Wizards Law; What can Go Wrong.....

Written By Jeremy Batka @EastCoastAssn

The Wizards looked lethargic coming off the All-Star break dropping their first game of the second half of the season 96-88 against the Raptors in D.C. Tuesday night.

Not only did Washington look like a team still on vacation but even the Verizon Center had troubles. With a broken scoreboard the stadium was forced to use an air-horn and a make shift high school scoreboard with shot clocks on the corners of the court. Only in Washington.

But in the scoreboard's defense, who would show up to see a team play as poorly as the Wizards did Tuesday night? Despite being down only five in the fourth quarter Washington never really stood a chance in an ugly effort from Randy Wittman's team.

Bradley Beal led the team with 25 and Martell Webster had 16 as both drained three shots from beyond the arc. After that it's tough to find positives on a night that saw John Wall commit more turnovers than assists (7-6).

With the majority of the Wizards having a rough night Wittman opted not to play Jordan Crawford or Jan Vesely and gave less than five minutes to Chris Singleton and Kevin Seraphin. Crawford, who is the speculation of many trade talks hasn't played significant minutes since January.

Crawford also threw his jersey to the crowd after the game. Maybe he already knows he's gone or maybe he was just giving the fans, who were chanting his name, what they wanted.

And to make matters worse, here's a tweet from Wizards' reporter Frank Hanrahan after the game:

 So yeah, there's that.

Wizards next game will be Friday when they host JaVale Mcgee and the Nuggets.

Raptors Broadcaster Matt Devlin Vs Wale, Drake Is Better

On Tuesday night in Washington during the Wizards vs Raptors matchup, DMV rapper Wale kept himself in NBA news.  Just a few days after getting heckled on the air for wearing a vest/hooded fur coat during the NBA Slam Dunk Contest, Wale took offense to comments by Toronto announcers at Verizon Center and walked over and confronted them from the stands, specifically angry at Matt Devlin.

Via @BeyondTheBuzzer

Wale was yelling at Rudy Gay during the game and it caused the Raps announce team to begin heckling Wale on the air a little bit because it was annoying them.


"And supposedly this fan is well known local rapper Wall-Ay, locally here...Wale is inspiring, and I'm sure somebody on Twitter could tell me, if they've ever heard of Wale, he's not Drake, and that's for sure" -Raptors Broadcaster Matt Devlin

Wale was not happy and went a few feet away from the broadcasters to voice his displeasure.  You can hear the Raptors guys get rattled when Wale comes up in the video.  So Awkward.

Pic Via @JESkeets

Usher (not *the* Usher, just *an* usher) telling Wale to find his seat while ball's in play twitter.com/malitzd/status…
— David Malitz (@malitzd) February 20, 2013

Wale still loves Toronto though...lol

Goodbye 0-66

After 8 losses in 7 poorly played games, the Washington Wizards picked up their first win of the season in front of a small but very pumped up crowd at Verizon Center.  The Wiz played a very good game and looked nothing like the last 8 games.

Let me set the scene for you.  The arena was filled with a bunch of people who just paid $2 for a ticket to an NBA game.  These people were SO happy about the deal.  They would have paid $2 to watch paint dry if the regular price was like $20.  The euphoria from the deal was extended by the fact that the Wizards were leading for much of the game.

The people who purchased the tickets expected to go watch G-Wiz, G-Man, and guess at which cup the verizon TV INTERNET PHONE is under.  That was worth $2.  They never thought they would see basketball.  Expecting nothing but the worst and getting anything better leads to awesomeness.  And a win...what a deal.

And...Flip Saunders...wait for it...you won't expect it...it's coming...closer...almost...

Coached a basketball game!

Coaching move #1:  Booker Starting, Blatche Off Bench
Blatche doesn't deserve to start, but also plays much better without all the pressure of being a starter and the captain.  Booker brings energy to the game, and is a good role player.  Blatche also was thinking shot less (not never, but less) and with him also being a role player he does much better.

Coaching move #2:  Using A Backup Point Guard
Prior to this game Jordan Crawford was playing point guard when Wall was out.  He was possibly the worst point guard in NBA history.  I don't think I'm exaggerating.  Shelvin doesn't shoot, he plays point guard.  Just what the Wizards need.  Probably not a long term answer, but good for this season.

Coaching move #3:  Less Lewis/Crawford
The Wizards should have cut Lewis when they had the chance.  They guy adds nothing to the team but decaying skill.  Crawford is a street ball player, I like when he relaxes, but he just makes horrible decisions way too much.  I still would like to see less Young, but Mason isn't the answer, so they have to go with Nick.

Coaching move #4:  Jan Vesely
Finally Janet got some decent minutes.  He played much better than expected, and he looks much better than expected.  He had 5 steals in 16 minutes and got the crowd excited with his defense & off the ball play.  It is too early to go crazy, but the guy needs to get minutes this season.  20 per.

The only downside of the game was how terrible the Raptors played.  It is hard to gauge how well the Wiz did with such a poor performance from the opponent.  Toronto dribbled off their legs, threw bad passes, and took several bad shots.

McGee also had an off night, but they didn't really need him vs Toronto...

Ball On These Raptors: Toronto @ Washington

Millionz Edition

Toronto Raptors @ Washington Wizards

Tuesday, January 10th (7pm) CSN

Toronto Musicians

I really wanted to go lame here.  So while I was looking at the list of Toronto entertainers, I had a few choices.  Of course I wanted to go with the great Snow, and his amazing hit Informer.  However, I have no idea what he is saying, (A liki-boom boom now?) and I don't think anyone reading this knows either.  So no Snow, despite the fact it was snowing today.  Mistake?  Maybe.

The next choice was Deborah Cox.  Her song Nobody's Supposed To Be Here works really well for a Raptors @ Wizards matchup.  Not only is she from Toronto, but the lyrics define the crowd at Verizon Center.  Seriously, why is anyone going to be there?  However, that song is too depressing and watching the team is already depressing enough.  Even the dance mix is depressing.

Kardinal Offishal, Drake, eh...I came upon this video on YouTube, and went with it instead of anyone established.   I found a guy called Millionz.  I listened to one song that popped up, and it wasn't terrible.  So he wins.  I actually kind of like it.  You can watch it at the bottom of the post, but it is really NSFW, and some non-good words.

Washington Non-Basketball Players

So I guess the 0-8 Wizards will be playing on Tuesday.  No word on whether or not Rashard Lewis has a jacket this time.  I'm sure if he does he will go right back into the starting role with no punishment at all, which is how an 0-8 team apparently operates.

Toronto just beat the Bucks tonight and Bargnani scored 31 points and while the team is only 4-5, they are facing the Wizards.  And note to Wizards fans...don't look at the schedule...it isn't looking good.  One good thing about this matchup is it is in DC so there won't be any terrible fake advertisements under the basket making it look like everyone is going to break an ankle on every possession.

Wanna go to the game?  Tickets are like $2 on Stub Hub.  (I went to Nationals Opening day for $0.75 so I don't think this is a DC sports low)