The road has a way of revealing the NBA contenders from the chaff, and this five-game, seven-night trek through the Western Conference that ends Monday night in Minneapolis has illuminated the Wizards (41-24) like never before. The success sparked celebration, especially following the emotional 125-124 overtime win over the Portland Trail Blazers as players jumped around and threw water all over the locker room.

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“No, Kelly was throwing water,” John Wall said. “The rock star!”

However veteran players like Jason Smith, who was so excited about the win he simply got dressed then chomped on a plate of barbecue ribs, slammed the brakes before the party bus spirals out of control.

“We have the possibility to be special. Nothing’s given when the playoffs start,” Smith said. “That’s a whole ‘nother animal.”

There are still many important basketball games to be played, and many miles ahead on the regular-season calendar. For now, let’s go deeper into this long and meandering trip.

The winding road of Markieff Morris

No Wizards player experienced the ebbs and flows of the road quite like Markieff Morris. To start things, he was booed while back in Phoenix. The next night in Denver, Morris kicked Myles Plumlee in his groin and had to be escorted off the court by the team’s head of security, Jackie Miles; fans should recognize him as the impeccable fashion plate seated behind the bench and the guy who wears an expression that says, ‘I could take on the whole arena if I had to.’

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The league later hit Morris with a $25,000 fine, but he still fiercely defends his actions.

“That’s tough. I was fined twice in the last two weeks when that [expletive] wasn’t intentional,” Morris said, referencing the other $25,000 he lost because he tossed a ball at an official after fouling out Feb. 26 against the Utah Jazz. “It’s tough, but it’s not about me. It’s about the team. I just got watch how I play, I guess.”

Then, while Morris was still bummed about losing a chunk of his paycheck, he caught a sinus infection.

“I got sick from (the time in) Denver till now. I tried to get a little rest. I’m tired,” Morris said, his low rumble of a voice slower than usual. “It’s been a lot of travel, ya know. Four games in five days is always tough.”

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Morris confessed to how he finds back-to-back games to be a personal challenge.

“When you’re playing 30-plus minutes a night and with our group — you look around the NBA, they’re sitting guys out on back to backs. That’s not the case with us. We’re going in there, we’re stepping in there every single night,” Morris said. “We’re playing hard and it’s tough to come from Sac to Portland on a back to back, or Denver in that altitude on a back to back. That’s always tough.”

Late Friday night, the Wizards left Sacramento and, following an hour and a half flight, players checked into their Portland hotel rooms at nearly 2 a.m. on Saturday morning. Morris couldn’t shut down and go straight to bed — too much adrenaline flowing. And during the Blazers game, Morris seemed to lag at times, especially while defending Portland forward Maurice Harkless.

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But later, Morris found a way to beat fatigue and sinuses.

Here’s the remedy: first, catch a pass in the closing seconds of overtime, swish in the game-winning shot (“that may be the first one in my life,” Morris recalled), get mobbed by teammates, break away like a bandit once replays showed that you had actually stepped out of bounds and finally avoid Kelly Oubre Jr. and his water celebrations.

“I don’t play that water thing,” Morris growled.

Still by the end of Saturday night, Morris, showing no signs of fatigue after playing a game-high 42:46, had found his extra gear. He smiled (sort of) while sensing the moment to drop his favorite PG-13 sound bite for the cameras.

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“Brad had faith in me,” Morris said, retelling the final play. “I stepped up and put my nuts on the line again and that’s what it was.”

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Bradley, blogging and ‘Bourré’

Just as the Wizards started their road trip, Bradley Beal launched his personal website (www.bradleybeal.net) and his new career a a blogger.

“It’s a little different. I’m stepping out of my comfort zone a little bit,” Beal said. “I’ve always wanted a website to engage with my fans … I have a lot of plans. It’s just the beginning of it. I just want everybody to get a feel for me. I feel like a lot of people think I’m quiet and don’t speak a lot. So it’s just me branching out a little bit.”

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In his first blog post, entitled “A New Day in D.C.,” Beal wrote about his burgeoning confidence as a player and Wall’s I.Q., but the first sections of the piece were essentially a love letter about the culture change created by Coach Scott Brooks.

“It was impressive but I don’t think he gave you full disclosure,” Brooks quipped, then said with tongue firmly in cheek: “I was the ghostwriter for the first three paragraphs.”

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Also in the blog post, Beal wrote briefly on a game called ‘Bourré,’ a favorite pastime on the Wizards’ team plane.

“It’s an NBA-only game,” Beal would only reveal.

“You asking the wrong person! I do not play at all,” Otto Porter Jr. said.

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However, Wall uncovered the secrets. While it’s complicated to explain, the game is similar to spades, he says, but without partners. Since Wall rarely sleeps on the plane, he stays up and tries his hand at Bourré, but he’s on a bit of losing streak these days. It seems that Beal is dominating the plane the same way he’s crushing the court (averaging 28.3 points, 53.6 percent shooting overall and 44 percent from the three-point arc since the all-star break).

“I’m a little hot right now but it goes around the table,” Beal said about the card game. “I have my fair share of losses as well.”

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Sheldon Mac wants everyone to ‘have a great one.’

Recently, several Wizards have taken to calling themselves “Deathrow D.C.” (Porter is supposed to be the DJ Quik of the crew, for some reason). Over the course of a long season, such inside jokes and sayings become part of a team’s personality. And there’s one catchphrase that’s been circulating in the locker room — it just might be rookie Sheldon Mac’s most lasting contribution this season.

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Have a good one.

Or even: Have a great one.

It’s such a simple phrase, but according to Mac, who started saying it along with his former University of Miami teammates last season, it means so much more.

“It just means — what’s the word I’m looking for?” Mac said, as he searched for the explanation during a recent shoot-around. Mac then turned to team staffer Winston Gandy for assistance.

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“How can I say what ‘Have a good one’ means?” Mac asked Gandy. “It means validation, right?”

“It can mean a lot of stuff,” Mac finally determined.

See, ‘Have a good one’ is like the baking soda of catchphrases. It can be used for just about anything.

Former Wizard Danuel House was one of the biggest advocates of the phrase, dropping it at the end of an argument as the punctuation mark — which Mac, too, verifies as a correct usage.

Kind of like this:

“It’s just a saying you can put after any sentence that completes the sentence,” Mac said. “Say if Brad misses three in a row, you can tell Brad: ‘Don’t worry about those three you missed, have a good one. Shoot the next one.’”

Friday night in Sacramento, Mac found another useful way for the phrase. The UCLA-Arizona Pac-12 semifinal tournament game played on the locker room TV as I asked Mac about his alma mater’s chances of making the NCAA tournament. Mac believed Miami to be a lock. However dressing nearby, Beal and Oubre voiced their doubts and riled up the rookie.

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“We didn’t have to win the ACC tournament,” Mac retorted. “Have a great one!”