Washington Wizards Blog – Page 45 – NBA Blog

Wizards step up and beat the Thunder

Bradley Beal didn’t have a plan. What he had was a good move.

Beal made a jumper with 0.3 seconds left Monday night, lifting the short-handed Washington Wizards a 101-99 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder, who missed 16 straight shots at one stretch.

Beal used a pump fake to get open for the 16-footer that gave the Wizards (5-28) their second win this season over last year’s NBA finalists.

”I didn’t know what I was going to do to be honest with you,” Beal said. ”Coach just said go make a play.”

Once Beal sent the Thunder (26-8) to the showers, they were doused with cold water in the away arena.

The Wizards (5-28), playing without their top two scorers, had lost 13 of their previous 14, but they also beat the Miami Heat earlier in the season. Beal and Martell Webster led the Washington with 22 points each.

Kevin Seraphin added 19 points, and Emeka Okafor had 12 points and 12 rebounds.

Kevin Durant, who had 29 points, drove through the lane for a thunderous dunk to cut Oklahoma City’s deficit to 95-94 with just more than two minutes left. Martell Webster answered with a four-point play to give the Wizards a 99-94 lead…

Serge Ibaka stepped up as Durant’s complement, scoring 26 points and grabbing 11 rebounds…

Nene (right knee tendinitis) and Jordan Crawford (sore left ankle) missed the game with injuries.

— Reported by the Associated Press

Wizards waive guard Shelvin Mack

Washington Wizards President Ernie Grunfeld announced today that the team has waived guard Shelvin Mack.

Mack, who signed as a free agent with Washington on December 25, 2012, appeared in seven games, including two starts, and averaged 5.3 points, 2.3 rebounds and 3.3 assists in 20.1 minutes per contest.

Mack was originally selected by Washington with the 34 th overall pick in the 2011 NBA Draft and appeared in training camp with the Wizards this season before being waived on October 28. He spent the first 11 games of the 2012-13 season with the Maine Red Claws of the NBA D-League prior to re-signing with the Wizards on December 25.

The team’s roster now stands at 14 players.

Heat beat woeful Wizards by 28

LeBron James scored 24 points and the Miami Heat had a rebounding edge for a change Sunday to beat the woeful Washington Wizards 99-71.

The Heat, beaten on the boards by a total of 38 rebounds over the previous three games, this time enjoyed a 50-39 advantage. Udonis Haslem led them with 12 rebounds, and Chris Bosh had nine.

The game matched the teams with the best and worst records in the Eastern Conference, and in the late going it looked like it. Miami scored the game’s final 21 points and held Washington scoreless over the last 7:07.

James extended his streaks of scoring at least 20 points to 32 consecutive games this season, and 53 in a row including last year’s playoff run. He shot 9 for 17 and had seven assists.

The Heat were coming off only their third home loss of the season Friday against Chicago.

— Reported by Steven Wine of the Associated Press

Nets beat Wizards 115-113 in double overtime

Exactly three hours after the game started, Joe Johnson finally won an exhausting game for the Brooklyn Nets.

Johnson’s 18-footer with 0.7 seconds left in the second overtime lifted the Nets to a 115-113 victory over the Washington Wizards on Friday night.

Bradley Beal’s two free throws tied the score at 113 with 9.1 seconds to play before Johnson, who had 18 points, hit the shot that improved Brooklyn to 4-1 under interim coach P.J. Carlesimo…

Brook Lopez had 27 points and 13 rebounds for the Nets, and Deron Williams added 24 points and 10 assists.

Beal had a career-high 24 points. Jordan Crawford scored 23 points and Nene, who fouled out in the first overtime, had 20 for Washington, which lost its fourth in a row and is now 4-27…

The game featured the return of Andray Blatche, who was let go by Washington last summer after seven stormy seasons. The Wizards used the amnesty provision on Blatche, who was banished from the team by Wittman last March for poor conditioning.

Blatche was booed by the crowd when he entered with just under five minutes to play in the first quarter. Moments later, with the crowd still booing, he hit his first shot and then drew laughs when he tripped as he ran down the court. He had 13 points and 12 rebounds…

Brooklyn was without G C.J. Watson (bruised right knee) and F Kris Humphries (sprained left ankle). F/G Jerry Stackhouse returned after missing Wednesday’s game at Oklahoma City with a sore right hamstring.

— Reported by the Associated Press

Pacers beat Wizards for 6th straight home win

Good enough to beat the Wizards, not good enough to satisfy Paul George.

George had 29 points and 14 rebounds, leading the Indiana Pacers to an 89-81 victory over Washington on Wednesday night.

”I’m glad we got this win but we’ve got to look past this,” George said. ”We didn’t do a good enough job executing.

”Luckily we made enough shots to win, but we didn’t do a good job at all of executing. We let them pressure us and get us out of stuff; we play tough teams and that’s not going to fly.”

The Wizards (4-26) came into the game with the NBA’s worst record, and had lost eight straight against the Central Division-leading Pacers (19-13)…

Roy Hibbert added 13 points for the Pacers, who won their sixth straight home game. Ian Mahinmi added nine points and 11 rebounds.

Jordan Crawford scored 20 points to lead Washington, which fell to 1-14 on the road this season. Kevin Seraphin scored 16, Nene added 15 points and Bradley Beal scored 14 for the Wizards, who never led in losing for the third straight game.

— Reported by Andy Proffet of the Associated Press

Mavericks end 6-game losing streak, beat Wizards

Vince Carter scored 23 points, O.J. Mayo and Darren Collison each added 15 to help the Dallas Mavericks break their six-game losing streak with a 103-94 win over the Washington Wizards on Tuesday night.

When the Wizards, who are now 4-25, took a 14-point lead early in the second quarter, Dallas, which had arrived in Washington in the midst of its longest skid in nearly 14 years, rallied. They trailed by four at the half, and then outscored the Wizards 35-19 in the third quarter to take an 83-71 lead.

The Mavericks were ahead 99-84 with 3:28 to play, but Washington scored eight straight to cut the lead to seven, but Carter, making just the second start of the season threw down an emphatic dunk with 1:11 to play to make it 101-93.

Six players scored in double figures for Dallas. Chris Kaman scored 12 points and Shawn Marion had 11 points with a season-high 14 rebounds. Dirk Nowitzki played in just his fifth game since returning from right knee surgery and added 11.

Bradley Beal equaled a career high with 22 points for the Wizards. Emeka Okafor had 14 and 11 rebounds. Martel Webster also had 14.

— Reported by the Associated Press

Wizards sign Shelvin Mack and Garrett Temple

The Washington Wizards are desperate for whatever help they can get.

Wizards President Ernie Grunfeld announced today that the team has signed free agent guards Shelvin Mack and Garrett Temple.

Mack (6-3, 207) was originally selected by Washington with the 34th overall pick in the 2011 NBA Draft. In 11 games this season with the Maine Red Claws of the NBA D-League, he has averaged 19.7 points (ranked sixth) and a D-League best 7.5 assists in 40.7 minutes per contest. He was named NBA D-League Performer of the Week on December 10. In 64 games during his rookie campaign with the Wizards, Mack averaged 3.6 points, 1.4 rebounds and 2.0 assists in 12.2 minutes per game. The former Butler Bulldog averaged 4.1 points in eight games during the 2012 preseason with Washington before being waived on October 28, 2012.

Temple (6-6, 195) was undrafted out of LSU in 2009. In nine games this season with the Reno Bighorns of the D-League, he has averaged 14.7 points, 4.9 rebounds and 5.8 assists in 36 minutes per contest. Temple has appeared in 51 career NBA games with the Rockets, Kings, Spurs, Bucks and Bobcats while averaging 3.8 points, 1.1 rebounds and 1.0 assists per game. In 63 career D-League games, he holds averages of 14.5 points, 4.5 rebounds and 3.6 assists with Rio Grande, Erie and Reno. The former Tiger spent the 2012-13 preseason with Miami, appearing in six games and tallying 4.5 points, 2.7 rebounds and 2.7 assists per game.

Wizards waive Shaun Livingston and Earl Barron

Washington Wizards President Ernie Grunfeld announced today that the team has waived guard Shaun Livingston and center/forward Earl Barron.

Livingston, who was originally signed as a free agent on November 15, averaged 3.7 points, 2.2 rebounds and 2.2 assists in 17 games (four starts). Barron, who was originally signed as a free agent on September 19, averaged 2.5 points and 3.9 rebounds in 11 games (one start).

The Wizards roster now stands at 13.

Jan Vesely falls out of Wizards rotation

Jan Vesely waited by bench to greet his teammates with applause and hand slaps at halftime of Wizards’ 104-95 loss to the Atlanta Hawks on Friday at Philips Arena. He didn’t leave until Nene was the last player to walk of the court and joined him on the journey to the locker room.

Vesely remains a supportive teammate in the only way he can, now that he hasn’t been able to provide much assistance on the court. The struggling second-year forward from the Czech Republic has fallen so far out of the rotation that he was the only healthy Wizard on the roster that didn’t make an appearance in the loss to Atlanta.

With the Wizards trailing by 13 in the final minute, Coach Randy Wittman called on veteran Earl Barron to replace Nene and finish out the game. Vesely has received a DNP-Coach’s Decision in each of the past two games but Wittman said recently that he hasn’t given up on the sixth overall pick of the 2011 draft.

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

Wizards uncertain when John Wall will play

Ten weeks after the Wizards announced that John Wall would miss “approximately” eight weeks because of a stress injury in his left patella, the injured point guard is still unable to practice, scrimmage or even elevate to shoot.

Wizards President Ernie Grunfeld and Wall both referred to the injury as a “bump in the road” that wouldn’t keep him down for long, but the team now has no timetable for his return. His extended absence has raised concerns, but Coach Randy Wittman acknowledged Thursday that the original estimate was actually eight-to-12 weeks. Wittman began to panic when a reporter asked if Wall would return this season.

“I hope so. What the heck is that? You’re scaring me,” Wittman said before cursing a few times. “I just talked to my mother again today. I don’t know what to tell you. I’m not looking at it like that”

He added, “We’re not hiding anything here.”

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