By Douglas Holtz-Eakin
The young drop coverage to avoid higher premiums
Independent voices from the TWT Communities
Brandon Bass scored 20 points and the Boston Celtics, helped by the return of Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce, beat the Washington Wizards 107-96 Sunday night.
John Wall scored a career-high 47 points and added eight assists, Emeka Okafor had 21 points and nine rebounds, and the undermanned Washington Wizards beat the Memphis Grizzlies, 107-94 Monday night at Verizon Center.
The third overall pick in last June's draft, and the East rookie of the month in December and January, Beal scored 20 or more for the 11th time.
For the first 40 minutes Wednesday night Washington looked uninspired against a Utah squad that had won seven of its previous nine. But instead of giving up after trailing by 22 points in the first half and 15 entering the fourth quarter, Washington fought back within two on Kevin Seraphin's jumper with 6:57 left.
Emeka Okafor had 19 points and 11 rebounds, leading six players in double figures for Washington in a 120-91 victory over the Orlando Magic on Monday night for the Wizards' third straight win.
When his phone rang late Saturday night, Shelvin Mack had no idea it would be from the team that let him go just before training camp, the Washington Wizards.
The fatigue was palpable. The exhaustion, physical and mental, was written on their faces. As the worst stretch of their season came to an end -- four games in five nights for two straight weeks -- the Washington Wizards entered the holiday break with a seven-game losing streak and a league-worst 3-22 record.
In the midst of a dismal season, there aren't too many things the Washington Wizards can hang their hats on. But one of them was that they'd beaten the Miami Heat three straight times. That streak came to an end on Saturday night at American Airlines Arena.
Randy Wittman is pretty grounded. At least, that's how he describes himself.
Chris Singleton walked slowly to the middle of the Washington Wizards' locker room. The team had just dropped its 15th game of the season and lost yet another player to injury. As he looked at the horde of media standing around him, he shook his head and shrugged his shoulders.
Riding a two-game home winning streak, the Washington Wizards hosted the Golden State Warriors on Saturday at Verizon Center, hoping to extend the streak to three. Their luck didn't extend that far. The Warriors defeated the Wizards 101-97, improving their record to 13-7, while the Wizards fell to 2-15.
Randy Wittman had seen enough, again.
For two and a half quarters, the Wizards just seemed to be hanging around. On Friday night at Madison Square Garden, the Wizards played just well enough to keep pace with the Knicks. Until the halfway point in the third quarter that is. Then the Knicks shifted into another gear and the Wizards simply couldn't keep up, losing 108-87.
Nene was nowhere to be found. The Washington Wizards 6-foot-11 center wasn't on the inactive list, but he wasn't at the end of the bench, either. After playing more than 48 minutes total in the last two games, Nene sat out the Wizards game against the San Antonio Spurs on Monday at Verizon Center, a 26-point blowout loss.
Washington Wizards coach Randy Wittman normally begins his postgame news conferences by making a brief statement before taking questions. After the past couple of games, Wittman has been at a loss for words.
"I've heard out of his own mouth that he doesn't like to go to the free throw line because everybody's watching," teammate A.J. Price said. "It's a confidence thing."
Wizards believe staying healthy will make them a playoff team →
"It was important in my eyes to let the guys know my morale wasn't down, even though I was injured and I'll be out," Price said. "I'm still with them 100 percent, as I know they would be for me if the shoe was on the other foot."
