While trying their best to win against the Blazers on Wednesday night, the Wizards were also trying their best to lose. That’s just the way it is with this team. A negative? Washington, after getting up 15 points in the fourth quarter, didn’t score a basket over a span of almost seven minutes as the Blazers made a 16-0 run to steal the lead, 80-79. The positives? Randy Wittman adjusted and the Wizards didn’t concede victory.

Here’s the coach talking about his main adjustment: putting Chris Singleton back in the game to guard LaMarcus Aldridge in an effort to minimize a “bad matchup” in the pick-and-roll when a bigger, slower Wizard was checking the Blazers All-Star.

But also… Why on EARTH did Singleton snag a defensive rebound, when the Wizards were up 84-82, and call a timeout with 0.5 seconds left? The “hero ball” we speak of in the title of this post is not the standard “hero ball” you’ve come to expect from the Wizards—the likes of Nick Young or Jordan Crawford taking a contested fadeaway on a one-pass possession with 17 seconds left on the shot clock. But this move could’ve thrown the hero defense by Singleton that was lauded by Wittman into the belly of the goat. Because Wizards.

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[Editor's Note: Truth About It.net photographer Adam Douglas once again brings you an excellent edition of "Under The Hoop" -- because Wizards games aren't just about basketball, they're about the whole fan experience, and Adam brings you that experience from up close with pictures and commentary. The below post is from last Saturday's game against the Utah Jazz.]

Andray Blatche knows who might butter his bread at the free throw line.

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