The Last (Home) Game

The last time the Philadelphia 76ers visited the Verizon Center on March 3rd, the Washington Wizards escaped with a 90-87 victory. The two teams had split the season series up until tonight, in what was the final home game of the season for the Wizards.

John Wall signs an autograph for an admirer

Kevin Seraphin signs an autograph for some young fans

It was a festive evening at the Verizon Center, as the Wizards celebrated the last game of the season on their home floor with fan appreciation night. There were plenty of free giveaways, including game-worn jerseys at the end of the game. Most of the merchandise at the team stores was marked down anywhere from 40 to 60% off. It was bittersweet watching the arena shut down for the season, though there was a sense of optimism that next year's Wizards team will be much better than this one if they can stay healthy.

Sixers center Spencer Hawes boxes out Wizards forward Kevin Seraphin

Wizards forward Trevor Booker drives the lane

Booker finishes with the one-handed slam dunk

Kevin Seraphin posts up on Spencer Hawes

Kevin Seraphin takes it up against Spencer Hawes

Seraphin finishes with the hook shot

John Wall in transition

Trevor Booker glides towards the basket for the rebound

Wizards guard A.J. Price drives on Sixers guard Justin Holiday

John Wall drives the lane

Justin Holiday reaches in against Kevin Seraphin

Wizards forward Jan Vesely and Sixers center Spencer Hawes anticipate the rebound

John Wall drives against Spencer Hawes

Wall goes up for the layup against Hawes

The Sixers won the game by a score of 97-86 behind 22 points from Jrue Holiday, but the night belonged to Wizards fans. This was their last opportunity to see this team, one which showed great resilience, bouncing back from an abysmal 5-28 start, to be one of the more competitive teams in the league, and holding down 11th place in the Eastern Conference. Much of the credit for the resurgence of the team was due to the return of John Wall in January. Wall scored 24 points and 7 assists tonight.

As fans filed out of the Verizon Center for the final time this season, they were handed a poster that features all of the players on this year's team. Less than a week ago, the Wizards organization had honored the 1978 champion Washington Bullets. Given the performance of this year's squad in the second half of the season, it doesn't seem too far fetched to think that another title could be on the horizon. Hopefully, as fan photographer, I'll be there to capture every moment, and every memory along the way.

Brotherly Love

The Philadelphia 76ers had seen brighter days. Andrew Bynum, their star center, who was supposed to give them a front-court edge over top teams in the Eastern Conference, has been sidelined due to a right knee injury, and is now considering season-ending arthroscopic surgery. To make matters worse the 23-34 Sixers have been blasted in the media by none other than head coach Doug Collins, who continues to grapple with an underachieving team that was came to within one game of a conference finals appearance just a season ago. Meanwhile, there have been rumors out of Philly that Collins' position may be up for grabs by season's end, and that assistant coach Michael Curry may be the best fit for the gig.

Sixers point guard Jrue Holiday has averaged 19.1 points and 8.5 assists this season, earning his first all-star appearance last month in Houston.

Sixers assistant coach Aaron McKie was one of the more popular players in Philly during the Iverson era, and was the recipient of the NBA's Sixth Man of the Year award in 2001, a year in which the Sixers won the Eastern Conference title.

Sixers center Spencer Hawes has averaged 10 points and 6.5 rebounds per game in his 2012-13 campaign in Philly.

After defeating the Warriors in a much-needed win the previous night, the Sixers paid a visit to the nation's capital on Sunday evening to take on the Washington Wizards. The Wizards were coming off a loss to the Knicks on Friday night, and were looking to avenge 92-84 loss to the Sixers in Philly on January 30th.

It was a tired crowd at the Verizon Center. The official attendance was listed as 17, 370, but only about 7,000 actually showed. Before the game, I had watched several of the Sixers players placing bets on who could hit the longest shot from behind the backboard. Philadelphia has clearly mailed it in for the year. I didn't get the sense from the Sixers' body language that they had any interest in trying to turn this season around.

Despite the comatose audience, I still took over 400 fan photos for the evening, and was able to watch about half of the 4th quarter of what was a surprisingly intense game.

Wizards guard Bradley Beal drives on Sixers guard Damien Wilkins

Bradley Beal tries to finish a dunk attempt over Sixers forward Thaddeus Young

Jrue Holiday goes behind the back on John Wall

Spencer Hawes pulls down the rebound

John Wall flies in for the reverse layup

John Wall vs. Jrue Holiday

Wizards forward Nene shoots over Sixers forward Thaddeus Young

Jrue Holiday finds a cutting Thaddeus Young. Bradley Beal, left, sprained his ankle on this jump.

Thaddeus Young converts the layup, as Bradley Beal rolls his ankle

Sixers forward Evan Turner pleads his case with referee Scott Foster

John Wall is defended by Jrue Holiday

Nene is surrounded by Sixers defenders

John Wall and Nene talk things over during a timeout

Wall races up the court against Holiday

Wall sank two clutch free throws to give the Wizards an 88-87 lead.

John Wall tries to drive past Jrue Holiday

Wall is defended closely by a reaching Holiday

Sixers forward Evan Turner defends Wizards guard Martell Webster

After grabbing the offensive board, Nene looks to pass back out to the perimeter around Sixers forward Dorell Wright. left, and center Spencer Hawes, right.

John Wall directs traffic during the closing moments

The Sixers took an 87-84 lead on a Thaddeus Young layup with 2:10 left. On the play, the Wizards got a major scare, as Bradley Beal rolled his ankle, falling to the ground in pain. Beal would leave the game, and not return. He is now listed as day-to-day with a sprained left ankle.

After Beal was carried back to the locker room, John Wall knocked down a jumper to make it a one point game with 1:33 remaining. Wall was then fouled by Jrue Holiday on the next Wizards possession, and sank two free throws to give Washington an 88-87 lead with 1:04 left to play. After an Evan Turner brick on the other end, Martell Webster had an opportunity to seal the deal on a three-point attempt that went off iron. Fortunately, Nene was there for the offensive rebound, and kicked it out to Wall, who drained a pull-up jumper with 4.9 seconds left to put the Wizards up by three. After a Philly timeout, Dorell Wright had one more chance to tie the game for the Sixers, but missed a three-point shot from the corner, and Washington held on for 90-87 victory behind 16 points a piece from John Wall and Martell Webster. Emeka Okafor added another double-double with 12 points and 16 rebounds.

Dorell Wright led the Sixers with 15 points off the bench. Thaddeus Young, Spencer Hawes, and Jrue Holiday each contributed 14.

Sixers Topple Wizards

After dropping a close game to Sacramento at home, the Wizards took a trip up I-95 to take on the 18-26 Philadelphia 76ers. The Sixers had been waiting on their star center Andrew Bynum to return from a knee injury, but after suffering a setback earlier this season, the big man from Plainsboro Township, NJ still hasn't played one game for Philadelphia, and his comeback has been delayed until after the all-star break. Meanwhile, Philly had been struggling to stay in the Eastern Conference playoff hunt despite the stellar play of first time all-star point guard Jrue Holiday, who came into tonight's game averaging an incredible 19.4 points and 9 assists per game.

Despite losing their last contest to the Kings, Washington had looked much better over the last month, winning 7 out of their last 11 games, but the Wizards had been struggling on the road, and had won just 3 games all season away from the Verizon Center.

Washington was without rookie Bradley Beal, who went a little further up the interstate to New York to have his sore wrist examined by a hand specialist. Beal had suffered a minor sprain, landing precariously on his right wrist as the result of a hard foul by Kosta Koufos in a game against the Denver Nuggets during last week's 5 game road trip.

Despite trailing by as many as 7 in the 1st quarter, the Wizards were able to claw their way back, leading 28-25 going into the 2nd. The Wizards shot just 3-16 from the field, and were outscored 23-11 in the 2nd quarter, falling behind 48-39 going into the half.

Sixers guard Jrue Holiday drives between Wizards forward Nene, left, and center Emeka Okafor, right (Photo by Howard Smith- USA Today Sports)

Philadelphia led by 5 with 6:07 left in the 3rd quarter, going into the 4th with a comfortable 73-63 advantage. The Sixers were up by 16 with 6:27 remaining in the game, and held on for a 92-84 victory, weathering a late Washington run to cut the lead to 5 with 1:41 left to play.

The Sixers were led by Jrue Holiday with 21 points and 6 assists. Former Wizard Nick Young chipped in 18.

Washington was led by Nene with 16 points and 8 rebounds. Emeka Okafor had his 11th double-double on the season, tallying 15 points and 17 rebounds in the loss.