"John Wall trailed Nick Young on a fast break, watched Young miss an uncontested layup, and came soaring from behind to catch the ball and dunk with both hands. Wall screamed so loudly that the boom microphones near the rim ensured all 13,894 fans at Toyota Center could hear him.

The Washington Wizards trailed by just two points midway through the third quarter on Friday night, forcing Houston Rockets Coach Kevin McHale to call timeout, but over the next 11 minutes their enthusiasm vanished. Young periodically glanced at the scoreboard, noticing that the deficit was suddenly 10, then 20, then 30, and he gave a confused look at his teammates.

"I asked the team, like, 'Dang, what happened?' " Young said after the Wizards unraveled in the second half of a 103-76 loss.

There really wasn't much mystery in the cause of the defeat — the Wizards simply didn't take care of the ball and shot poorly, creating a lethal tonic — but the swift nature of the meltdown left them all baffled.

"There was no way we was supposed to be down 30 this game, or even losing this game," Jordan Crawford said. "We were controlling the whole game. Felt like ours, but you know .?.?. I don't even know how to explain it. Lost concentration, I guess.""