Category: Washington Wizards Blog

John Wall shows understanding of media

Here’s CSN Washington reporting on Wizards guard John Wall, who continues to rise as a star on the court while saying the right things when no game-clock is running:

The surliness rising to the surface with Kevin Durant, particularly when it comes to his comments about the media this weekend, isn’t as much of a surprise as some think. He’s just finally being honest. That’s good for him, but he’d benefit by taking a page from Wizards point guard John Wall, who has dealt with far more criticism and ridicule during his five-year career and doesn’t pout and rant about it.

“I think they do a great job. Sometimes media have to make their stories. Sometimes they’re going to have to say bad things, they’re going to say negative things but that’s part of their job,” Wall explained during Friday’s session. “It’s like us on the basketball court, sometimes you’re going to have good games, sometimes you’re going to have bad games.”

A reporter had just asked Wall if media criticism causes trust issues: “No, some players don’t trust other players neither. It’s all about you. You can build a friendship with them but understand it’s a business they have to do so if they make a bad story you can’t get mad at those guys for doing their job.”

Wizards guard Bradley Beal remains out

Washington Wizards guard Bradley Beal will miss tonight’s game at Toronto. Beal missed the last two games with a sore right big toe and subsequent examinations revealed a mild stress reaction in his lower right fibula. He will be re-evaluated following the All-Star break.

Beal has averaged 15.0 points, 3.8 rebounds and 3.0 assists while shooting .436 from three-point range in 42 games for the Wizards this season.

Bradley Beal says Wizards are playing soft lately

The 31-18 Wizards have the 9th best winning percentage in the NBA, but a lot of those wins came earlier in the season. Currently, they’re on a three-game losing streak, and in general have looked very average lately. Here’s the Washington Post Blog reporting:

“I think we definitely took several steps back in these last five games, especially defensively,” Wizards guard Bradley Beal said. “We haven’t been the same team that got up and was physical and tough on them. We are pretty soft right now.”

Wizards Coach Randy Wittman offered a litany of reasons for the recent struggles.

“We point fingers and until we all get back on the same page and come out and play hard for 48 minutes, and look at ourselves in the mirror and say, ‘What can I do more?’ rather than point our finger and say ‘It’s not me,’ that’s where we are at,” Wittman explained. “Like I said, I’ll take the blame for that, of allowing us to get there.

“There are some good teams in this league that can maybe get away with coasting for a half, but we are not one of them. When we’ve played to get to where we were, it’s because we played hard every night and accepted coaching. We’ve had some success when we’ve taken it a little easy, but we are paying for it. That’s what the bottom line is. Until we play hard, all out, and have each other’s back rather than pointing fingers and saying, ‘It’s not my fault, it’s his fault,’ we are not beating anybody. That’s kind of it in a nutshell.”

The Wizards were victorious last night after defeating the 76ers 111-76 at Verizon Center. Washington now leads the season series with Philadelphia 1-0.

D.C. shot .556 from the field and .500 from behind the arc. All five starters scored in double figures and Otto Porter and Kevin Seraphin also reached double digits in scoring off the bench. Washington was led by Marcin Gortat who tallied 20 points on 9-of-11 shooting and pulled down eight rebounds in 29 minutes. John wall added 11 points and 10 assists in 29 minutes of action.

Washington allowed an opponent-season-low 76 points and their 35-point margin of victory was the biggest of the season. Nene finished with 12 points and six rebounds. He also connected on his fourth career three-pointer in the third quarter. The last time Nene hit a three was on Feb. 1, 2014.

– The Wizards are now 29-13 and in second place in the Eastern Conference. At Verizon Center, Washington is 18-5. Washington leads the Eastern Conference with 18 home victories.

– Washington is 16-0 when leading after three quarters and 24-1 when holding their opponents to less than 100 points.

– Washington shot .556 (45-of-81) from the field last night against Philadelphia. This marks the first time Washington has shot at least .550 from the field this season. Washington is 13-0 this season when shooting at least .500 from the field.

Here’s the Washington Post blog reporting on veteran Wizards guard Andre Miller (4.4 ppg in 12.8 minutes per game this season), a pass-first player with limited leaping ability who still manages to score when necessary:

Miller understands his skill set. He rarely shoots jumpers — he made his first three-pointer on his fifth attempt of the season Friday — and utilizes a remarkable post-up game to overwhelm point guards who are usually not accustomed to defending in the post. He did it against Westbrook on Friday and against New Orleans’s Austin Rivers on Monday when the Wizards needed it the most.

“I think it’s just the rhythm of the game, how it goes, how it pans out,” Miller said. “It depends on how the defense is playing and what the team needs at the time and I kind of just play from there.”

Emeka Okafor may not return until next season

Here’s CSN Washington reporting on veteran NBA big man Emeka Okafor:

Former Washington Wizards big man Emeka Okafor will consider holding off his return to the NBA until the 2015-16 season.

Okafor, 32, missed all of last season to recover from a herniated disk in his neck.

Now the veteran center is drawing attention from teams that need a little frontcourt help. However, he might wait until the summer before he commits to a new team to give himself more time to extend his strength and conditioning work.

The Wizards begin their five-game road trip tonight in Houston. Washington will face five of the top nine seeds in the Western Conference while book ending the trip with two sets of back-to-backs.

Tonight’s matchup is the first of two meetings with Houston. The Rockets won last season’s season series 2-0. The two teams will meet again on Mar. 29 in Washington.

Through the first 14 games of December, the Wizards are 11-3 (8-2 at home). The Wizards are averaging 103.6 points per game on .482 shooting from the field during the month. Washington is holding opponents to 98.6 points per game on .440 shooting from the field.

Quick Hits

John Wall leads the NBA with nine games of at least 20 points and 10 assists.

Wall averaged 21.0 points and 12.0 assists in two games against Houston last season.

Wall is averaging 17.4 points, 11.7 assists and 5.0 rebounds while shooting .497 from the field in the month of December (14 games).

Kris Humphries is averaging 16.0 points and 7.5 rebounds in his last two games off the bench.

— Washington Wizards notes