By John Solomon
How the government's punishing of the exposure of official wrongdoing can linger for years
Independent voices from the TWT Communities
John Wall led Washington with 18 points and 12 assists while Trevor Booker added 16 points and 13 rebounds for the Wizards, who lost for the fifth straight time.
Gerald Henderson had 27 points and Walker came up with a flurry of big plays in the closing minutes helping the Bobcats overcome a five-point deficit and beat Washington 119-114.
As he jogged off the court Thursday, Washington Wizards guard John Wall was wearing a jersey, not a T-shirt. It's a telltale sign that he participated in practice, as opposed to doing what coach Randy Wittman likes to call "dummy" drills.
As the Wizards wrapped up their New Year's Eve practice session Monday, coach Randy Wittman said he's not much for New Year's resolutions — although this year, there is one thing he's hoping will be different in 2013.
The fatigue was palpable. The exhaustion, physical and mental, was written on their faces. As the worst stretch of their season came to an end -- four games in five nights for two straight weeks -- the Washington Wizards entered the holiday break with a seven-game losing streak and a league-worst 3-22 record.
In the midst of a dismal season, there aren't too many things the Washington Wizards can hang their hats on. But one of them was that they'd beaten the Miami Heat three straight times. That streak came to an end on Saturday night at American Airlines Arena.
Randy Wittman is pretty grounded. At least, that's how he describes himself.
Martell Webster is in a place he never expected to be -- the starting lineup for the Washington Wizards. A free agent pick-up last offseason, Webster has been penciled into coach Randy Wittman's starting lineup in place of Trevor Ariza, who is out with a left calf strain.
Chris Singleton walked slowly to the middle of the Washington Wizards' locker room. The team had just dropped its 15th game of the season and lost yet another player to injury. As he looked at the horde of media standing around him, he shook his head and shrugged his shoulders.
Randy Wittman is getting tired of the question. But it gets asked after every practice and before and after every game: When is John Wall coming back? Last week, Wittman jokingly deflected the question for what must have seemed like the hundredth time.
For two and a half quarters, the Wizards just seemed to be hanging around. On Friday night at Madison Square Garden, the Wizards played just well enough to keep pace with the Knicks. Until the halfway point in the third quarter that is. Then the Knicks shifted into another gear and the Wizards simply couldn't keep up, losing 108-87.
Washington Wizards coach Randy Wittman normally begins his postgame news conferences by making a brief statement before taking questions. After the past couple of games, Wittman has been at a loss for words.
Despite playing a tired Utah Jazz team on the second night of a back-to-back, and a couple of tweaks to the starting lineup, it wasn't enough to get the Wizards into the win column. The Wizards lost 83-76 to the Jazz on Saturday night at Verizon Center. The loss drops the Wizards to 0-8, which ties last season's start – the worst in franchise history.
Two games into the 2012-13 season, Chris Singleton wasn't sure what to think. In the Washington Wizards' opening game against the Cleveland Cavaliers, Singleton played 17 minutes and had a pedestrian outing — four points, four rebounds and two assists.
After the Wizards dropped their home opener to the Boston Celtics on Saturday, coach Randy Wittman joked that he wasn't sure if the sun was coming up the next morning. Washington went 81/2 minutes before scoring its first field goal and still managed a comeback before falling 89-86.
"I'm very happy [to be playing]," Booker said. "It's always good not to be hurt, and I hate just watching our team. I hate watching, period."
"We've got a more experienced group," Booker said. "So, that's better off the bat. Some of the older guys can help the younger guys out, so I think that can take us far. We've done a good job of playing together and playing the right way."
