The most important storyline of this game was, far and away, the mysterious shoulder injury suffered by John Wall in the second quarter. On a drive to the hoop that resulted in an air-balled lay up attempt, Wall took some contact from Zach Randolph (or Mike Conley, who really knows?) which ended with Wall throwing himself to the ground in severe pain. He winced all the way back to the locker room and may or may not have been injected with the same substance Ray Lewis recently made famous (just kidding) in order to tough it out. He returned for the 2nd half and seemed to be fine but played sparingly. The injury does not seem to be substantive, although Wizards Twitter had a good 20 minute freakout session over it.

As for the game – it was brutal. The Wizards scored 30 points in the first quarter on some great shooting, but followed up with only 46 more in the remaining three. Everyone played poorly on the offensive side of the ball as the team shot a cool 41% from the floor. There was no penetration which led to few open threes, the bread and butter of the resurgent Wizards. The Grizzlies defensive effort was obviously a factor here, as they are second in the league in points allowed per possession. They kept John Wall out of the paint (even getting him to shoot two threes!) and smothered Nene and Okafor.

The defensive play was strong yet again, as fans have come to expect. However, allowing perimeter penetration is becoming a serious problem. Wall is having tremendous problems staying in front of anyone and he looks too dejected after failing to fight around picks to catch up to his man. Point Guards are posting a better PER against Wall (15.6) than they are against the team as a whole (14.7, and this number includes Wall’s less effective minutes).

A short edition of Bullets Points tonight:

• John Wall hit a 3! He actually attempted two, and the one he missed was off by three or four hundred miles.
• Only Nene had double digits in scoring with 14. He took 16 shots to get there and look frustrated all night long.
• The Wizards shot a total of three free throws, which was by far their least on the season. The previous low was 7.
• The winning play the team had shown has come and gone. The Wizards were always the Wizards; they just hit a few more three’s and got a few lucky breaks in recent games.

November 28, 2012; Washington, DC, USA; Washington Wizards shooting guard Jordan Crawford (15) dribbles the ball past Portland Trail Blazers small forward Nicolas Batum (88) in the second half at Verizon Center. The Wizards won 84-82. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports

Who else gon shoot? Jordan Crawford hit the game winning DAGGER from deep in the most Crawfordesque way ever, from 27 feet out. Jordan has the best possible personality-type to take a 27 foot game winner because he KNOWS (even though none of us know or even think) the shot is going in no matter what. He makes his living off of contested shots and doesn’t rely on referees’ calls for points, putting the outcome completely in his hands. I’m not saying Crawford would be the first pick in a game-winning shot contest, but he has the personality and game types. Thank you Steezus for giving me an adrenaline rush at midnight when I desperately need to be in bed.

The Wizards earned their ninth win of the season and second against the Blazers tonight in Portland. Both teams came out of the gates in a burst of flame and inevitably cooled combine for 68 points TOTAL in the second and third quarters. John Wall struggled but the team as a whole came together behind Martell Webster and Nene, who both played extremely well.

I’m too hyped right now. Let’s go straight to the Bullets Points:

• Lamarcus Aldridge and Nene both started the game in supernova form. Lamarcus hit a few step back jumpers and was fouled on a putback attempt on his own shimmy-shake move while Nene hit a Dirk one-legged fadeaway, which I’ve only seen him hit a few times. He went to the “Dirk” once more in the game and missed badly.
• Lamarcus had 10 points and three rebounds in the first but Nene countered with an astonishing 17 points. Nene would finish with 24, just below his career high of 28.
• Martell Webster also dominated the first, scoring 10 points on 3-3 shooting. He also added four-point-play which he may as well patent at this point. Martell ending up posting a 24-4-6 in his return to the city that drafted him.
• I have no stats to back this up, but it appears John Wall is settling less and less for a pull-up jump shot to end quarters, halves, etc. As Bullets Forever put it, I blinked and Wall was gone and to the basket to hit a finger roll with a second left in the first quarter.
• No Wizard could catch in the first half. Webster, Kevin Seraphin, and Trevor Ariza all had passes from Wall fly right through their hands. The passes weren’t perfect, but they were certainly catchable. The turnovers in the middle of the game threw the Wizards into a bad funk which they almost never recovered from.
• In the second quarter, Nene and Webster were replaced and the scoring fell off a cliff. Turnovers sky-rocketed as no one could cleanly handle passes while passes that weren’t bobbled were also not on target. Nene checked back in with five minutes to go and the squad settled down. It’s too bad statisticians can’t quantify a calming effect; Nene might lead the league.
• The Wiz put up 34 points in the first quarter and dropped off to 16 in the second. This can entirely be attributed to the lack of minutes Nene and Webster logged in the second quarter. They were the only Wizards playing well early and the team fell apart upon their exit.
• Bradley Beal fittingly started the second half off with a turnover. He then followed that up with an air balled three. A few minutes later, he followed up a missed layup with a strong dunk. I’ve stressed all year long that perseverance is what I’m most interested in seeing from Beal. He was not on the court in crunch time and only had one bucket all night. He did post a plus-12, however.
• Wall’s first assist came on a nice drive and kick (Rondo-style pass over the head) to Webster for a three to give the Wizards a lead. This wouldn’t be noteworthy if not for the fact that it didn’t happen until the end of the third and after Wall had committed four turnovers.
• Damian Lillard came alive in the fourth and blew by Wall time and time again. He zoomed past Wall for a huge dunk over Nene to pull the Blazers within one with two minutes left. Two possessions later, Wall got the best of him with a beautiful pick pocket he took the length of the court for an uncontested dunk.
• It is alarming at how poor Wall’s pick-and-roll defense has been this year and it was put on display in the fourth by Lillard. Even when Wall fights over the screen, he does not make an effort to quickly get back in position. He constantly sits back in the trailing position, likely hoping for a big block. I would chalk this up to lack of conditioning due to just returning from injury, but this was also a problem last year. I can’t say I’m confident Randy Wittman can fix this.
• Jordan Crawford has been nonexistent since returning from an ankle injury, and appeared to be on track for another forgetful night when he drilled a step-back jumper off a set that broke down and a corner three on great ball movement from Wall and Webster. After logging eight scoreless minutes in the first half, Young Steezus added 13 in the second including the game winner FROM 27 FEET as time expired.
• Tonight’s box score

The Wizards have often been compared to a dysfunctional family, and that’s essentially what they are. If you’ve seen the Washington Wizards play during the course of the past two seasons, you know exactly what I’m talking about.

From JaVale McGee’s many head-scratching plays — like him attempting to dunk from the free throw line – or Andray Blatche and Nick Young chucking up senseless shots, and even John Wall being out of control and turning the ball over. The Wizards have bad habits they need to break.

Randy Wittman came in as the interim coach this January and compared these poor basketball plays to smoking habits. But the 2012 season has shown that the Wizards still smoke the occasional cigarette.

JaVale McGee is by far the biggest chain smoker on the Wizards’ roster. Most recently against the Cleveland Cavaliers, McGee attempted to run a fast break — despite having guards open to pass to — and he ended up turning the ball over as he lost the basketball out of bounds. But Randy Wittman decided not to bench McGee. Instead he wanted him to learn from his recurring mistake by leaving him out on the court. A few plays later JaVale was put into a similar situation. This time McGee passed to a wide open Jordan Crawford, who finished the break with a dunk.

Bad habits are hard to break. Adding a few veterans to this young Washington Wizards team would help break these habits. Roger Mason Jr. is a veteran who was signed this past December to this young team by providing the proverbial “veteran presence”. Mo Evans is another veteran which was brought by Ernie Grunfeld during last season’s trade deadline deal with the Atlanta Hawks to help provide veteran leadership. Besides Mason and Evans the Wizards have no real veteran leadership outside of the already-in-the-bag Rashard Lewis and the injured Ronny Turiaf. Veterans that have been there and done that help the young players cope with losing by preventing a losing culture to form in Washington.

JaVale McGee is one player on the Wizards with astronomical potential that needs veteran help. Adding a big-man coach that McGee can seek for help on and off the court would also help McGee boost his play. As his mother, Pam McGee, said:

  “If I’m the Wizards and I’m really trying to build a franchise, really committed to rebuilding and developing, I would nurture that talent. I would help a kid like JaVale the best I could.”

But McGee isn’t the only player that needs veteran leadership and coaching help to break his bad habits.

As of right now, the Wizards have no true leader. John Wall was clearly put into a situation where he had to step up and become “the man” right from the start. Other young standouts like Bulls’ guard Derrick Rose and the Celtics’ Rajon Rondo were put into situations where they could learn on the job before coming leaders. Some say that Wizards’ assistant coach, and former point guard, Sam Cassell is a person Wall can seek for help. But is he really? Who can Wall seek for help on the floor? That is a question Ernie Grunfeld needs to address during the 2012 NBA free agency period.

Bad habits has put a hamper on the Washington Wizards as a whole.

As Randy Wittman says, “cigarette smoking is a tough habit to beat.”