Wizards defeat the Utah Jazz 100-95

Game notes:

* John Wall has been doing really well as of late and is playing much better than he has all year.  He finished with a game high 28 points along with 7 assist, and 6 rebounds.  The key stat of the night actually was the fact that he had 2 turnovers only. Great sign for the future.

* One pleasant surprise, and I mean surprise because I would have never predicted on the progress of JaVale to happen this season but the man is playing inspired ball.  He finished with his 4th straight double double.  He's rebounding and scoring.  One move that made my night and made me smile in the morning just thinking about it, was one move where he backed down his opponent and did a pretty spin move towards the basket and dunked it but it wasn't one of those dunks where he takes off from the free throw line.  It was an actual BIG MAN move that was beautiful.  (Check out the ComcastSportsNet video on the bottom to see the beautiful move by McGee)

It looks like Coach Flip Saunders will be back and retained by the Wizards front office for the 2011-2012 barring any lock out.  I was told by a source that Flip Saunders has informed the coaching staff that they are indeed coming back next year. 

Lets be honest, entering this season not many people believed that the Washington Wizards would be a winning basketball team.  Fans were excited though to watch John Wall brings his talents to Washington, D.C. and play against the leagues best point guards, believing that he too will reach their elite status.

Against the Oklahoma City Thunder Wall faced Russell Westbrook (18 pts, 12 ast), a dynamic point guard who before the game Wizards Head Coach Flip Saunders called the “best all around point-guard in the NBA.” In a double-overtime thriller on January 28, Westbrook contained Wall to a pedestrian 13 points and 10 assists.

Although the Wizards have fared better at home this season, there most recent matchup was far less dramatic. Westbrook and the NBA's leading scorer Kevin Durant (28.1 PPG) applied pressure early on to gain a 23-point lead and put the game away by the end of the first-half. The Thunder held Washington to a lowly 37.8 percent from the field, including 0 of 9 from beyond the three-point line.

Wizards lose another one at home dropping home record to 15-20 and moving to 16-49 on the season. Don't worry folks, the end is near, March Madness begins this week and we can then start dreaming about what 2 - 1st Round picks might be looking good in the Blue, Gold, Black - Red, White and Blue this summer and next year. 

In the meantime here are the sights from tonight's disaster:

Photo Courtesy ~ Joe Glorioso / http://www.twitter.com/JoeGlo1

Brandon Jennings and the Milwaukee Bucks never broke stride as they had their way with the Washington Wizards, handing them their third straight defeat while claiming the season series 2 to 1.

Jennings (23 pts) and John Salmons (22 pts) lead the Bucks in scoring despite not logging a single minute between the two during the fourth quarter. The Bucks used the second and third quarters to build a 25-point lead, outscoring the Wizards 53 to 31 during that time.

Wizards Head Coach Flip Saunders attributed late quarter collapses to why the game got so out of hand. 

“We have some guys when they get tired, they have a tendency to brain-lock when they get a little bit fatigued,” said Saunders. “That happens a lot at the end of quarters. Sometimes you try to buy a couple minutes and we’ve got guys in foul trouble.”

In a match-up of two teams who’ve had there share of turmoil over the last few weeks, the Detroit Pistons held off the Washington Wizards late comeback attempt beating them 113 to 102.

Wizards Head Coach Flip Saunders missed the game against his former team in order to attend a wake for his mother who passed away this past Friday. For the second time in the last three games, Assistant Coach Randy Wittman filled in during Saunders’ absence.

In recent weeks reports have surfaced over Pistons’ players boycotting the teams Head Coach John Kuester by walking out on meetings and refusing to practice. Rip Hamilton (10 pts) who was at the center of the alleged walk-out, stated last week that he had spoken to his coach and that their issues were resolved. For at least one night Detroit stood united.

Wizards Win 103 - 96 against the Minnesota Timberwolves

If you expected Cartier Martin, Maurice Evans and a sick Trevor Booker (who had flu like symptoms) would be one of the reasons why the Wizards would win, then you are a freaking genius.  Cartier was hustling and was giving the Wiz Kids plenty of his energy.  Maurice Evans hit some key three pointers from the corner.  Flip Saunders even said that he shoots the corner 3's really well.  Booker did not feel well as he had flu like symptoms but the Wizards asked him to play sparingly and he agreed to do so.  Nick Young actually did not play this game because he had flu like symptoms. 

Booker had two back to back dunks that got the crowd on their feet. "The 2 dunks were crazy, don't know which one was crazier, the 1st or the 2nd one," said Blatche about Bookers dunks.  Despite being sick, Booker had the adrenaline rush hit him after the dunks as he described it after the game. By the way, Booker thought the 2nd one was better.

Andray Blatche, for someone who gets alot of grief because of the way he plays, had a really good game.  I guess he was motivated playing against Kevin Love (he finished with 20 points 21 rebounds).  Blatche ended up with 20 points 7 rebounds, and 4 assist.  If only Blatche could be this motivated and emotional during a game.

Wizards defeated by Warriors 106-102

Quick Recap: The first 3 quarters was probably the most boring-est (is this even a word?) quarters I've been involved with while covering this team.  I had no choice but to think how bad this can be this year.  It's like the players did not want to be involved or be here but that changed really quick in the 4th quarter as Nick Young was hitting shots.

Nick Young, the goofy shooting guard who has been one of the most improved players in the NBA, is the Wizards first option when it comes to the offense.  The guy can flat out score but I can't say the same about his hair.  He looked like Princess Leia of Star Wars with his hair braided. 

The braided one finished with a team and game high, 31 points.

In case you did not hear, Al Thornton has been waived by the Washington Wizards.  Sadly to say, he was one of the guys I was closer too on the team.  There was not a bad bone in that guys body.  It was hard not to love the guy, he was really down to earth and WE (WizardsExtreme) will miss him. 

Al Thornton was waived due to the fact that we are 'jam logged' as Ernie put it, at the small forward position. Al averaged 8 points and 3 rebounds per game this season which was a career low so far. He once averaged 16.8 in 2008/2009 for the LA Clippers.

In a matchup of John Caliparri’s finest, All-Star Derrick Rose out performed counterpart John Wall as the Bulls cruised past the Wizards 105 to 77.

Rose toyed with Washington scoring 21 points while distributing 9 assists. He also had plenty of support from those in attendance with chants of “M-V-P!” erupting when he converted a free throw at the end of the first quarter.

“It’s getting crazy on the road but I’m loving it right now. Being able to come into every arena and having fans from everywhere cheering for me is wonderful and I’m so thankful we’re winning,” said Rose after the game.

The mercurial point-guard found teammates Luol Deng (21 pts) and Kyle Korver (11pts) early and often for open jump shots as he caused havoc, penetrating the paint with ease. Rose and Bulls center Joakim Noah also seemed to be getting into the groove that made them a combo that took the NBA by storm during the 2009-2010 season.