sports Illustrated’s Chris Mannix and The Wages of Wins Journal both seem to think the Wiz will be significantly better than sub-40 wins, but everyone is entitled to their opinion. Maybe some of the ESPN experts think the Wizards’ defense won’t be up to par, or that their frontcourt is too thin and they desperately need an upgrade. Of course, when Mike Prada of Bullets Forever wrote the two previously linked pieces, he had improving the team to compete for a championship in mind, not so they can solidify a playoff position. Still, both defense and frontcourt are valid areas of concern.

No one will argue that the Wizards are definitively behind Cleveland, Boston, and Orlando when trying to predict the East. And with the improvements Atlanta has made this summer, it’s even hard to put the Wiz past the Hawks. But thinking that the Heat, Bulls, and 76ers will all be better than Washington is absolutely absurd. Let’s take a glance at what those team have done this summer: Read more »