If a marquee matinee on Christmas Day was set up to be John Wall’s coming out party to America, he certainly lived up to the billing.

Wall scored 24 points and handed out 11 assists as the Washington Wizards easily handled the New York Knicks 102-91, upping their record to 20-8 and their all-time Christmas Day record to 15-7.

And once the beat-down was secure, Wall stood up to an increased physical presence, as backup forward Quincy Acy tried to intimidate the Wizards point guard by knocking him down with a forearm shiver. Wall responded with a two-hand shove, Acy threw a punch and after the altercation, the Knicks forward was ejected, while Wall has handed a technical foul.

Entering the game, Wall was already leading the Eastern Conference guards in all-star voting and can probably expect a boost in the vote totals following the stellar performance.

The Wizards raced out to an 11-2 lead and were rarely challenged.

Bradley Beal had 17 points and five assists, Kris Humphries had 14 points and Nene added 12 points as the Wizards placed six players in double-figures and outrebounded the woeful Knicks 45-36, including a 13-6 advantage on the offensive glass. Washington also enjoyed a 50-30 lead on points in the paint.

Carmelo Anthony paced New York with 34 points, but only two others managed double-digits. The Knicks were 4 of 22 from beyond the arc as a team.

The Wizards host Boston on Saturday.

On Friday night, the Washington Wizards suffered their 45th loss of the season as the New York Knicks beat them in embarrassing fashion, 103-65 on the road.

The Wizards, who were coming off two consecutive wins against the Charlotte Bobcats and Orlando Magic, ran into a road block up in Madison Square Garden. It was awful. The Wizards never had the lead at any point on Friday night, and by the time first quarter was over, they trailed the Knicks 26-13. It only got worse from there.

Washington was seemingly overwhelmed and would not put up a fight at all. While the Knicks were particularly aggressive, the Wizards valiantly tried to keep up; however, New York would take a 54-33 lead at halftime. In the second half, what was already an unfortunate situation in the Big Apple was beyond comprehension.

The Knicks would finish the third quarter up, 79-47, as they continued to play solid basketball and went on a 15-0 run that lasted seven minutes; meanwhile, the Wizards only looked more inept as they did not score a point in that time frame before Cartier Martín hit two free three throws with 29 seconds left in the period. They did not even break the 50-point mark until Shelvin Mack’s layup with 6:43 left in the game.

Of course, the New York faithful in attendance at Madison Square Garden – as vocal and rough as they can be – let the Wizards have it on the court during the fourth quarter. Before Mack’s score, the Knicks’ fans shouted “forty-seven” over and over.

Eventually, the game ended and the Wizards were left to ponder what they endured on Friday night. In the end, the Wizards only shot a ghastly 27.8 percent from the floor. That killed them. New York owned the contest from the start; however, the Wizards made it extremely easy for them.

“They don’t stop, they keep the pressure going. We didn’t come out with enough energy in the beginning, but we fought our way back in the second quarter”, said John Wall – who only had eight points with four assists and only shot 2-of-12 from the field. He added, “Made it a close game for a while with lapses on defense. We missed easy shots. We turned the ball over a lot… getting them easy points.”

For the Washington, Jordan Crawford had 17 points, while Kevin Seraphin had 12. New York’s J.R. Smith led all scorers with 23 points – all of the bench. Carmelo Anthony scored 18 points in only 29 minutes of play, as he sat out much of the second half. Steve Novak and Baron Davis both had 18 points.

In the post-game press conference, Wizards’ interim coach Randy Wittman did not mince words about what happened on the court. “It’s embarrassing is what it was. Our effort tonight was uncharacteristic of what we had been doing. It looked like we were overwhelmed from the jump ball when we walked into the arena.”

Roger Mason – who scored 11 points on the night – added, “The way we played today was completely embarrassing. The thing with this league is you have to bring it every night. That team (The Knicks) is fighting for playoff position (and) we’re fighting for our pride. They came out and completely humiliated us.”

The lack of effort by his teammates in the loss was also brought up. “The biggest thing is our effort. You’re going to have nights when you miss shots; you’re going to have nights when the other team hits shots. With us early on that wasn’t the case. We we’re lethargic. We let them do whatever they want on the offensive end.”

Then again, it is probably best if they expunged their trip to New York out of their minds – very quickly. The Wizards will play at home on Saturday night at the Verizon Center against the Cleveland Cavaliers.