It should come as no surprise that the Wizards fell to the Mavericks in Dallas on Sunday. After all, the 102-92 loss just means another failure in the parade of consecutive road losses for Washington that now stands 24 games long.
Before the game, Flip Saunders said his team could play well, and they still might lose. Anything less, he said, and they'd have no chance. Well, despite leading for much of the first half, the Wizards fell for the ninth time this season when they had a double-digit lead.
But Saunders wasn't completely right. The Wizards did not play particularly well, but neither did Dallas, resulting in a game that was surprisingly close down the stretch. Then Dallas finished the game on a 7-1 run to pull into the station with a comfortable win.
At this point it seems Washington will never win a game on the road. The Wizards had a would-be crucial stop given away by the referees, who failed to call the ball out of bounds as a Jason Kidd appeared to bounce onto the top of the backboard. But there was no whistle, the Mavericks corralled the rebound and Kidd stuck a three to dagger the Wizards. Of course.
The loss marred a nice night from John Wall, who finished with 17 points, 10 assists and four rebounds. But it's hard to expect the Wizards to win when chief scoring options Nick Young and Andray Blatche shoot a combined 10 for 37 (27 percent) from the field.