The AP reports: LeBron James scored 21 points before spending part of the fourth quarter on the bench playing air guitar and dancing as the Cavs avenged an embarrassing loss to one of the league’s weaker teams by thumping the rival Wizards 98-86 on Wednesday night to improve to 38-1 at home. The win lowered the Cavaliers’ magic number for locking up home-court advantage for the Eastern Conference playoffs to one. A Cleveland win on Friday night at Philadelphia or a Boston loss to Miami will give the Cavs (63-15) the East’s top seed… Mo Williams scored 14 points and Zydrunas Ilgauskas had 13 rebounds for the Cavs, who for the first time in four years will not see the Wizards in the first round of the postseason… Nick Young scored 16 to lead the Wizards, who stunned Cleveland last week and handed the Cavs two of their 15 losses this season. Washington’s Gilbert Arenas didn’t play, choosing to rest his surgically repaired right knee. Arenas’ return had sparked the Wizards to their upset over the Cavs last week.
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Heat hit 8 4th-quarter 3s in win over Wizards
The AP reports: Three long jumpers in less than 2 minutes, and a one-point lead was up to nine. Soon Michael Beasley, Dwyane Wade and Yakhouba Diawara joined the fun, contributing to a Miami Heat mark for 3s in a quarter in Saturday night’s 118-104 victory over the Washington Wizards… The Heat went 8-for-13 from 3-point range over the final 12 minutes and 14-for-32 for the game… Wade scored 33 points, including three 3-pointers in the fourth, as the Heat remained a game behind the fifth-place Philadelphia 76ers in the jostle for postseason seeding in the Eastern Conference… Jermaine O’Neal and Diawara each added 16 points for the Heat. Miami played without forward Udonis Haslem, who cut his right thumb in Friday night’s win over the Charlotte Bobcats. Caron Butler scored 27 points, and Antawn Jamison had 23 to lead the Wizards, who were without Gilbert Arenas as part of the three-time All-Star’s plan to play in selected games during his comeback from knee surgery.
Worst beats best: Wizards top Cavaliers 109-101
The AP reports: In the closest thing they’ll have to a playoff game this year, Gilbert Arenas and the Wizards fed off a sellout crowd Thursday night and ended the franchise-record 13-game winning streak of LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers. Washington recovered after blowing a 14-point second-half lead and held on for a 109-101 victory… Brendan Haywood, also playing his second game of the season and making his first start after recovering from a major wrist injury, added 12 points and 10 rebounds. The Wizards also received the usual steady contributions from Caron Butler (25 points) and Antawn Jamison (19) and a surprising 17 points on 6-for-8 shooting from Darius Songaila as they snapped a three-game losing streak. MVP candidate James scored 22 of his 31 points in the second half and finished with six assists and nine rebounds for the Cavaliers, but—how’s this for a statistical oddity—he was responsible for all five of his team’s turnovers until Daniel Gibson traveled in the final minute of the third quarter.
Gay scores 25, Grizzlies beat Wizards 112-107
The AP reports: Trailing 110-107 with just under 4 seconds left, the Wizards had the ball out of bounds with a chance to tie. But a steal of the inbounds pass by guard Mike Conley and his two ensuing free throws provided Memphis with a 112-107 victory over the Wizards on Wednesday night, giving the Grizzlies their first home win since the All-Star break… Rudy Gay scored 25 points and Conley added 22 to lead the Grizzlies. Marc Gasol and O.J. Mayo scored 18 points apiece. Gasol grabbed nine rebounds, and Mayo had seven assists. Hakim Warrick had 12 points. Butler had 31 points for Washington, which lost its third straight, while Antawn Jamison had 28 points and 10 rebounds. Reserve Nick Young had 16 points and Crittenton finished with 13 points and a career-high 11 rebounds.
Granger scores 31, Pacers beat Wizards 124-115
The AP reports: Brandon Rush is finally giving Indiana more than one consistent scoring option. Starting his third straight game, the Pacers rookie continued his late-season tear with 29 points and 10 rebounds Sunday night in a 124-115 victory over the Washington Wizards… Danny Granger finished with 31 points for the Pacers… Jarrett Jack added 19 points for the Pacers. Washington was led by Caron Butler with 31 points and 13 rebounds and Antawn Jamison with 29 points. Javaris Crittenton added a season-high 19 points for the Wizards… As expected, the Wizards’ Gilbert Arenas did not play… Indiana’s Troy Murphy, who sprained a knee ligament in a shootaround on Wednesday, also did not play for the third straight game.
Good Arenas game, but Pistons beat Wizards 98-96
The AP reports: Gilbert Arenas finished with 15 points on 3-for-12 shooting and 10 assists in 30 minutes, helping the Wizards rally from a 15-point, second-half deficit. After the two failed comebacks, he had been determined to make sure he was completely healthy before trying again, especially with Washington mired in last place in the East… Richard Hamilton, back after missing six games with a left groin injury, scored 16 of his 31 points in the third quarter for the Pistons, who broke a three-game losing streak and steered their tenuous playoff hopes—at least temporarily—back in the right direction… Antawn Jamison scored 21 points to lead the Wizards. … Butler returned after missing seven straight games with a sore left hamstring.
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.