The AP reports: Caron Butler was out, Antawn Jamison was hurting and the lowly Washington Wizards were still able to beat the Houston Rockets on Monday night. Jamison scored a season-high 30 points, Andray Blatche added 16 points and eight rebounds and the Wizards snapped a five-game road losing streak with an 89-87 victory… Nick Young added 14 points as the Wizards ended a seven-game losing streak to the Rockets and won in Houston for the first time since 2001… Ron Artest scored 20 points, but also had six turnovers for the Rockets, who had a seven-game home winning streak snapped by the worst team in the Eastern Conference.
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Dec 27: Wizards 104, Thunder 95
The AP reports: The Washington Wizards didn’t care that they beat a team with only three wins. They were just happy they won at all. The Wizards beat the Oklahoma City Thunder 104-95 on Saturday night in a matchup of teams with the two worst records in the NBA. They broke an eight-game losing streak, their longest since 2001, with just their fifth win against 23 losses. Oklahoma City fell to 3-28… Antawn Jamison tied his season high with 29 points. Andray Blatche had 19 points and a career-high 15 rebounds… Kevin Durant led Oklahoma City with 25 points and 11 rebounds. Jeff Green had 23 points.
Dec 25: Cavs 93, Wizards 89
The AP reports: Trailing by eight to woeful Washington, the Cavaliers scored 11 straight points in the final 1:33 to preserve their perfect home record with a 93-89 win Thursday night. Mo Williams scored 24 points, and LeBron James and Delonte West had 18 apiece for the Cavs, who at 15-0 are the NBA’s lone unbeaten team at home. Cleveland trailed 89-82 before storming back with three free throws by James, a 3-pointer by Williams and five more foul shots in the last 26 seconds. Antawn Jamison scored 28 points, and Mike James 26 for the Wizards, who dropped their eighth straight and continue to find new ways to lose… Overmatched because of injuries to All-Star guard Gilbert Arenas (knee) and center Brendan Haywood (wrist), Washington is off to the worst start in franchise history and has already had a coaching change before the end of the calendar year.
InsideHoops.com editor says: I thought several lousy calls greatly benefitted the Cavaliers in the final few minutes of this game. But, the Cavs were the more aggressive team in the clutch, and that always helps draw calls. Still, I thought the Wizards got slightly robbed here.
Suns sign Dee Brown
The Phoenix Suns have signed free-agent guard Daniel “Dee” Brown to a contract, the club announced today.
A two-year NBA performer, Brown was originally selected by the Utah Jazz with the 46th overall pick (second round) in the 2006 NBA Draft. The 6-0, 181-pound guard spent his rookie season in Salt Lake City where he appeared in 49 regular season games off the bench and eight more in the playoffs. The 24-year-old played in Turkey for Galatasaray Café Crown in 2007-08 where he averaged 12.3 points during the regular season and 14.7 points, 3.8 assists and 2.5 rebounds during postseason play. Brown signs with the Suns after appearing in 17 games (11 starts) and seeing 13.7 minutes of action with the Washington Wizards to begin 2008-09. He now owns career averages of 2.0 points, 1.0 rebound and 1.8 assists in 68 NBA contests.
Brown’s stellar career at the University of Illinois was highlighted by his 2006 win of the Bob Cousy Award as the nation’s top point guard in his senior season. The Illini standout led the Big Ten in assists (5.8) and ranked 18th in the nation overall. Brown posted those numbers while leading his team in scoring average (14.2), steals (1.61), minutes (35.8) and free-throw percentage (.757) and leading the team in scoring in 15 of 33 games.
Nicknamed “The One Man Fastbreak” in college due to his quickness, Brown was selected the Sporting News’ National Player of the Year and named the Big Ten Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year as a junior. Most notably, he became the first consensus First Team All-American at Illinois since 1952 after helping to lead the Illini to a 29-0 start and a berth in the national title game.
Brown is a graduate of Proviso East High in Maywood, Ill., the same high school attended by Celtics coach Doc Rivers and San Antonio Spurs guard Michael Finley.
Dec 23: Bobcats 80, Wizards 72
The AP reports: The Washington Wizards have had many identities. They started in Chicago as the Packers, then were called the Zephyrs. They moved to Baltimore as the Bullets, kept the name when they went to Washington, then started calling themselves the Wizards a decade ago. But until Tuesday night they had never been this bad, not by any name. Emeka Okafor had 29 points and 18 rebounds, and the Charlotte Bobcats pulled away in the fourth quarter for an 80-72 victory, sending a team that had reached the playoffs the past four seasons to depths never seen in its 48-year history: 4-22. Caron Butler’s 31 points weren’t enough for woeful, injury-plaged and poor-shooting Washington, which fell to its worst record after 26 games in franchise history.
Dec 21: Mavs 97, Wizards 86
The AP reports: On a night when Jason Kidd took over the game in the fourth quarter, the Wizards again imploded in the fourth. Kidd had 11 assists—six in the game’s final 6:05 as Dallas sent Washington to its sixth straight loss, 97-86 Sunday night… Jason Terry scored 25 points and Dirk Nowitzki added 23. Kidd, who is averaging 9.3 points, missed all seven of his field goals and had just a single point, but as the Wizards languished in the fourth quarter for the fourth straight game, it was Kidd’s game… Antawn Jamison led the Wizards with 22 points—all in the first three periods—Butler had 18 and Mike James 17.
Record-level coach firings
The New York Daily News (Mitch Lawrence) reports: A fifth of the league’s 30 coaches – six – already have been dismissed, a record for this early in the season. If that isn’t insane, three of the choices to take over were nothing short of mind-boggling. In Minnesota, Washington and Philly, head coaches were replaced by members of the team’s front office. In the cases of the Wizards and Sixers, the interim choices, Ed Tapscott and Tony DiLeo, respectively, had only limited time in NBA huddles. This is nothing personal against Tapscott or DiLeo or Kevin McHale, who was forced to move from his GM suite to the bench to take over for Randy Wittman, marking McHale’s second tour of duty on Minnesota’s bench. But they’re no more qualified to coach a team than an equipment man is to run a draft. For many teams, these moves violate the NBA’s version of the separation of church and state. GMs and their subordinates do one thing (procure the talent). Coaches do something else (coach it). And ne’r should the career paths cross (unless, of course, it’s Pat Riley).
Dec 19: Sixers 109, Wizards 103
The AP reports: The battle of interim coaches went to the Philadelphia 76ers for the second time in less than a week, with Tony DiLeo’s team persevering through the loss of leading scorer Elton Brand to pull out a 109-103 victory over the Washington Wizards on Friday night. Lou Williams scored 26 points—including 16 straight Philadelphia points during one stretch in the first half—to post his second career-high game in a row. Thaddeus Young, starting in place of Brand in a smaller lineup, and Andre Iguodala added 18 points apiece, and rookie Marreese Speights had a career-high 17 for the 76ers, who improved to 3-0 under DiLeo… Jamison scored 23 points despite playing with a strained left thumb, and Mike James had 16 in his second consecutive Wizards start.
Antawn Jamison strains thumb
Washington Wizards President Ernie Grunfeld announced today that Wizards All-Star Forward Antawn Jamison has been diagnosed with a strained left thumb. Jamison will be listed as a game-time decision for tomorrow night’s home game versus the Philadelphia 76ers (7:00 pm). Jamison initially injured his thumb in last night’s game in Detroit.
In 23 games this season, Jamison has averaged 19.9 points and 9.7 rebounds per game, and his .473 field goal percentage represents his second-best field goal percentage in his 11 professional seasons (.535 FG% as the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year in 2003-04 in Dallas).
Dec 17: Pistons 88, Wizards 74
The AP reports: Allen Iverson left the game briefly after bumping knees with Washington’s Mike James but returned to finish with 28 points on 10-for-16 shooting in the Pistons’ third straight victory, 88-74 over the Wizards. Rodney Stuckey added 18 points and matched his career high with 11 assists for Detroit, which went on a 12-3 run midway through the fourth quarter after the Wizards had pulled to 63-62. The Pistons allowed only three field goals in the final 9 minutes… Tayshaun Prince added 14 points and 10 rebounds, and Richard Hamilton scored 12 points for the Pistons, 6-1 when Stuckey starts at the point… Mike James, inserted into the starting lineup Wednesday, scored 16 points to lead the Wizards. Jamison had 14 points and 11 rebounds despite a sprained thumb suffered early in the game, and Andray Blatche added 10 points and 11 rebounds for Washington, an Eastern Conference-worst 4-19.