No Antawn, no fight, no fun on Fun Street

It was pitiful, pathetic, putrid.

It was abysmal, painful, brutal.

It was the worst performance of the Wizards since they became a playoff team two seasons ago.

There was no fight in the Wizards against the Trail Blazers on Fun Street yesterday.

There was no sense of urgency in the Wizards, no sense of professionalism, no sense of caring an iota in losing to the Trail Blazers 94-73.

The Wizards could not even mount the obligatory scoring run that falls short against a modest opponent that will not make the playoffs this season.

The Wizards could not sustain anything against the Trail Blazers because of their ineptitude and listlessness.

The sellout crowd of 20,173 went to see an NBA game, and a WNBA game broke out.

This was not about the Trail Blazers being vaguely competent. This was about the Wizards being stunningly inadequate.

And this was not one of those bad games that inevitably happens to a team in the course of an 82-game season.

There was something else in play with the Wizards here. This was a team that was out to lunch, out of focus, indifferent to the assignment before it.

This is a team that is huffing and puffing in the absence of Antawn Jamison, that is moving from the Poet-Brendan Haywood Smackdown III to the star player wondering aloud about the philosophy of Eddie Jordan.

Perhaps Gilbert Arenas did not intend to publicly question the renewed defensive emphasis of his coach following the eyesore.

Perhaps he was merely on one of his monologues that came across as ill-timed because of the stench emanating from the floor.

Yet this was no day to be talking about the “hibachi chilling at home, while we focus on defense.”

Story Continues →