2011/12 NBA Regular Season
	@
19-7		5-21
February 10, 2012
Verizon Center
7 PM
CSN
Starters:
Mario Chalmers	PG	John Wall
Dwyane Wade	SG	Nick Young
LeBron James	SF	Chris Singleton
Chris Bosh	PF	Trevor Booker
Joel Anthony	C	JaVale McGee
PREGAME READING: Meet the Heat | Peninsula is Mightier | SB Nation D.C. | SB Nation Tampa Bay

Pregame notes (refreshing):

• Rashard Lewis is not playing again tonight, but Randy Wittman said he's on the way to recovery. "It's getting better," Wittman said. "Hopefully tomorrow, he'll come back in here feeling better. He's close to being able to play.
• The visiting announcers understandably were looking for some John Wall information and asked Wittman about his progression this year. Wittman talked a lot about the coaching change and how Wall has been better recently. Here's the money quote: "It's been a struggle, but as of late, he's played with enthusiasm and great energy that he didn't have all the time. I think he understands that he's got to come out and be energized defensively and able to pick it up."
• They also asked him about Chris Singleton, and Wittman said that he's played well, but he wants Singleton to be more of a slasher going to the basket.
• I asked Wittman about Wall's jump shot, since according to HoopData, Wall has hit 10 of his last 16 shots from 16-23 feet. "He's got to improve on it and he is," he said. "But I think you're starting to see a little bit of that. Now, it's got to be the same thing over and over with him."
• Lots of boos for the Heat as they entered the arena. For what it's worth.

2011/12 NBA Regular Season
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2-4		0-7
February 8, 2012
Verizon Center
7 PM
CSN
Starters:
Jeremy Lin	PG	John Wall
Landry Fields	SG	Nick Young
Bill Walker	SF	Chris Singleton
Jared Jeffries	PF	Trevor Booker
Tyson Chandler	C	JaVale McGee
PREGAME READING: Posting and Toasting | SB Nation D.C. |

• It has been a bad spate of games for JaVale McGee. He went through the same slump last year at exactly the same time. Tonight, he has a chance to get on track with only Tyson Chandler standing in front of him.
• I hope John Wall takes all this Jeremy Lin hype personally.
• Will we see more efficient P&R between Booker and Wall?
• Is Roger Mason poised for a revenge game?

2011/12 NBA Regular Season
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8-17		4-20
February 6, 2012
Verizon Center
7 PM
CSN
Starters:
Jose Calderon	PG	John Wall
Jerryd Bayless	SG	Nick Young
DeMar DeRozan	SF	Chris Singleton
James Johnson	PF	Trevor Booker
Amir Johnson	C	JaVale McGee
PREGAME READING: Meet the Raptors (old) | Raptors HQ | SB Nation D.C.

Pregame notes (constantly refreshing)

• UPDATE: Rashard Lewis won't play with a sore knee. Chris Singleton will start.
• After hinting at possibly getting more veterans involved after the loss to the Clippers, Randy Wittman was asked if there would be any lineup changes. He said no, but clarified that "maybe different rotations, things of that nature" would happen.
• Wittman reiterated that the Wizards' inability to rebound was the main thing that bugged him. "Shooting comes and goes, but rebounding is constant," he said.
• Speaking on that subject, Wittman admitted that one of the problems with JaVale McGee's rebounding is that he goes for blocks that he shouldn't. "You don't want to take his aggression away, because he is a good shot blocker, but he can't be coming over and jumping over other defenders and missing shot blocks, so now his guy is tipping in the offensive rebound."
• I asked Wittman how Ronny Turiaf was doing. "He's got a doctor's appointment coming up in the next day or two with a specialist, and I think we'll have a better feel of how much longer he'll need."
• An astute question was asked about what Wittman and the Wizards can do when there are so few veterans on the court to help calm the young players' down. "I hope [the young players] lean on me a little bit," he said. "I talk to John [Wall] and Shelvin [Mack] -- our quarterbacks out there -- in dead-ball situations, free-throw situations. They're coming over and I'm trying to give them an idea of, 'Hey, they're doing this, so we have to look for that.' I can do that without having to call a timeout and look for everything ... I've got to continue to do a better job of that." Wittman then said he hopes that the young players eventually pick up those things on their own.

Here's the plan: forget what happened last night and enjoy football. BREAK.

For those brave souls still watching, commiserate here.

2011/12 NBA Regular Season
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13-7		4-19
February 4, 2012
Verizon Center
7 PM
CSN
Starters:
Chris Paul	PG	John Wall
Chauncey Billups	SG	Nick Young
Caron Butler	SF	Rashard Lewis
Blake Griffin	PF	Trevor Booker
DeAndre Jordan	C	JaVale McGee
PREGAME READING: Clips Nation | SB Nation D.C.

Pregame notes:

• Trevor Booker is starting tonight for Jan Vesely. Randy Wittman announced it late in our session, so we don't know why. Booker has been outplaying Vesely, so that's probably reason enough. But Wittman's quote here probably has a lot to do with his decision. "If we're going to make a mistake, you've got to go out there and do it all out, and with aggression rather than not,"
  
• Wittman said the team went through a practice prior to the game, though he added that it wasn't really because of last night's performance against the Raptors. "Practice was important because we're in a lockout season and we don't have a lot of time to do a lot of work ... I've got to take every moment I can to teach them."
• Wittman used the cigarette analogy again in talking about the Wizards' performance last night. "I told our guys, in your personal life, think of the worst habit you have. We didn't do it for two weeks, and then all of a sudden we fell off the wagon, put that cigarette in our mouth and took a puff of it. We were back on the cigarettes, and I told them I'm pulling that cigarette out tonight. We gotta get back to fighting our old demons and habits."

2011/12 NBA Regular Season
	@
7-16		4-20
February 3, 2012
Air Canada Center
7 PM
CSN
Starters:
Jose Calderon	PG	John Wall
DeMar DeRozan	SG	Nick Young
Rasual Butler	SF	Rashard Lewis
James Johnson	PF	Jan Vesely
Amir Johnson	C	JaVale McGee
PREGAME READING: Meet the Raptors | Raptors HQ | SB Nation D.C.

I still have nightmare flashbacks of bad games in Toronto. I'm gonna go lay down for a bit and let you guys reminisce about times past.

GO WIZARDS!

Note: No Andrea Bargnani for the Dinos tonight.

2011/12 NBA Regular Season
	@
4-17		12-9
February 1, 2012
Amway Center
7 PM
CSN
Probable Starters:
John Wall	PG	Chris Duhon
Nick Young	SG	J.J. Redick
Rashard Lewis	SF	Hedo Turkoglu
Jan Vesely	PF	Ryan Anderson
JaVale McGee	C	Dwight Howard
PREGAME READING: Meet the Magic | Orlando Pinstriped Post | SB Nation Tampa Bay StoryStream | SB Nation D.C. StoryStream

GO WIZARDS!