Washington Wizards Blog – Page 43 – NBA Blog

Ex-NBA player Javaris Crittenton indicted on murder charges

Former NBA player and Atlanta native Javaris Crittenton was indicted Tuesday on charges of murder and gang activity.

The Fulton County District Attorney’s office said Crittenton, 25, and his cousin, Douglas Gamble, were charged in a 12-count indictment in the death of an Atlanta woman and the attempted murder of another man.

Julian Jones – a mother of two – was shot and killed in southwest Atlanta while walking with a group of people in August 2011. Authorities say that incident and a second shooting were gang-related. Officials say the shootings may have been retaliation after Crittenton was the victim of a robbery in which $50,000 worth of jewelry was stolen.

Crittenton, a former Georgia Tech guard, was drafted by the Lakers in 2007 and has also played for the Washington Wizards and Memphis Grizzlies. He was suspended for 38 games during the 2009-10 season for pulling a gun in the Wizards’ locker room.

— Reported by the Associated Press

Bradley Beal returns, scores 24 in Wizards win over Raptors

Bradley Beal scored 24 points in his return to the lineup, leading the Washington Wizards to a 109-92 victory over the Toronto Raptors on Sunday night.

Emeka Okafor had 19 points and 10 rebounds, and John Wall added 18 points and 10 assists for Washington. The Wizards, who came in having lost two in a row on the road, won their seventh straight at home and moved into a tie with Toronto for 10th place in the Eastern Conference.

Jonas Valanciunas had 18 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Raptors, losers of six of their last seven. Toronto leading scorer Rudy Gay scored 11 points – about seven below his average – while being limited to 26 minutes due to foul trouble.

Toronto, which has lost six of seven, cut a 20-point third-quarter deficit to six twice in the fourth quarter before Washington pulled away.

After missing five straight games, and 11 of 13, with a sprained left ankle, Beal shot 8 for 14 from the field, including a career-high six 3-pointers – on nine attempts – in 30 minutes…

Gay was held to five points in the half and DeMar DeRozan to four, while Valanciunas scored 16 for Toronto.

— Reported by Harvey Valentine of the Associated Press

John Wall doing big things for Wizards

As John Wall stepped to the free-throw line late in the fourth quarter of Monday’s game against Memphis, his new career high and the Wizards’ sixth straight home win in hand, faint chants of “M-V-P” arose within the Verizon Center.

When asked about it later, the third-year guard shrugged off the praise.

“Nah, I’m not no MVP, man,” Wall said with a grin. “I’m just glad to finally be able to play good, be healthy, help change things around. Like I said, if this team’s healthy from start to finish, we’d easily be a playoff team. That’s how we feel.”

With the way the Wizards have fallen prey to injuries, especially of late, that’s something fans will never know this season (Five players missed Monday’s game with injury or illness). But with the way Wall has played, especially of late, one can’t help but wonder “what if” about this resilient group.

After recording a career-high 47 points in Washington’s 107-94 win against playoff-bound Memphis, Wall is now averaging 25 points and 9.3 assists during his past nine games. The Wizards have gone 6-3 during that stint and are now 21-16 since Wall’s return from a leg injury.

— Reported by Brandon Parker of the Washington Post (Blog)

John Wall playing great March basketball

In the final month of his rookie season in 2011, John Wall averaged 19.4 points, 6.0 assists and 5.9 rebounds while shooting 45.4 percent from the field. In the second full month of last season’s lockout-shortened campaign, Wall averaged 19.2 points, 8.6 assists and 4.6 rebounds and shot 48 percent from the field.

If he maintains his current pace for the next seven games, Wall would turn March into the best statistical month of his professional career.

In 10 games this month, Wall is averaging 20.1 points, 7.7 assists and 4.5 rebounds while shooting 52.4 percent. Wall has failed to record at least six assists in only two games, with three games of 10 or more helpers. He has scored in double figures in each game and tallied at least 23 points in four of his past five games.

“I just give credit to my teammates because they make things easier for me, being able to find spots and knock down shots and get me easy opportunities to score,” Wall said. “My teammates are getting open, [I’m] finding them and I was able to get free throws and layups.”

— Reported by Michael Lee of the Washington Post (Blog)

Bobcats win 119-114, end Wizards 3-game win streak

Although the Charlotte Bobcats have been eliminated from playoff contention, Kemba Walker believes the young team can still take something from the season’s final 16 games.

Most notably learning how to win close games like Monday night.

Gerald Henderson had 27 points and Walker came up with a flurry of big plays in the closing minutes helping the Bobcats overcome a five-point deficit and beat Washington 119-114 to snap the Wizards’ three-game win streak.

Walker scored nine of his 18 points in the final three minutes, sparking a 12-0 Charlotte run…

Walker shot 8 of 14 from the field and had seven assists.

Henderson, who came in averaging 22.5 points over his previous five games, was 8 of 16 from the field and 10 of 11 on free throws. He also tied a career high with eight assists and his 3-pointer with 55 seconds left ultimately sealed the victory.

Ben Gordon had 19 points and Josh McRoberts added 17 for Charlotte.

John Wall scored 25 points and Nene added 21 for the Wizards, who lost three of four games this season to the NBA-worst Bobcats. Emeka Okafor and Garrett Temple each had 17 points.

— Reported by Steve Reed of the Associated Press

John Wall, LaMarcus Aldridge named NBA Players of Week through March 17, 2013

Washington Wizards guard John Wall and Portland Trail Blazers forward LaMarcus Aldridge today were named Eastern and Western Conference Players of the Week, respectively, for games played Monday, March 11 through Sunday, March 17.

Wall led the Wizards to a 3-1 week with averages of 24.0 points (fourth in the conference), 11.0 assists (second in the conference), 5.5 rebounds and 2.5 steals (third in the conference). Wall posted three point-assist double-doubles and ranked sixth in the East with a field goal percentage of .617. He collected a season-high 14 assists on March 12 against the Cleveland Cavaliers (95-90 loss) and a season-high 29 points on March 15 against the New Orleans Hornets (96-87 win).

Aldridge led the Trail Blazers to a 2-1 week behind an NBA-best 27.0 points, 10.7 rebounds (seventh in the conference), 3.0 blocks (third in the conference) and 3.0 assists. Aldridge shot 19-of-19 from the foul line on a week in which he posted a point-rebound double-double in each contest, including a 22-point, 10-rebound, five-block effort on March 14 during a 105-90 win over the New York Knicks.

Other nominees for the Eastern and Western Conference Players of the Week were Atlanta’s Al Horford, Denver’s Kosta Koufos, Miami’s LeBron James and Dwyane Wade, Minnesota’s Ricky Rubio, Oklahoma City’s Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook, and San Antonio’s Tim Duncan.

Wizards are better than their record suggests

The Wizards are playing better than their overall record suggests. They have won eight of their last 11 home games, including triumphs vs. the Houston Rockets, Denver Nuggets, Brooklyn Nets and New York Knicks in the last month. But since starting 4-28, they get losses vs. teams such as the Detroit Pistons, Toronto Raptors and Sacramento Kings overshadow those accomplishments.

“I don’t know what that’s about,” forward Trevor Ariza said of the Wizards’ improved focus vs. winning teams. “We need to fix that. We got 19 games left. We have to play that way, not worried about the records or anything and just play.”

The fact is, however, that good teams aren’t good by accident. They have better individual talent which gives them a bigger margin for error, but they also know how to close out.

— Reported by J. Michael of CSN Washington

Bradley Beal inches closer to return for Wizards

Bradley Beal waited for his teammates in the locker room after the Washington Wizards’ 87-82 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday night, listening to them discuss the turnover problems that led to their demise and offering humor to keep the spirits from staying down.

Beal missed his eighth game of the season and first with a sprained left ankle that he suffered on Sunday against Philadelphia. When asked how he was feeling after the Timberwolves game, Beal said, “Better.”

The Wizards (19-40) are now 2-6 without Beal this season but his absence has been felt lately on the road, where they have lost four consecutive games without the promising rookie shooting guard on the court.

Beal remains day-to-day, but Coach Randy Wittman said that he is making progress.

— Reported by Michael Lee of the Washington Post (Blog)

Bradley Beal keeps improving for Wizards

Beal recently surpassed John Wall as the Wizards’ leading scorer at 14.2 points per game and has been on a serious tear in his past eight games.

Over that stretch, Beal has scored at least 20 points five times, is averaging 20.8 points on 49.2 percent shooting from the field and 44.7 percent shooting from long distance. Beal has also recorded two double-doubles and displayed versatility and a solid feel for making timely plays – such as his huge offensive rebound in the closing seconds of a win against Houston. He snared 11 rebounds against the Knicks, at times grabbing them over all-star center Tyson Chandler or Amare Stoudemire.

In the first half against New York, Beal made a hard cut through the lane but stopped under the basket when he noticed that Knicks guard J.R. Smith was trying to beat him to the corner and Wall was about to get trapped by Chandler and Raymond Felton. Wall found him inside for an easy, uncontested dunk.

Beal erupted for 12 points in the third quarter, starting his run when he tracked down a loose ball beyond half court with 10 seconds on the shot clock and never appeared rushed as he split Iman Shumpert and Jason Kidd near the foul line, then completed a nifty lefty layup over Carmelo Anthony.

— Reported by Michael Lee of the Washington Post (Blog)

Wizards aiming to be clutch by committee

The Wizards don’t have a proven superstar or an established go-to guy who they can get the ball to in the final seconds, get out of the way and let him operate.

The clutch-by-committee philosophy certainly served as a disadvantage early on, as they racked up close defeats. And that certainly isn’t the preferred situation for contending teams that can simply draw something up for LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Carmelo Anthony or even Joe Johnson and live with the results.

But Coach Randy Wittman doesn’t go into late-game possessions determined to set up one individual, relying mostly on his gut while seeking to exploit mismatches on the floor. The hero emerges within the flow of the game, rather than from reputation.

Wittman has managed to make it work in recent weeks, with the team winning 13 of 22 and calling on everyone from Bradley Beal, to Nene, to John Wall, to even the recently-dealt Jordan Crawford, to make a play with the game on the line.

— Reported by Michael Lee of the Washington Post (Blog)