John Wall and Washington Wizards: Bullets Nearing the Target?

The Bullets lost again last night…oops, that should be the Wizards. Mea culpa.

But doesn’t that classically quaint, faux-ugly marketable apparel—they actually made Wes Unseld wear that shirt—tempt you to say Baltimore (or maybe Capitol) Bullets?

And then use one to put this poor unfortunate incarnation of the team out of its misery, perhaps?

A rather pleasant, mid-evening scroll by Abacus reveals…what’s this? A 10-point Washington lead?

In the true spirit of “this must be seen to be believed,” what immediately ensued was a channel switch and some DVR/remote-control work.

Of course, these being the Wizards, the lead had shrunk to one by the intermission and had soon been replaced by a nine-point deficit.

But the uncanny marksmanship of Nick Young and disruptive hustle of an interchangeably anonymous corps of frontcourt men kept coach Flip Saunders’ winless Wizards not only in range, but ahead 96-95 with 47 seconds left.

Indeed, Flip may have a legitimate gripe, given that the forearm swat that Carmelo Anthony delivered while shaking free of Trevor Booker (who? exactly!!) for the game-winner was a good bit stiffer than the famous MJ nudge of ol’ what’s-his-name (See, no one ever remembers who finished second!).

2010 No. 1 draft choice John Wall looked All-World when the game’s pace quickened, but too often "all thumbs" in set offense. And why is Wall hoisting long jumpers at crunch time, Coach Flip?

For 21 glorious minutes, Young’s shooting and Wall’s drive—aided and abetted by a New York Knicks backcourt unaware that it was allowed to actually score points—generated that attention-attracting advantage, which had peaked at 16, 40-24.

Then, after a time out with 2:54 on the clock, the Wizards showed exactly why they are winless, as their last five first-half possessions ended with a bad pass (Rashard Lewis), then another (Wall to Lewis), a jumper under pressure (Wall), a fumble (Young) and a quick off-target trey (have we mentioned Rashard Lewis?).

That crazy final three minutes included a center jump (to the Knicks, of course) following a double foul, and a rarely-whistled loose-ball foul on a successful free-throw attempt.

Only could happen to the Wizards, huh?

They’ll find a way to lose, or a way to lose will find them.

Yet, on this night, against a 2011 playoff team, in spite of Lewis (who wasn’t quite through at halftime, unfortunately), the Wizards gave themselves a chance to win, producing their highest-scoring game of the season in the process.

Coach Flip’s team clearly is the proverbial work in progress, but Friday’s effort should be regarded as progress.

And lest we forget, there is an NBA World Championship tradition to those breathtakingly patriotic, ought-to-have-matching-bellbottoms throwbacks.

Such tradition is built one win at a time. Some are just more difficult to get than others.