It's over.

With hope and despair for the inevitable, I was paralyzed from five minutes to go in regulation to Webster cheering and running through the tunnel. Seeing the handful of Wizards celebrate as they left the floor confirmed what I had feared to be true: we had lost.

With this latest loss to the Hawks, the Wizards start the season with a double-digit losing streak. For each tally in the loss column, I had looked expectantly to the next game. We showed promised. The Celtics game had put us close, and this time...well, it's unbelievable.

Except when you know it must happen to you, to your team. I screamed "Not Korver!" as he was coming free of the screen, yet I knew long before that we would fall with his three.

This is the trial, and our Wizards have passed the test. Zero wins despite ten chances - yes, our worst lost was our most winnable. They have passed; they are still fighting.

The despair when the Hawks sent it to overtime? The collapse when Horford tied it up in OT? Not there. Instead, the Wiz Kids fought till the end (even past it), with Seraphin hitting a beautiful off of the pick and roll to get the lead.

We have solidarity. Our coach is in a state of Zen. There's nothing we can do but fight, even if the world is against us. And fight we will.

For me, as a fan, there is no more heartbreak. We've reached the climax. It's inevitable that we will suffer the wrongs of the basketball gods, but our team will be out there fighting for us, and for themselves. No more looking to the next game. The games will come.

We've survived the worse. And it's up from here.