Despite a career-high 38 points from John Wall, the Wizards still managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory yesterday in what could have been a winnable game against the Houston Rockets.

As they strengthened their grip on their moniker as the NBA’s worst team, the Wizards were probably brought down yesterday in some measure by the flashy antics of starting center JaVale McGee. You know, McGee, who despite breathtaking athleticism and epic dunks, still manages to make Wizards fans yank out their hair. We struggled last season with finding the right balance with respect to McGee; yesterday’s performance probably didn’t help the fourth-year center’s case.

In case you missed it, about two and a half minutes into the third quarter, with the Wizards trailing 64-58, McGee broke away and sprinted downcourt. Rather than an easy jump shot—heck, even a standard dunk—McGee bounced the ball off the backboard, leapt up, grabbed the ricochet and slammed it through the basket.

Did we mention the Wizards came into yesterday’s game 1-11? Coach Flip Saunders, hardly a giant among NBA figures right now, was not impressed, and benched McGee for much of the fourth quarter. The Rockets, coming into the game at 5-7, are less anemic than the Wiz, but not by that much.

Look, dunks are great, especially in the Slam Dunk Contest at the All-Star Game or, even better, while playing NBA Jam in your friend’s basement. When you’re on the worst team in the league, though, this much on-court swagger is misplaced. If McGee was going for some kind of ironic commentary, I think he missed the mark there, too.

“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 after the game.

Yep. And, as the Post’s Michael Lee noted: “The only problem was the Rockets responded to the dunk by going on a 19-4 run that made the final 15 minutes rather irrelevant.”