JaVale Being JaVale Not Funny at 1-11

We admit that when it comes to encouraging JaVale McGee's “look at me” habits, we’re just as guilty as anyone. But when the Wizards are 1-11, those habits are incredibly ill-advised.

During Monday’s 114-106 loss to Houston, JaVale found himself with a wide-open court. Instead of a simple dunk, JaVale tossed the ball off the backboard to himself and then followed it with an over-the-top jam.

Perhaps this was another stop on his self-run All-Star campaign, but that display of showboating at the most inappropriate of times is everything that is wrong with this year’s Wizards. The only thing that would have made it any more “Wizards” was if JaVale had missed the dunk.

We want to give JaVale the benefit of the doubt and assume that he got carried away, but his post-game comments just won’t let us do that.

“Apparently, if you get a fast break and throw it off the backboard in the third quarter, and you’re 1-11, you’re not supposed to do stuff like that,” McGee said to the media after being questioned about it.

Yes, JaVale. Apparently.

The only thing more puzzling than JaVale’s inability to grasp why the dunk was inappropriate was Coach Flip Saunders’ refusal to bench JaVale after embarrassing the team. The only public criticism from Flip was a generic quote about the team having “some players that look for highlights rather than substance.”

If the coach wasn’t going to put JaVale in his place, the basketball gods were more than happy to oblige. A Chandler Parsons dunk on JaVale in the same game ended with a hilariously embarrassing groin to the face.

We’ve watched this gif from Truth About It over and over and it still makes us laugh.

And then we realize what all of this means for the Wizards and we get sad.

But then we look at the gif again. And laugh.

Questions, comments or tips? Email Sarah at sarahskogod@gmail.com. You can also follow her on Twitter (@sarahschorno).

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