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Marcin Gortat fined by NBA for flopping
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Washington Wizards center Marcin Gortat has been fined $5,000 by the NBA for violating the league’s anti-flopping rules for the second time this season.
The incident occurred with 4:31 remaining in the fourth quarter of Washington’s 88-84 victory over the Utah Jazz on Wednesday, March 18, at EnergySolutions Arena.
To view the play, click on this link.
Wizards sign Toure’ Murry
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Washington Wizards President Ernie Grunfeld announced today that the team has signed guard Toure’ Murry. He is the 47th D-League “Call-Up.”
In 23 games in the D-League this season with Idaho and Rio Grande Valley, Murry has averaged 12.9 points, 6.1 rebounds, 6.0 assists and 1.6 steals in 29.1 minutes per game. In 16 games with Rio Grande Valley this season, he tallied three triple-doubles, including two in his last four games with the Vipers.
In parts of two seasons with New York and Utah, Murry (6-5, 195) has appeared in 52 career regular season games while averaging 2.7 points in 7.2 minutes per game. Last season with New York, he appeared in 51 games while averaging 2.7 points in 7.3 minutes. Murry appeared in one game with Utah this season after signing with the Jazz in August of 2014.
Murry was undrafted out of Wichita State in 2012. While at Wichita State, Murry averaged 12.1 points, 4.8 rebounds and 3.3 assists during his four-year career and helped the Shockers to the 2011 NIT title.
Bradley Beal still working his way back to form
Here’s CSN Washington reporting on Wizards shooting guard Bradley Beal:
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Two games into his return, Bradley Beal is shooting just 8-for-28, or 28.5%, and his legs aren’t all the way there. He was off for three weeks while he was recovering from a stress injury in his lower right leg and hasn’t quite been himself yet.
The Wizards (34-27) are 1-1 with him back in the lineup and might’ve been able to steal Tuesday’s game at the Chicago Bulls, a 97-92 loss, if Beal shot better than 2-for-8 in the third quarter.
Beal had a wide-open look with 56 seconds left that could’ve tied the score at 94 with a three-pointer, but he misfired. Most of his shots came up short which is an indication of heavy legs.
Wizards keep struggling, fall to Sixers
Here’s the Washington Post reporting on the Wizards, who are dropping games left and right these days and are 33-26 for the season and losers of six games in a row:
No, the Washington Wizards had not reached their lowest possible point Wednesday, when they lost by 20 to the Minnesota Timberwolves, the worst team in the Western Conference.
On Friday night, the Wizards sank even more with an 89-81 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers, a franchise constructed to lose to land the best draft pick possible.
The loss, the Wizards’ sixth straight, earned Washington its longest losing streak in more than two seasons and was a full face plant into misery, code red for a team that just a month ago harbored title aspirations.
The defeat came on the heels of a team dinner Thursday, when all 14 players dined together at a Brazilian steakhouse. It was captured in an Instagram post by Marcin Gortat with the caption “Team dinner….Staying together!”
A night later, they were dreadful in a loss to a team they dismantled by 35 points in their previous meeting. The loss was Wizards’ 11th in 13 games and 13th in 17.
Paul Pierce out tonight with bruised knee
Washington Wizards forward Paul Pierce was a late scratch Wednesday night against the Minnesota Timberwolves because of a bruised knee.
Pierce knocked knees with a Golden State defender in the closing seconds of a loss on Tuesday night, but coach Randy Wittman said before the game against the Wolves that he expected his veteran to be available.
— AP
Bradley Beal set to return for Wizards
The 33-22 Washington Wizards have won just 3 of their last 10 games, and on Friday got badly smacked down by the Cleveland Cavaliers. But there’s good news on the DC health front. Here’s the Washington Post blog reporting:
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There was at least one positive development for the Washington Wizards on Friday: Doctors evaluated starting shooting guard Bradley Beal’s injured right fibula in the morning and have given him the green light to resume basketball activities Saturday.
“Things are progressing really good,” Coach Randy Wittman said. “They’re going to [ramp] him up more and more now so he can get out, shooting and running and stuff, and see how that reacts.”
Beal hasn’t practiced or played in a game since exiting the Wizards’ 94-87 loss to the Charlotte Hornets on Feb. 5. He was originally sidelined with an inflamed right toe, but tests the following week revealed a mild stress reaction in his right fibula. It was Beal’s third injury to his right fibula in his three NBA seasons.
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:
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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
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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.
Patrick Beverley replaces John Wall in 2015 Skills Challenge
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Houston Rockets guard Patrick Beverley will replace Washington Wizards guard John Wall in the 2015 Skills Challenge during All-Star Saturday Night at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., on Feb. 14.
As far as we know, Wall hasn’t suffered a new injury. He likely just feels he can use the extra rest and has chosen to not participate. We’ll update this info if it changes, but it probably won’t.
Beverley, in his third NBA season with the Rockets, is averaging 10.7 points, 4.4 rebounds and 3.2 assists in 39 games. A second-round pick of the Los Angeles Lakers in 2009, Beverley signed with Houston in January 2013 after four-plus seasons playing overseas. He was named to the NBA All-Defensive Second Team in 2013-14.
The Chicago Bulls’ Jimmy Butler, the Toronto Raptors’ Kyle Lowry and the Atlanta Hawks’ Jeff Teague, all selected to play in the 2015 NBA All-Star Game on Sunday, Feb. 15, at Madison Square Garden, headline the Skills Challenge field. Defending champion Trey Burke of the Utah Jazz, the Philadelphia 76ers’ Michael Carter-Williams, the Milwaukee Bucks’ Brandon Knight and the Phoenix Suns’ Isaiah Thomas will also compete in the three-round, obstacle-course competition that tests dribbling, passing, agility and shooting skills.
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.”