Wizards still fighting to get back into playoff hunt

To say that Washington’s Bradley Beal had high hopes entering this season is an understatement.

“If you look at us on paper, we look absolutely amazing,” Beal said back at media day.

They look much different now. But they’re still fighting.

John Wall’s season is over. Dwight Howard’s season hasn’t really gotten started. Markieff Morris’ season won’t resume for a few more weeks, at least. The Wizards are 11th in the Eastern Conference, yet insist their resolve is still intact — as was evident in their win over Oklahoma City on Sunday night.

“We’re banged up and I haven’t heard one player, nor coach, feel sorry for ourselves that we’ve got guys missing,” Wizards coach Scott Brooks said. “It’s just what we have to do. Sure, we would love to have everybody here all season long, but that hasn’t been the case and now we know guys are going to be out for the rest of the season and we’ve just got to tie the laces up and compete for one another.”

The Wizards started 2-9, then went 9-5 in their next 14 games and looked as though they were righting the ship.

It’s been one bad break after another since, but they’re still fighting to get back into the playoff hunt.

“That’s what we have to do,” Beal said. “We have to step in for John, for Keif, for Dwight — those are key guys and we need everybody to be able to step up and fill in those roles in whatever way possible. Whatever it looks like, as long as we get a win. That’s something we continue to preach every day.”

Milestone watch

Golden State’s Stephen Curry loves the 3, and San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich has said he hates the 3.

Fitting, then, that they’re both approaching No. 3 on some NBA all-time lists this week.

Popovich enters the week with 1,220 regular-season wins, one shy of matching Jerry Sloan for third-most in NBA history. When Popovich passes Sloan, only Don Nelson (1,335) and Lenny Wilkens (1,332) will be ahead of him on the list.

Curry made 10 3-pointers on Saturday night, moving him past Utah’s Kyle Korver for fourth on the NBA career list from beyond the arc; Curry has 2,277, while Korver has 2,274 entering Monday. Both are about to pass Jason Terry, whose 2,282 career 3-pointers rank No. 3 in NBA history for a few more days.

Ray Allen leads the all-time list with 2,973, and Reggie Miller is second with 2,560. At his current pace, Curry will catch Miller in about a year and Allen in about two years.

Midpoint key points

For the first time in five years, Golden State will not have the best record in the NBA at the midway mark — after 41 games.

This year, that distinction will go to Milwaukee, Toronto or Denver.

Few would have picked that to be the case three months ago.

The Bucks, at 27-11 with three games left in the first half of their schedule, are in position for their best 41-game start since opening 30-11 during the 1980-81 season.

Toronto matched a franchise best by opening 29-12 tying what it did last year, even while dealing with the coaching change from Dwane Casey to Nick Nurse, the addition of Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green, the departure of DeMar DeRozan and injuries to Jonas Valanciunias and Kyle Lowry.

The Nuggets, 26-11 so far, might end up with their best 41-game start ever. They were 29-12 in 1976-77.