[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. Click here for cumulative DC Council 3-star ratings over the course of the season. Game 38 contributors: Rashad Mobley (@Rashad20) and Kyle Weidie (@Truth_About_It) from the Verizon Center, with Adam McGinnis (@Adam McGinnis) from the television screen.]

Score

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The 5-7 Houston Rockets are in town to take on the 1-11 Washington Wizards. These two teams split their season series last season, the Wizards winning 98-91 in D.C. on November 10, 2010 in what was dubbed “Asian Heritage Night” as Yi Jianlian faced Yao Ming. The game was broadcast on NBA TV and also in front of millions in China. Unfortunately, Yao got injured after playing only six minutes in the first quarter; that game would be his last before retiring. Magic Johnson was in attendance, sitting courtside next to Ted Leonsis, John Wall recorded his first NBA triple double, and Cowboy Al Thornton was the unsung hero. Washington’s return trip to Houston on December 27 was a 100-93 loss under different circumstances. Not 10 days earlier Gilbert Arenas had been traded to Orlando and not three days earlier, JaVale McGee and Andray Blatche got to fighting in the club. For today’s game preview 3-on-3 we have Truth About It’s Sam Permutt, Michael Pina of TrueHoop Houston Rockets blog Red94 (and from the blogs Shaky Ankles and Wiz of Awes), and Matt Moore of TrueHoop blog Hardwood Paroxysm, CBSSports.com, and several other NBA-related places all over the web. Three questions, three answers starts now…

#1) Through 10 games, Houston’s point guard Kyle Lowry has a 24.6 PER, which ranks 11th in the NBA. He leads the Rockets with 17.8 points per game, and averages 6.9 rebounds, 9.3 assists and 3.5 turnovers. Comparatively, John Wall averages 13.3 points, 4.6 rebounds, 7.1 assists and 4.2 turnovers (PER of 12.4). How do you see the battle between these two playing out?

MATT MOORE: Lowry’s going to kill him. Lowry’s been on fire for about a year now, which mostly means he’s not so much on fire as he is just becoming one of the top point guards in the league. Meanwhile, Wall is the primary threat on the Wizards, every team knows it, and he’s regressed in his second year. It’s nothing to panic over, he just needs to slow down when he finishes at the rim and take his time to think through the play sets. But Lowry’s a physical defender despite his size, and should give Wall an exhausting day.

SAM PERMUTT: This could be a good match-up for John Wall. Kyle Lowry is able to use his quickness and speed to his advantage against most point guards in the league, but Wall should have him beat in those categories. Still, Lowry is a very intelligent player, so expect him to get his also. Both guards will have good games.

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A moving picture GIF for fake 3-D effect (don’t get dizzy), with links and commentary…

[Lafayette Elementary School, NW Washington, D.C. - photos: K. Weidie]

Links.

I recently took part in a ‘Word on the Street’ sports roundtable put together by Ben Standig of CSNWashington. My pick for the Preakness didn’t come through, but I still stand by the rest.
[CSNWashington]

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[Kobe Bryant looks to discover more about Sam Cassell - photo: Adam McGinnis]

How does one evaluate a performance like the Washington Wizards gave in a 103-89 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday night? They didn’t play their worst, but weren’t even in sight of the perfect game they would have needed to beat the reigning champs. Washington did their best to fight, but continued to make the same exact mistakes that fans should sadly be becoming immune to now. Each key defensive gaffe became mundane, blending in with the others.

Already severely out-manned with no Andray Blatche, John Wall and Josh Howard, Yi Jianlian went down about five minutes into the game with just about the same injury to the same knee. That’s when the Washington Post’s Michael Lee invoked the ‘Curse O’ Les Boulez’ on Twitter. Great.

Lesser than a tale of two halves, it was a tale of two quarters, the first and the second. The Wizards “hung around” in the first quarter, moving the ball well (7 assists, 11 field-goals, 0 turnovers) and playing aggressive defense. Of course, that aggressiveness combined with the aura of a champion that seems to possess referees pinned the Wizards for 10 fouls — although some of those should certainly be credited to bad defensive positioning. After the game, Al Thornton also denoted a couple early call against him as “cheap.” Pretty much what you can expect when you have to guard Kobe Bryant and his ability to draw fouls. Watching the referees pay meticulous attention to Kobe’s presence with their whistles is akin to walking by a construction site behind of bevy of Hooters waitresses.

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Back in D.C. from vacation, and carrying an unfulfilled pseudo promise to find somewhere in New Orleans to watch Sunday’s Wizards-Lakers game (I said screw it and went to a place where I knew the food would be good … the Acme Oyster Company. Sure, a little touristy, but the food was still awesome, and the GF and I sat at the oyster bar where we were repeatedly slipped extra freshly shucked oysters … so no complaints there), I’m ready to jump full-on into the remaining 14 games on the schedule, starting with tonight’s home match-up against the Charlotte Bobcats. Hopefully the Wizards will either get a win this evening or tomorrow in Indiana so as not to tie the longest losing steak in franchise history at 13 games, achieved once in ’94-95 under Jim Lynam and once in ’66-67 as the Baltimore Bullets under Gene Shue.

But to recap the last game against the Lakers, we have a guest post from someone who did watch it. Below are the observations of Carter Bryant, a freelance sports journalist from the Baton Rouge area who is currently interning for Sirius/XM Satellite Radio in Washington, D.C.

Actually, one quick note first. Yesterday the WaPost’s Michael Lee reported that Gilbert Arenas’ mother recently passed away. Man, tough year for that guy. I couldn’t imagine being abandoned by my mother, and if I would even talk to her later in life given the opportunity. Gilbert at one point sounded like he wanted to reconnect with her after one chance encounter, but opted to at least put it off until his playing days are over. Now it makes one think … don’t put off until tomorrow what you can do today, especially when it comes to family and friends.

{flickr/jvnunag}

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flickr/Keith Allison

Haywood is a non-starter for 20 NBA teams.

by spurchief on Jul 26, 2009 4:00 PM EDT

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Seriously. It’s supposed to be the EENNN BEEEE AAAAA playoffs. Teams send messages to each other. Let it be.

Instead, NBA refs get to be the ones sending messages. Is that what fans want? Doubt it.

So I’m watching Ron Artest, who was having a terrible ‘crazy pills = horrible shot selection’ Ron Artest kind of night in the first place, get kicked out of game three in Houston with a flagrant 2 for no apparent reason.

Hard foul on softy Gasol, no biggie … just a sharp knock of the ball out Pau’s hands, the Euro goes flop-flying, and all of a sudden it’s D-Day. Artest gets kicked out because there is less than a minute on the clock, the Lakers have the game in hand, and because he’s Ron Artest.

“I don’t think that was a flagrant …. You know, I’m an 80s baby, so that shoulda been two shots and be done with it.” -Kobe Bryant

Back to game two.

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It was like that part in Hoosiers when Coach Norman Dale discretely asked the ref to kick him out of the game so that Shooter the Drunk could take over with a chance at redemption. Last night against the Lakers, there was no drunk, the Jazz just had their final run squashed, and Jerry Sloan asked the ref to kick him out by calling him a mutherfucker. Could Sloan’s coaching career be over? Not like Hoosiers at all.

@ Mohawks Meeting Swarth

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