John Wall, Big Z Highlight Predicatble Wizards Loss

After the Miami Heat suffered a surprising loss in Cleveland, they headed to Washington.

Clearly, D.C. would have to be at the top of any teams’ list of preferred destinations following an unexpected defeat. While Miami didn’t look sharp in this contest either, it turned on the jets in the fourth quarter and left the Wizards in the dust.

But what the Heat did not anticipate was that they would have a fight on their hands – literally. In the second quarter during a Miami possession, Zydrunas Ilgauskas had just received a pass from Eddie House at the free-throw line extended area. Washington center JaVale McGee got a quick hand on the ball and tipped it away, however, Big Z quickly recovered, and was protecting the basketball with both arms elevated and elbows pointed. Wizards point guard John Wall, who was covering House, saw the ball slapped loose (by McGee), and vacated House to apply some pressure to Ilgauskas.

The rest was history.

Predictably, Wall and Z got ejected from the game.

Sure, Wall was clearly fired up about getting clocked with an elbow.  And he was probably even more fired up when Big Z continued to keep his elbows in his (Wall’s)face.

But as I continued to watch the video, I couldn’t stop laughing for a few reasons…

Wall Getting Pushed Around Like a Rag Doll – After stinging Big Z’s ribs with an MMA-style forearm, Wall proved that he wasn’t going to back down from Ilgauskas.  Although the rookie didn’t back down, in the technical sense, he was clearly a push-over.  Seemingly, with the might of about 40 mortal men, Zydrunas moved Wall back about 6 feet without even extending his arms.  Imagine a kangaroo trying to wrestle a grizzly bear.  Yeah. 

Howard and McGee – Juwan Howard has a reputation for protecting his teammates.  And now, he has a reputation for being a fake tough guy.  As JaVale McGee comes to the aid of his teammate, Howard comes out of left field to take a cheap shove at McGee.  Now, watch the two carefully for the next seven to eight seconds.  Did you see it?  Howard definitely broke free and had a chance to do something.  Obviously he wasn’t as mad as he looked.  

JaVale McGee’s Boxing Stance – After getting surprised by thatshove from Juwan Howard, an official made sure that the two didn’t re-engage physically (although they could have).  But McGee backed up a bit and started what appeared to be a Mohammed Ali shuffle.  Nice job JaVale.  Perhaps we can’t get this video over to Wall so that he can know what to do the next time that he tangles with a super-heavyweight.

But, oh no, the humor doesn’t stop there.  Check out this post game interview with John Wall.  Make sure you watch it all the way through.

Did someone fart at the 0:56 mark of the video?  Apparently, the culprit tried to sneak it in during Wall’s response to a question, but didn’t consider that he could speak and hear at the same time.  Busted.

Another 16-point loss by the Wizards, nonetheless, an entertaining night of basketball in the nation’s capital.