Washington Wizards Blog – Page 71 – NBA Blog

Mike James done for season

Washington Wizards President Ernie Grunfeld announced today that guard Mike James suffered a fracture of the right fifth proximal phalanx (right pinky finger) and will miss the remainder of the season. He sustained the injury during yesterday’s practice.

James had averaged 9.6 points and 3.6 assists in 53 games (50 starts) for the Wizards this season. He was acquired along with guard Javaris Crittenton in a three-team deal with the Memphis Grizzlies and New Orleans Hornets on Dec. 9.

The Washington Post (Michael Lee) reports (via blog): James even put aside any doubt the severity of the injury when pulled out his iPhone and showed his X-ray. James said he was chasing down a loose ball when he and Caron Butler slapped at the ball at the same time. He said that he knew immediately that he was done. “I felt it,” James said. “I knew as soon as I grabbed the ball, I couldn’t feel the ball and that side of the hand was hurting.”

NBA rule change on too many players on court

The NBA Board of Governors voted to approve a playing rules change in regards to “too many players on the court”, which will take effect beginning Friday, March 27.

Under the playing rules change, when a “too many players on the court” violation is called, a technical foul will be assessed against the offending team and the non-offending team will have the option of either accepting or nullifying the game action that occurred during the violation.

Option 1 — Accept Game Action

The non-offending team can opt to ACCEPT all play that occurred during the violation, including any points scored, with no adjustment of the game clock.

Option 2 — Nullify Game Action

The non-offending team can opt to NULLIFY all play that occurred during the violation, other than any acts of unsportsmanlike conduct or flagrant fouls or any points scored from free throws as a result of such actions.

Under this option, following the technical foul, the game clock would be reset to the time when the ball was put into play with too many players on the court and, depending on how the ball was originally put into play, play would resume in accordance with the following:

1) If the original play commenced with a throw-in, then the ball would be returned to the original throw-in spot and play commenced with a throw-in.

2) If the original play commenced with a missed free-throw attempt where the ball remained in play, then play would be commenced with a jump ball held at center court between any two players who were on the floor at the time play was suspended due to the violation.

3) If the original play commenced with a jump ball, then play would be commenced with a jump ball held at the original jump-ball spot between the same two players who participated in the original jump ball.

Gilbert Arenas retires from blogging

Washington Wizards guard Gilbert Arenas is great at scoring, getting injured and blogging. And he’s just announced that the last item on that list is off his agenda. The Washington Times (Mike Jones) reports:

Gilbert Arenas has officially retired from blogging. The Wizards guard and the original NBA player-blogger said in the locker room just a bit ago “I’m retired from that. At first it was fun, but then it seemed like it was turning into a double-edged sword. Your words can work against you.”

I used to skim-read some of his blog entries, but as great as they were, I rarely made it through the whole thing. That’s on me, though. These days I check so much content I rarely make it through anything. Anyway, Arenas should definitely become a broadcaster of some kind when his playing days are over, though, because the man has lots of funny, insightful thoughts to share on just about everything.

Wizards win first Southeast game of season

The Washington Times (Mike Jones) reports: The Washington Wizards avoided making history Wednesday. The bad kind. With only a couple of opportunities left to avert becoming the first NBA team to go winless in its division, the Wizards overcame a shallow bench to pull off a 95-93 victory over the visiting Charlotte Bobcats. The victory was the first for the Wizards (17-56) in 15 games against Southeast Division opponents this season.

Jamison leads 8-man Wizards past Bobcats 95-93

The AP reports: Hey, Raymond Felton, how do you feel about what happened to your Charlotte Bobcats on Wednesday night? The wasted 20-point lead. The 19-for-30 foul shooting, including 6-for-13 in the fourth quarter. And everything else that went awry in a 95-93 loss to the woebegone Washington Wizards, a team that came in with an NBA-high 56 losses, a team that was 0-14 against Southeast Division foes, a team down to eight players because of injuries… “We didn’t want to be the first,” said Nick Young, who scored 23 points for Washington. “Players, captains, Coach—everybody was talking about it.” … “Both guys just rushed the shot,” said Antawn Jamison, who scored 27 points for Washington. “They didn’t realize they were going to be that open.”

Gordon 21 in 2nd half, Bulls beat Wizards 101-99

The AP reports: Chicago hung on and beat the Washington Wizards 101-99 Monday night to improve to five games under .500, good enough to hold down the eighth and final playoff spot in the generously spread-out Eastern Conference standings. Despite the close call, the Bulls were perfectly content to win for the fourth time in five games and open up a 1 1/2 -game lead over the ninth-place Charlotte Bobcats… Ben Gordon scored all of his 21 points in the second half—including seven in the final 3 1/2 minutes—for the Bulls, who led 88-77 with 6:09 to play. Antawn Jamison scored the game’s next eight points to put the Wizards back in it, and Nick Young made the score 100-99 with a 3-pointer with 3.6 seconds play… Jamison finished with 34 points and 12 rebounds, and Andray Blatche had 15 points and 13 rebounds for the Wizards, who have lost five straight.

Richardson scores 35, Suns beat Wizards 128-96

The AP reports: Shaquille O’Neal scored 13 in the Phoenix Suns’ 128-96 victory over Washington on Saturday night to pass Moses Malone as the No. 5 scorer in NBA history with 27,411 points… Jason Richardson responded with 35 points, 17 in the third quarter, Phoenix extended its winning streak to a season-high four games… Steve Nash added 17 points for the Suns, who pulled with 3 1/2 games of idle Dallas for the eighth and final playoff spot in the West with 13 to play. Stromile Swift had 10 points and 12 rebounds in his best game since joining Phoenix on March 4.

Gordon scores 26 points, Clippers beat Wizards

The AP reports: Chris Kaman is heavy and out of shape. His post presence is providing some much needed relief for the Los Angeles Clippers, though, albeit late in the season with no postseason to look forward to. Eric Gordon scored 15 of his 26 points in the third quarter, Baron Davis tied a career high with 20 assists, and the Clippers rallied to beat the lowly Washington Wizards 123-108 on Wednesday night. Kaman, sidelined for most of the season by a left foot injury, added 19 points in 21 1/2 minutes in his fifth game back for the Clippers… “Novak is like a video game. His shot is a beautiful thing to watch, and I am definitely surprised he is left open and unguarded so much,” said the Clippers’ Al Thornton, who finished with 22 points… Antawn Jamison led Washington with 24 points and brought the Wizards within two with 6:01 remaining. But that’s the closest they would get as Gordon slammed an alley-oop dunk, and Davis hit a jumper with 2 seconds remaining.

Jazz end skid with win over Wizards

The AP reports: Deron Williams admitted that the Utah Jazz put an underwhelming end to a three-game losing streak. The Jazz played well enough to beat the Washington Wizards 103-88 on Tuesday night, but knew they got away with mistakes that would have cost them against better teams… Ronnie Brewer scored 13 despite playing only the second and fourth quarters as punishment for oversleeping and missing Tuesday morning’s shootaround. Kyle Korver added 15 points on his 28th birthday as seven Utah players scored in double figures. Nick Young and Juan Dixon had 14 points each to lead Washington.

Wizards keep Kings in NBA cellar with 106-104 win

The AP reports: “We didn’t do things right,” said Wizards forward Antawn Jamison, who scored 30 points. “But the most important thing is that we got a win, and I’ll take an ugly win over a pretty loss.” … Andray Blatche added 16 points, and Darius Songaila 15 for the Wizards. Washington played without Caron Butler, who has a tight left hamstring and will have an MRI exam Monday. Kevin Martin scored 24 points, and Spencer Hawes had 20 to lead the Kings, who were missing Bobby Jackson (broken left cheekbone) but welcomed back Beno Udrih (out six games with a sprained right foot).