By Geoff Lepper
48minutes.net

Sometimes, an ass-whupping in the NBA is just that, nothing more.

So, given that the Warriors’ butts were well and truly paddled Tuesday by the Washington Wizards and interim coach Ed Tapscott, is there anything to be gleaned from sifting through the wreckage?

Maybe.

There were two major runs that broke the game open for the Wizards. They scored on each of their last eight possessions before halftime, capping a stretch where they got points on 13 of 15 opportunities and widened their lead from five points to 14.

Washington put the game away with a 16-4 run during the latter half of the third quarter that turned a 75-64 advantage into a 91-68 blowout.

There were missed assignments by the Warriors, shockingly easy run-outs for the Wizards and more than enough blame to coat Golden State’s whole roster from top to bottom and not miss a spot.

The biggest two problems were these: an overabundance of second-chance points for Washington (which outrebounded Golden State 54-40) and too many plays on offense that added fuel to the Wizards’ fire — be it by virtue of a long rebound off a missed jumper or a flat-out turnover.

The one-sequence that summed it all up: Newcomer Jamal Crawford drove the lane with 6 minutes left in the third and a chance to cut the deficit down to single digits. He easily shed Antawn Jamison, only to run into Andray Blatche, who caught a lot of Crawford’s body but was credited with a block. Caron Butler scooped up the loose ball to begin a 4-on-1 break that ended with DeShawn Stevenson feeding Butler for a layup (just two of his season-high 35 points).

After the game, Don Nelson laid the biggest share of blame on his youngsters: “I’m pretty disappointed with how my team played, especially the young players. . . . I expect more energy from them and to compete better than what they gave us tonight. Everyone that got in tonight seemed to make some errors. As a coach I want to play the young players, but it is very hard to play them when they play like that tonight.”

He had a point. Anthony Randolph was the best defender at the power forward spot (Washington scored 44 points in the 19:27 he spent at the 4, an average of 108.6 per 48 minutes) but he went 1-for-7 from the floor and coughed up five turnovers.

Brandan Wright, meanwhile,…