If you follow this site, you probably know that we’ve given away a ton of tickets to Wizards games this season (courtesy of StubHub) — I think 12 total tickets to the Miami Heat game on Dec. 18, four suite tickets to the LA Lakers game on Dec. 14, and a couple other random game giveaways, such as the Dec. 29 Pacers game, etc.

Perhaps you can call me a shill for StubHub for giving away these tickets … not entirely accurate. I get nothing from it, other than the satisfaction of sending good, honest Wizards fans to games for enjoyment (while yes, StubHub gets free advertising/marketing). Yes, there is a separate advertisement for StubHub on this site, but that comes as part of the arrangement with being the Washington Wizards affiliate in the ESPN TrueHoop Network. Not that any of this really needed clearing up, just felt it was appropriate … and such a disclaimer isn’t my point.

Why I am writing this post is to announce yet another free ticket giveaway. At 10 am EST tomorrow, Tuesday January 11, I will post a Wizards-related trivia question to the @Truth_About_It Twitter account. The first person to email the correct answer to truthaboutit@gmail.com will win two lower-level tickets to see John Wall and his Wizards crew take on Wall’s college teammate at Kentucky, DeMarcus Cousins, and the Sacramento Kings Tuesday night at the Verizon Center (7 pm start time). Pretty simple … Remember: 10 AM EST tomorrow, Wizards Twitter Trivia.

But speaking of tickets we’ve previously given away, Jacob Holtz was one of two winners who received free Wizards-Heat tickets back in 2010 for submitting one of the best answers to a couple questions that I had asked. A couple days after that December 18 game, Jacob wrote to say thanks and to describe his general experience. With Jacob’s permission, I am now posting what he wrote below:

I just wanted to thank you again for the tickets. The game was nothing like I thought it would be and more at the same time.  I hadn’t been to a Wizards game since Game 6 against the Cavs and I’d almost say there was more energy in the Phonebooth last night than there was that night two years ago, but maybe that’s just the present-ness talking. I’ll be real honest and say that I was surprised at just how many Heat ”fans” there were at the game too, but I guess I shouldn’t have been.

Read more »

Saturday night’s loss to the Miami Heat followed a script all too familiar to Wizards fans, and in a sense, begrudgingly emulated the now defunct tenure of Gilbert Arenas in Washington, D.C.

Against all odds, the Wizards competed with the Heat. It wasn’t a situation where Miami was just cold and Washington was making unbelievable shots like it just happened to be their night. No, the Wizards got by on their own merit — thanks to hustle, footwork and inspired play that’s been infrequent beyond acceptable means this season.

Agent Zero was created through an “against all odds” persona. Arenas’ flair and passion that once-upon-a-time injected energy into a re-inspired D.C. professional basketball team now faintly seems like decades ago. The Verizon Center hasn’t rocked like it did on Saturday in a long, long time, especially without Arenas.

But in the end, the Wizards caused their own downfall. They had the game all but in the bag after the returning Josh Howard hit a runner in the paint to put Washington up 91-86 with 32 seconds left … just don’t do anything stupid and make free-throws. Neither of those things happened and those commonplace jaws of defeat rose up out of the waters and snatched a prey that thought it had escaped victoriously.

Arenas’ reign in the District followed a similar course. Robbed by uncontrollable fate in the form of injury, and snatched from reason with guns in the locker room, the Washington Wizards franchise is once again left as the loser. The last glimpse of the happy times of yore snatched away by the  uncertainty of rebuilding on the shoulders of a 20-year old with uncertain knees. Arenas may claim that he was docile during his last days in Washington because he was no longer the man, but that wasn’t really going to spark sympathy for the situation he had hand in creating.

In another sense, Flip Saunders likes to convey the idea that when crunch time gets tough, and when the game is on the line, that’s when players revert back to their old, poor habits that put their team in difficult situations. Usually Flip is referring to JaVale McGee in such instances, but it can be applied to young players in general … young players such as the 24-year old, 6-year NBA veteran Andray Blatche. Blatche returned from missing four of the previous five games due to knee injury with better effort, focus and composure, but resorted to bad habits and old mistakes as the Wizards team made several gaffes so aptly described by the Washington Post’s Michael Lee to give the game away.

Read more »

[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…

Kyle Weidie: The Heat are on quite a streak and we all hear enough about so-and-so, but what about the other guys? Who’s filling in best when the team is working? Read more »

A big congrats goes to Jonathan Lee and Jacob Holtz for submitting the winning answers for a recent Wizards-Heat ticket giveaway held by TAI. Each of them will be receiving four tickets for when Miami makes their first visit to Washington on December 18, courtesy of StubHub.

For the contest, I asked people to submit answers to two questions and had other staff members of TAI (John, Rashad and Adam) serve as the judges. Here are the questions:

Question No. 1: Ted Leonsis is big on his 101 Signs of Visible Change, much of which has to do with the game experience of fans. Whether it involves Leonsis’ list, player or coaching personnel, team management, or just about anything, tell TAI what you most want to see changed surrounding the Wizards.

Question No. 2: Remember the mid-90s Washington Bullets promo video, “You The Man”? If not, you can watch it via YouTube here. Seeing as the mid-90s was a very long time ago, give TAI a very brief update (2-3 sentences) on why you are now a Wizards fan.

Here’s the response from Jonathan Lee:

Read more »

[Juwan Howard gets roasted by several Andray Blatche head shakes.]

Monday night’s matchup between the Miami Heat and the Washington Wizards could have easily been dubbed the “something-has-to-give” game. The Heat front-court (Chris Bosh, Joel Anthony, Zydrunas Illgauskas, the now-injured Udonis Haslem, the recently-added Erick Dampier, and to a much less extent, Juwan Howard) have developed a reputation of being soft, and with good reason.

Emeka Okafor went for 26 points and 13 rebounds; Amir Johnson, who has been a major disappointment this year despite the 5-year, $34 million contract, went for 14 points; Zach Randolph had 21 points and 13 rebounds; Tyson Chandler had 14 points and 17 rebounds; and first prize in the “I-torched-the-Heat” contest went to Paul Millsap, who had 46 points and 19 rebounds in an overtime loss.  The point here is that dealing with semi-skilled to skilled big men is clearly not the strength of Miami.

On the flip side, the Washington Wizards are not exactly known for the play of their big men.  Andray Blatche is the only big averaging in double figures (16.6 points and 8.1 rebounds per game), although JaVale McGee is close (9.8 points and 8.7 rebounds per game).  Sixty-percent of the Wizards’ scoring comes from John Wall (18 points per game), Gilbert Arenas (18 points per game), the red-hot Nick Young (12 points per game), and Kirk Hinrich (10.9 per game).  When you throw in the fact that McGee came into the first match-up against Miami with a bad back, which meant more time for Hilton Armstrong (two points and three rebounds per game) and Kevin Seraphin (averaging two points and two rebounds in the five games he’s appeared in), it figured to be challenging game.

In the first quarter, Blatche played as if he was hell-bent on taking advantage of the scouting report. Fifteen seconds into the game, he hit a short jumper over Illgauskas, and even though he missed his next couple of shots, he did not stop attacking.  All of the patented moves that Blatche attempts with varying degrees of success (the behind-the-back move, the up and under, the hard drives off the dribble) were on display, and they seemed to be working.  Chris Bosh, Joel Anthony and Juwan Howard all tried to contain Blatche, but to no avail.  He had 10 points and two rebounds after one quarter of play.

Hilton Armstrong took one shot in the 6:54 he played in the first, and McGee did nothing but pick up a foul in the other 5:56.  The score at the end of the quarter was 24-21 in Miami’s favor.

Read more »

The Wizards played well against the Heat in Miami on Monday evening, they just didn’t have enough mustard to truly compete against superior talent. They lost 105-94 in a game that wasn’t exactly as close as the final score indicated, yet the final score also indicated the decent level at which a depleted Washington squad competed for the full 48 minutes. Hey at least the Wizards tried in tying a franchise worst 0-8 start on the road. Here’s a screen shot revue of the game … more to come.

“You’ve heard of the show ‘CSI: Miami’? How about ‘OMG: Miami?”
-Steve Buckhantz, pre-game

Buck and Phil Chenier were impassioned about their Wizards as usual on their first post-Thanksgiving road trip, and we ought to be thankful for that.

Nick Young, featuring a less-smiley game face.

Read more »

The Washington Wizards play the Miami Heat in Florida tonight, and the division rival will make a return trip to Washington on December 18th. Read below to win tickets to that game.

I’m relatively apathetic toward LeBron James. It’s not that I no longer don’t like him in a double negative manner. It’s just that after he further exposed to the national scene what Wizards followers knew the whole time, his villain status lost value in my eyes. LeBron is not really worth caring about, although one would most certainly rather him lose.

So, in honor of CyberMonday … and LeBron’s first trip to Washington, D.C. as a member of the Miami Heat coming up on Saturday, December 18th, Truth About It.net would like to send you to the game. And because you are likely shopping online today, why not get something for free (courtesy of the good folks at StubHub)?

>LeWho? The Miami Heat

>LeWhen? Saturday, December 18, 2010 – 7:00 pm

Read more »

A D.C. pic, links and commentary …

[From Fiesta DC / Mt. Pleasant Day 2010 - Washington, D.C. - K. Weidie]

>>>>>>

Last year’s “Our Time” Washington Wizards training camp motto has become “Back To Basics” this year…

… and the cover boy representing the movement: assistant coach Don Zierden.

Read more »

Once, when asked about what his team would look like in the coming season, whether it would be more offensively minded, and how it would keep up the intensity on the defensive end, Flip Saunders said:

Well, defensively, the team always takes the personality of their players. The players we have here … are very defensive oriented. The strength of this team from a defensive aspect – how hard they play and how aggressively they play won’t change. What will change is the changing defenses we’ll use, being able to change the tempo of the game will full-court pressure, half-court traps and defenses. Offensively, like our defense, we will always stay aggressive. I always want my teams to attack, and so we will look to push the ball more and score more out of our fast break.

And on whether he would try to evolve a player into a superstar or continue with the teamwork mentality:

In Minnesota, even though we had a great player in Garnett, the team was built on team play. I look for this team to continue that. This team will move the basketball, become a high-assist, low-turnover team playing a very aggressive style.

This was in the summer of 2005, before Saunders’ Detroit Pistons finished with the best record in the NBA at 64-18, and before they lost to the Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference Finals.

Read more »

Ira Winderman of the Miami Sun-Sentinel is reporting that Juwan Howard is close to signing with the Miami Heat (H/T to Slam). Finally, after all these years, Juwan will be playing for Pat Riley and the Heat. When the agreement goes through, as pointed out by Winderman, it will mark almost 14 years to the day when Howard signed a $100-plus million contract with Miami, which was later voided by the NBA, granting Howard a return to the Washington Bullets.

I wrote extensively about Howard’s tumultuous tenure in Washington (and 1996 flirtation with Miami) back in April. Him going to the Heat now seems kind of weird, an anti-poetic justice (for Washington fans, not so much for Miami fans). And even though Howard’s agent, David Falk, said the “Cold War” between him and the Wizards was over back in mid-June, he’s surely taking some devious satisfaction over the late Abe Pollin’s former franchise that he’s finally ushered Howard to South Beach to win a championship.

And I suppose this also means that the proctologist has finally removed the NBA’s 17-foot pole from Pat Riley’s rear.

A home for Shaun Livingston?

K.C. Johnson of Chicago Breaking Sports is reporting that the Chicago Bulls have had internal discussions about adding Shaun Livingston to their roster to backup Derrick Rose (H/T to Bulls Confidential and @ShamSports).

Read more »

OVER THE PAST SEVEN YEARS, you’ve accomplished some incredible feats.

You are a two-time league MVP; you won NBA Rookie of the Year; you’re a six-time NBA All-Star; a NBA Scoring Champion; one of five players in NBA history to average over 25 points, 7 rebounds and 7 assists in a season – which you have done four times; one of just three players in NBA history to average at least 40 points, 10 rebounds and 7 assists in a postseason series; and you hold the record for the most consecutive points scored for a team in a playoff game with 25 straight hero-points against the Detroit Pistons in 2007, just to name a few.

(For additional ego-stroking, click here)

If you would allow me to speak freely, you should stay far, far away from Miami.

For starters, oil from the Deepwater Horizon catastrophe (surely, you’ve heard of this) is likely to keep moving east because of the so-called “loop current,” according to NOAA officials.  To make matters worse than they already are, the likelihood of the Gulf oil spill hitting the Keys and the southeastern coast of Florida is greater than the likelihood of you making a free throw (80 percent)!  I know.

And then, there is Bosh.  John Krolic of CAVS: the blog reminded us that he has fewer player of the month awards than you have MVPs.  You’re not even in the same league as Bosh. In fact, he has become part of the “LeBron-Wade-Bosh” trinity, triumvirate, chimera, in large part because he doesn’t have Amar’e Stoudemire’s baggage.  Bosh has also been adamant about his desire to play power forward, but on this Heat team, he is the default center.  Oh, and Brendan Haywood has been locked up by Dallas for years.

Read more »

ESPN’s Marc Stein reports:

The Miami Heat’s position on trades is no secret. They won’t even consider making a deal for anyone whose contract extends beyond this season to preserve every cent of their projected trove of salary-cap space for July 1, 2010.

But the Heat have, according to NBA front-office sources, explored the possibility of trading for Washington’s highly available Mike James, whose first coach in a 11-team career in 2001-02 was Pat Riley in Miami.

Sources say that the teams discussed a trade during the preseason, but the Wizards balked because Miami would not send back an expiring contract. The Wiz have a similar mindset to Miami’s, determined not to take back anything but expiring salaries in minor deals like this one.

Read more »

[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.]

---

- When I initially read that the Wizards would unify and rally around the recent passing of owner Abe Pollin, I must admit I had a certain degree of cynicism.  I wasn’t doubting the sincerity of their feelings around Abe’s death, because I have no doubt that he touched each and every one of those players in some way.  Being touched is one thing–translating that into a team that plays well together in every facet of the game is another.  But on a night where Gilbert Arenas and Caron Butler combined for 18 points, the Wizards were still able to win by 10, despite losing double digit leads one more than one occasion.  I don’t know whether Coach Saunders has found his rhythm substitution-wise, or if Abe is inspiring this team from above, but it was nice to see the Wizards put two strong efforts together.

-JaVale McGee checked into the game unusually early (with 3.27 left in the 1st quarter), and Coach Saunders clearly must have known that was the right move, because his impact was immediate.  Within 15 seconds of entering the game, McGee had a first block on Jermaine O’Neal.  Two minutes later he scored on a pretty finger roll around O’Neal.  A few seconds later he blocked a Joel Anthony shot, and then he stole the ball from Udonis Haslem with 15 seconds left in the quarter.  McGee only played 15 minutes total, and he didn’t have much of an effect on the game after the first quarter, but it was nice to see McGee do the little things and be seemingly content.

-Just last week I wrote an article about Nick Young‘s inconsistency, and I questioned whether he was truly ready to step in and be an effective contributor to this Wizards’ team.  On Wednesday, lost in the shuffle between Eddie Jordan’s return and Abe Pollin’s untimely death, was the start and solid play of Nick Young.  In that game, Young scored  20 points on 50% shooting, and he seemed to develop some confidence.  Against the Heat, Young’s confidence only increased with a 22 point, five assist performance.  But more importantly, Young played solid defense on Dwyane Wade who had burned the Wizards for over 40 points in their prior meetings.  Wade was held to 18 points on 6-of-19 shooting, and much of that was Young’s defense.  He consistently had a hand in Wade’s face, and he forced him to take some uncharacteristically bad shots.  More importantly, he played well with the starting lineup of Jamison, Haywood, Arenas and Butler.

-When the Wizards defeated the Cavaliers last week, both Arenas and Jamison sat out much of the fourth quarter, and the second unit was able to both maintain and extend the lead against Cleveland’s starters.  Against the Heat, Arenas shot 4-for-7 with nine points and five assists through three quarters, and  with 1:57 left in the third quarter, he left the game and Earl Boykins took his place.  Arenas never entered the game again.  In that 14 minute span, Boykins tallied six points, seven assists and two rebounds, and controlled the tempo completely, giving Mario Chalmers fits on the defensive end.  Boykins’ performance kept Arenas to just 27 minutes, which is key considering the Wizards play the Bobcats this evening.  But Boykins also demonstrated, yet again, that he can do more than just provide instant scoring.

Read more »

Seven third quarter Gilbert Arenas turnovers led to eight Dwyane Wade points on five total shots … evidently Arenas said wasn’t getting calls from the refs, or something like that.

Arenas also said:

“I’m always upset when I have turnovers. I’d rather just shoot the ball and get the attempts than get the turnovers.”

Arenas’ 12 total turnovers for the game broke a franchise record that has stood for over 20 years (regular season or playoffs, on either participating team).

Bob Dandridge committed 11 turnovers against the Golden State Warriors (Arenas’ first team) on February 7, 1978 … which also happens to be Juwan Howard’s birthday.

The most turnovers Howard ever had in a Washington Bullets uniform occurred on December 19, 1995 against the Los Angeles Clippers. December 19th is also Tom Gugliotta’s birthday.

Read more »