When John Wall “Dougied” in front of an elated Verizon Center crowd before his professional home debut on November 2, 2010, the Game Changer’s career would be forever linked to the Philadelphia 76ers. Little did anyone know at the time how this connection between Wall’s Wizards and the 76ers would epitomize the ups and downs of his personal and team success. Philadelphia has sky-rocketed into its current perch amongst the best of the Eastern Conference, while Washington has plummeted to become a national punch line for sports futility. The relationship between Wizards and the 76ers has seen its triumphs, torment and just plain weirdness in the brief Wall era.

Going into the 2010-11 season, similarities between the teams were striking. Wall was the first overall pick in 2010, Philly selected Evan Turner second. Both teams were led by veteran teachers (Flip Saunders and Doug Collins) who had past playoff success. All-Star guards Andre Iguodala and Gilbert Arenas were viewed as possessing albatross contracts that needed to be moved in order for the teams to rebuild. A crop of young players in Thaddeus Young, Jrue Holiday, Lou Williams, JaVale McGee, Nick Young, and Andray Blatche littered their rosters.

Wall won each of his first two meetings versus Philly in thrilling overtime fashion, and a budding rivalry seemed in motion for these two NBA cities separated by only 132 miles. However, Washington has now lost four straight to Philadelphia by double-digits, including the most recent 103-90 defeat on January 14th.

In the original ‘Teach Me How to Dougie’ game, Wizards reserve Cartier Martin hit an improbable three point shot to send the game in overtime. Washington eventually pulled it out 106-105 on the strength of free throws, and Wall produced an eye-popping stat line: 29 points, 13 assists, 9 steals and 8 turnovers.  Wall’s first pro game, seen on TNT, was a dud blowout loss in Orlando, and while he performed much better in his second game (28 points and nine assists), the Halloween weekend loss in Atlanta garnered little attention. The 76ers victory affirmed to the sports world that the one-and-done hot shot out of Kentucky might be worthy of all the hype.

Comparisons to Oscar Robertson were thrown about, along with glowing coverage from ESPN’s SportsCenter, which led with Wall’s Dougie introduction. Wall’s dance moves and eight turnovers unfortunately drew the ire of a troll (a name which will go unmentioned) with a large radio show megaphone. His unfair, borderline racist views did nothing to stop the sports pop culture juggernaut that went from the John Wall Dance phenomenon to California Swag District’s “Teach Me How Dougie.”

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The Wizards weren’t necessarily really, really bad in their 103-90 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers on Saturday night, they were just normal bad. For one, don’t take credit away from the Sixers. Good team. For two, Washington seemed to earnestly try in small doses to pass the ball to each other. It’s just that usually when they did, the passes were not crisp, or the recipient couldn’t finish, or a number of other things that just don’t seem to go a bad team’s way happened — no help from the refs, plenty of missed shots from point-blank range, etc.

Philadelphia scored 27 points off 18 Washington turnovers, 21 of those points came in the first half off 13 turnovers (seven in the first quarter, six in the second). Andre Igoudala got points with ease for Philadelphia when needed, finishing with 23 on 9-16 FGs with five steals, five assists and seven rebounds. Igoudala also had teammates who filled in with help. Thaddeus Young chipped in a solid 18 points off the bench, Wizard killer Lou Williams had 24 points on 4-6 from deep.

The money quote from Flip Saunders after the game: “The first half we looked like ‘Space Jam’ where everyone lost all their talents and couldn’t do anything there for a while. But I told them, when you haven’t passed the ball very much, and you’ve been holding the ball and holding it, then all of a sudden, as a team, when you try to start doing it, it’s like guys aren’t ready.”

The difference being: Michael Jordan brought the ToonSquad back to a fictitious, animated victory in the 1996 movie. The Wizards, well, they are living real life and the only Jordan they have is Jordan Crawford. A 1-11 record is in the books… Lights Out Wizards.

{Lights Out, Iggy…}

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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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On draft night back in 2010, the Wizards and the Sixers were two bad teams who felt like they had received significant upgrades with the additions of John Wall and Evan Turner respectively.  Turner still comes off the bench, but the addition of Doug Collins along the maturation of Jrue Holiday, helped the Sixers reach the playoffs last year, along with a strong 7-3 start this year.  The Wizards were back in the lottery last year, and are far and away the worst team in the NBA this season.  To put it mildly, the Sixers have passed the Wizards by.  These two polar opposites will clash in Philadelphia tonight, but before that Truth About It writers Kyle Weidie and Rashad Mobley, along with the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Sixers beat writer (and former Wizards beat writer for the Washington Times) John Mitchell answer three questions…

#1)    In Kate Fagan’s well-written blog entry on Monday, she broke down the reasons why Philadelphia is playing so well offensively this year.  One of the main reasons for the offensive efficiency, is that Doug Collins and his coaching staff realized that his personnel excelled at running the pick-and-roll, and he needed to customize his offense to match their strengths.  Given that the John Wall is struggling offensively, and the Wizards as a whole are struggling on offense—they scored just 64 points in a loss to Chicago—should Flip Saunders look to make adjustments to the offense? Or are the Wizards just in a bad shooting slump?

MITCHELL:   I honestly don’t know what Flip can do to ignite the offense. John Wall is an electric talent, but he probably played with better talent at the collegiate level than he has in Washington.  Nick Young, allegedly and offensive player, was reportedly seeking $9 million annually yet he’s back in Washington hitting just 38 percent of his shots. With the Wizards, the ball too often sticks. That’s not a good thing.

MOBLEY:  The Wizards are in a bad slump but it has nothing to do with shooting, and everything to do with where they are mentally.  John Wall and Andray Blatche are missing baskets at point blank range.  Nick Young, as many times as he keeps the Wizards in the game with his scoring, is still forcing shots.  There have been very few possessions for the Wizards this season, where precise passing and patience led to any easy score.  If Flip can somehow get this team to do that, the offense would be more efficient.

WEIDIE: Washington’s best bet, in the midst of offensive ineptness, is for John Wall to get paint penetration and for him and his team to earn trips to the foul line. Problem is, in the Wizards’ one win, they got 12 assisted FGs at the rim, John Wall was responsible for five of those. In all other games, losses, the Wizards average 6.3 assisted FGs at the rim, and overall, Wall’s assists leading to FGs at the rim is down to 2.9 this season from 3.2 last season. Wall is also struggling to finish, shooting 50.8-percent on attempts at the rim this season compared to 59.9-percent last season. Add in the fact that Washington’s team FT-percentage is at .716 this season from .745 last season, and I think the cause is less of a slump and more of a general inability. [Stats via HoopData.com]

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[The Rundown: Setting the scene, rating the starters, assessing the bench, providing the analysis, and catching anything that you may have missed... (As the crew at TAI works to hone their post-game coverage.)]

Score

Washington Wizards 94 – Philadelphia 76ers 101 [box score]

Quick STAT: Rashard Lewis shot 1-for-4 and scored three points in 19 minutes. In two preseason games, the starting small forward has gone 2-for-9 and scored seven points in 42 minutes. -R. Mobley Read more »

D.C. vs. Philly… Back for more or back for revenge? BUT IT’S ONLY THE PRESEASON! Right, but with a long basketball hiatus and short opportunity to develop team cohesiveness, it’s an important preseason. So it’s Wizards versus Sixers Part II tonight on NBA TV at 7 pm (or if you’re local loyal, with Steve Buckhantz and Phil Chenier on Comcast SportsNet Washington – NOPE… here in D.C., NBA TV is blacked-out and the local Comcast is providing the Philly feed on their non-HD CSN+ channel — “Great”). Three questions… Three answers from Adam McGinnis, Rashad Mobley and Kyle Weidie… Time for some 3-on-3.

1) On Saturday after practice, Flip Saunders said facing Philadelphia again might be more ideal from a game-preparation standpoint, in knowing what the Sixers might do, but otherwise it doesn’t really matter. Yes, it’s just the preseason, but do you agree with Saunders? Or will the fact that the Wizards are playing the same team that embarrassed them on Friday sharpen their focus a bit more?

McGINNIS: On the surface, it should help them and heighten their concentration. In reality, Philadelphia is just a way better team than the Wizards right now. So any familiarity of knowing their plays is insignificant. After the dud that the Wizards dropped on Friday, this is more about them than the opponent they’re facing.

MOBLEY: I disagree with Flip, it does matter.  I remember the competitiveness of John Wall during summer exhibition games (yes, I know it was just summer). If he missed a basket, he’d try his best to make a play on the other end. I expect him to have that attitude tonight, and hopefully his teammates will follow.  Another bad loss for the Wizards going into the season opener next Monday would affect this young team’s confidence in a bad way.

WEIDIE: At a top-level sense, the coach was right. His team should be able to respond — or rather, he should have his team prepared to respond — to just about any opponent. The fact that Washington is facing the same team that gave them a beat down might provide a minor boost in being able to immediately quench hurt pride versus familiar faces. But they are also NBA players, they should be ready to take basketball troubles out on any opponent. Faces, names and jerseys should not matter.

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“I was tired of looking at that sh*t.”

That was Flip Saunders’ surly response to why he yanked all five of his starters two minutes into the second half of the Washington Wizards’ 25-point blowout preseason loss to the Philadelphia 76ers last Friday night.

Saunders was highly disappointed in the effort of the first unit by their insufficient ball movement, lack of trust in one another and overall selfish play.

“This is a team game, and it is not about individuals … it is the five players that play the best together and that is your best team, not the five most talented player. If you don’t play and you’re not giving effort as a team, you are not going to play, no matter who it is.”

Flip’s remedy for self-centered play:

“I know one thing, if they are sitting down, they wont be hogging the ball.”

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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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“We fell behind and lost some of our confidence. We didn’t make plays, we didn’t make shots. Their guards got in the paint and destroyed us.” – Flip Saunders

On Wednesday night, the Wizards lost 109-97 to the Philadelphia 76ers, falling to 0-17 on the road. Despite Andre Iguodala’s absence and the entire Wizards roster being healthy for the first time, the script was familiar: 1) Washington keeps the game close until some point during the fourth quarter; 2) during a timeout huddle, the players collectively decide that “defense” is no longer as important as taking “contested, off-balance shots”; 3) Washington loses in a slow, plodding fashion, as the opposing team shoots free throws for the last three minutes of the game.

I tried something new last night: while drinking (not the new part), I attempted to chart each Wizards’ offensive possession. Though my notes deteriorated late in the fourth quarter as my IV of Knob Creek was nearly tapped out, there was some wisdom to be found in my possession tracking. The results of that sophomoric effort, and other random tidbits, in bullet form:

• Numbers that seemed important prior to the game: 1) the Wizards winning their last five games versus the 76ers, including two overtime games this season; 2) this was the 76ers first home game since December 17th; 3) the Wizards were 6.5 point underdogs
• The Wizards scored 97 points on 90 possessions. By my primitive math skills, this amounts to a 107.8 ORtg (points per 100 possessions), good for 11th in the League if Washington played an Iguodala-less Philadelphia for 82 games a season.
• Washington’s ball movement was good last night. The team recorded 26 assists on 40 made field goals and committed only 12 turnovers. But, some of the turnovers could have been avoided: three TO’s from Lewis/Blatche/Hinrich came on passes to no one in particular, where the ball sailed out of bounds. Hinrich tried to force a couple passes in the pick-and-roll, which were easily intercepted. Lewis was also called for a charge three times, though two of those were questionable.
• Kirk Hinrich, streak-shooter — he started 5-5 from the field and finished 5-11, going 0-4 with two turnovers in the fourth quarter.
• Kyle already did a nice job chronicling Andray Blatche’s amazing ability to put up a decent stat line and still frustrate the hell out of you. My game chart suggests that Blatche’s ability in this regard comes from his propensity to ‘get himself started’ in the offense by taking long 2s, making no effort to get to the free throw line, and letting Elton Brand dribble and rebound around him.
• See: Kevin Seraphin’s nine minutes of playing time in place of Blatche, a substitution which came after Brand dropped 10 points plus a couple offensive rebounds on ‘Dray in the first quarter.
• Reason why the Wizards lost: 0.567. This number represents the 76ers free throw rate (free throw attempts divided by field goal attempts) last night. Philly shot an absurd 38 free throws on 67 field goal attempts, while Washington shot 18 free throws on 82 field goal attempts. John Wall and Kirk Hinrich accounted for 11 of the 18 free throw attempts.
• As point guards, Wall and Hinrich cannot be the only players making a concerted effort to get to the rim, especially when they are the team’s best (only?) perimeter defenders. When Wall or Hinrich misses in the lane, it can lead to easy transition opportunities for the opposition. Last night, Jrue Holiday killed the Wizards in precisely these kinds of transition situations. Holiday finished the game with 26 points on 10-14 shooting, four rebounds, and nine assists.
• Something which Flip Saunders should read and send to all the players: this Sports Illustrated article on Ohio State — the team that leads the nation in free throw rate. Can you imagine if each Wizards player had to review the film from each of their fouls? McGee and Blatche would never leave the team facility.
• Good quote from the SI article. To borrow a phrase from the critically acclaimed film Don’t Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood — “MESSAGE!”:

Matta’s secret to whistle-avoidance goes beyond merely having long, athletic players and telling them not to foul. One of the foundations of his philosophy came from something he heard while serving as an assistant at Butler in the early ’90s, and listening to the Indianapolis radio show of then-Pacers coach Larry Brown. “If you can guard your man when he doesn’t have the ball,” Matta recalls Brown saying, “then it’s 10 times easier to guard him when he gets the ball.” The point being: You avoid fouls and play effective D if you’re in quality position ahead of time, not reacting after your man catches a pass. That kind of preparedness can only be achieved through a combination of effort, mental sharpness and advance scouting.

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It’s not like these things just started happening. Andray Blatche missed that layup against the Bulls on December 22, said he was in one of the worst funks of his career, said it got his head messed up, and that mentally, he just wasn’t right. I hear him. I’ve played basketball before, plenty of times. Confidence is a huge part of the game. Maybe Andray needs a hug.

Blatche has also earnestly admited that trade rumors bother him. ‘Blatche in a funk, trying to clear his mind,’ said a Wizards Insider headline on Tuesday morning. A funk indeed. But really, and again, it’s not like these things just started happening with Blatche — been this way for years, it seems. Just now, at lesser levels of understanding. But hey, you do what you can do and try what you can try. In an unrelated but could be related matter, Blatche got a new pattern cut into the side of his head.

Blatche looked okay(ish) … sorta … against the Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday night in a 109-79 loss, which made Washington 0-17 on the road for the season. Actually, he looked ‘okay’ early, then typical, then encouraging, then same ol’ same ol’, then, and finally, I don’t remember him. He had a basket at the 10:41 mark of the third and a hoop with 6:11 left in the fourth … and that was it for the second half. He finished the game with 17 points on 8-18 shooting, six rebounds, three assists, two steals, two turnovers and four fouls.

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Due to Thanksgiving holiday travel, my pictures from the November 23 Wizards-76ers game are a bit tardy. But considering the Wizards have not won a game since, enduring two embarrassing blowouts in the process, reminiscing a thrilling victory could be a good remedy for Wizards fans. Enjoy.

John Wall & Gilbert Arenas stand out during the national anthem.

76ers top pick Evan Turner trying to get one of his threes to drop during pre-game shoot around.

Wizards Rookie Kevin Seraphin is much more jovial to be around than this shot depicts.

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The most dependable aspect of Nick Young’s game, perhaps, has become his 3-point shooting. No, he’s not knocking them down at a career-high rate (36.6-percent this season compared to 38-percent total in his first three NBA seasons; he shot 40.6-percent from deep last season), but he is taking them at a higher volume, so that certainly could take some getting used to for him. In his first threes seasons, Nick averaged 3.5 3PA per 36 minutes, making 1.3. This season he’s averaging 5.7 3PA per 36 minutes while making 2.1.

But the ultimate factor involving the higher-volume long-range Nick is that he’s shooting 48.6-percent from the field this season, a career-best by far. In NBA seasons 1-3 combined, Young shot 43.4-percent from the field. Nice improvement, I’d say.

The assists still aren’t there for him, he’s now averaging a career-worst 0.6 assists per 36 minutes (and that’s on top of an already horrendous career when it comes to passing). However, the turnovers aren’t there either. Up to this season, Young has averaged 1.97 turnovers per 36 minutes. This year he just has four turnovers in 258 total minutes (0.6 per 36 minutes). Wizards fans will take improvement from Young wherever they can get it, especially when he hits game winning bombs.

And to think, it all could have something to do with Nick’s lucky fox tail. Or not.

Nick Young talks about his first game winner:

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There was 3:31 left in the fourth quarter, the Philadelphia 76ers leading the Wizards 98-89, when Andre Iguodala threw a pass that was stolen by Kirk Hinrich.  The ball eventually found its way into John Wall’s hands, who looked up, found JaVale McGee, and hit him with a  perfect pass.  McGee, as he does so well, took the ball strong to the hole, and dunked it with authority on Elton Brand, who was late in his rotation.

Unfortunately for the Sixers, not only was Brand late rotating, but he was forced to foul, and foul hard — so hard in fact that McGee violently crashed to the ground and immediately grabbed his back in agony.  The referee wasted no time whistling Brand for a type two flagrant foul, which meant an automatic ejection from the game.  McGee, even as he was still on the ground in pain, managed to taunt the departing Sixer by waving goodbye to him as he left the court.

The flagrant served as a turning point in the game, as the Wizards outscored the Sixers 15-8 after that, and eventually won in overtime 116-114.  When asked if that was indeed the turning point, Sixers coach Doug Collins vehemently disagreed:

“Guys, with 8.5 seconds to go, we were shooting two free throws and they [the Wizards] had no timeouts.  So we can talk about it [Brand's flagarant foul] all we want, but we were still in a position to win the game, they had no timeouts.  At the end of the day, we stil l had a three point lead shooting two free throws and with 8.5 seconds to go.”

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