wizards 89 nets 74
2/08/2013 - Verizon Center, Washington, DC
ESPN Boxscore
NBA.com Game Highlights


(Ned Dishman/Getty Images)

                                                AT                        

Friday, February 8th, 2013
7:00 PM ET
TV: Comcast SportsNet HD
Steve Buckhantz and Phil Chenier  
Radio: 106.7 FM/1500 AM
Dave Johnson and Glenn Consor

Praise whatever (if any) deity you follow - Bradley Beal is ready to play again!

As reported by Gene Wang of the Washington Post, main man is set to return to the lineup tonight against the Brooklyn Nets after missing the last five games with a wrist injury that occurred back on January 18 in Denver. Although Beal initially played through the discomfort for a few games, he noticeably struggled, which resulted in decreased minutes and fourth quarter bench rests, before he was finally shelved.

Up until the wrist sprain, Beal had been on a New Year's surge, averaging 19 points a game and shooting a lights-out 60 percent on 43 3-point attempts in the first nine games of January.

Beal’s game was naturally suspect at the start of the season, not only because of raw inexperience, but also because of the lack of support from an established point guard. However, it wasn’t long before he found some comfort, and gradual improvement started to show in his aggression toward the rim, his ability to find open space for high percentage jumpers, and his willing defense. His uprise earned him the NBA’s Eastern Conference Rookie of the Month award for both December and January.

With the eventual return of John Wall to the lineup, things only seemed to get better as the duo showed plenty flashes of what the future may hold for this promising Wizards backcourt.

Without Beal in the lineup, the Wizards offense has clearly lacked a go-to scorer and has been scrapping for ways to get the ball in the basket. Thankfully, with the direction of John Wall, combined with the consistency of Martell Webster and the recent emergence of Emeka Okafor, the Wizards have been able to remain somewhat competitive in Beal’s absence, going 2-3 in the five games he has missed.

Beal’s return should now solidify the health of just about all the players, save for Trevor Booker and Cartier Martin. The Wizards will look to go 3 for 3 in their current home stretch tonight, then travel to Milwaukee and Detroit before heading into the All-Star break.

The generation of social media we live in today has bridged many connections between fans and the rest of the sports world, granting in-depth access to their favorite teams and athletes with a simple click of a button. The type of access our daddys would have only dreamed of attaining. So this year, WE are proud to offer Wizards fans a segment that will reveal the week’s top three Wizards-related tweets, Facebook statuses, Instagram uploads, perhaps an AIM away message even. Whether it’s posted by a Wizard or about a Wizard, we’ll be sure to find it, and expose it. Saam Bozorgmehr (@DJ_Saam) continues our weekly tradition with his own findings and posts..

It's been a very up and down couple of weeks for this suddenly, but not so unexpected, resurgent Wizards unit. After dropping four in a row last week, three of which were on the road, the Wiz Kids have responded by winning their last two games. Both of which were against division leaders, again. *Yawn*

Maybe sooner or later the headlines won't necessarily be about the other teams choking games away to the Wizards. Perhaps they will be about how the Wizards completely outplayed and outclassed their supposed "superior" opponents in every phase of the game. Who knows, we might even finally get an ESPN game. How is it that seemingly every team gets at least or two nationally televised games on the four letter network except the Wizards? But that's another topic for another day.

In any case, moving forward: it's been a pretty exciting week at Verizon Center for the home team. Besides the wins and great fundamental basketball and superior play, they also earned themselves a shout out on CSN from Magic Johnson himself. Magic was in town on Wednesday to give a speech at Howard University and later that night, found himself courtside with Ted Leonsis as they watched the Wizards beat the Knicks...

(Photo by Rocky Widner)

Following the Wizards' defeat of the New York Knicks on Wednesday night, Carmelo Anthony was asked a few Wizards-related questions regarding the performance of John Wall as well as his thoughts on his former Denver Nuggets teammate and current Wiz big man Nene.

Melo was particularly vocal about the toughness in defending Wall's speed in transition and the problems he creates when he gets the ball out to the wings for 3-point attempts. The Wizards shot 11-20 from behind the arc, with a number of those made baskets coming courtesy of Wall dish-outs.

As for Nene, we all remember he and Melo shared seven seasons together as members of the Nuggets. Melo, who was in Denver when Nene suffered through his repetitive foot injuries as well as his battle against a testicular tumor, was pleased about the progress Nene has made and his establishment on a young Wizards team.

Highlights of the post-game interview here....

Lineage

1 And unto Strickland was born Whitney: and Whitney begat Arenas: and Arenas would spin fortune for the town, as rich as the silk of the kings of Montgomery and Columbialal.

2 And the town would continue to rejoice, eating and getting fat from the fish of the sea and the fowl of the air. 

3 But Arenas lay weapons – many quivers and bows – at the waist of Crittenton: and Arenas was banished for eight hundred and fifteen years.

Growth

⁴ And Arenas, before fleeing, begat Wall, and it was good.  And Wall would be nourished by the wisdom of Arenas, which was as rich as the meat of forty and two thousand fatlings, and the milk of seven and two thousand cows.

⁵ And Wall would grow lean and strong and scurry through the town, sandals dusty, with a leather ball in his hands.

⁶ And the town would watch Wall scurry from their houses.  And Wall would move with such force that their bowls of oil would tip over on their threshing floors.

(Ned Dishman/ Getty Images)

So how about those mighty mighty New York Knicks, huh? Riding a five game win streak; having defeated the Wizards 10 straight times going into the contest...man, their fans probably thought this one was in the books, right?

That's probably why 10,000 of them poured into the Verizon Center last night, morphing the stadium into MSG 2.0.

But that's also what made it sweeter to watch them mope towards the arena exits with gloom on their faces and lumps in their throats.

The Wizards defied odds once again last night after taking down yet another NBA powerhouse. Yep, the mass grave of championship contenders taken down by the Wiz Kids continues to pile after last night, with the Knicks being dumped right next to the Thunder, Heat and Bulls.

This team is gradually defining themselves with their confidence, perseverance and resilience. Let’s be honest, if this team was as mentally unstable as it had been prior to this season, there’s no way they “maintain”, as coach Wittman put it, against a talented team like the Knicks. There’s no way they overcome the overwhelming cheers of opposing bandwagon fans, with chants of “MVP” blaring through the arena every time Melo is at the line. Face it, there’s no way they WIN.

But thanks to guys like Martell Webster and John Wall, there’s no worry about that. While Wall continues to prove every ounce of his precious worth since returning from injury, Webster continues to solidify himself as last summer’s top free agent pickup. The two were simply brilliant down the stretch and helped the Wizards surge for 36 points in the final quarter. Wall scored nine of his 21 points, along with three assists, and Webster nailed a late 3-pointer (his fifth of the game) that essentially sealed the game and forced Knicks fans out of their seats before the final buzzer.

And how about a little love for Trevor Ariza and Chris Singleton? Singleton, who for most of the season had been in the doghouse (currently occupied by Jordan Crawford), was just as magnificent as Wall and Webster in that final quarter, scoring nine of his 10 points along with some very efficient defense.  Ariza also scored nine points in the fourth, including a 4-point play at the beginning of the quarter that steered the Wizards back into the lead..for good.

Check out some post-game interviews with Wall and Webster...

"We're competing. We're competing against every team we play, no matter who it is." -- John Wall

"Now that we're clicking and got both our units healthy, we're playing full throttle." -- Martell Webster

wizards 106 knicks 96
2/06/2013 - Verizon Center, Washington, DC
ESPN Boxscore
NBA.com Game Highlights


(Ned Dishman/Getty Images)

                         AT                        

Wednesday, February 6th, 2013
7:00 PM ET
TV: Comcast SportsNet HD
Steve Buckhantz and Phil Chenier  
Radio: 106.7 FM/1500 AM
Dave Johnson and Glenn Consor

(Jim Gund/SI)

It’s almost getting redundant to speak about draft picks that were traded away by the Washington Wizards and ultimately became more successful than arguably any other player that has actually played for the franchise; but in tonight’s matchup versus the New York Knicks, it would be a crime to not take a look at Rasheed Wallace.

Drafted out of UNC in 1995 by the Washington Bullets, Wallace played 65 games and had a monumental (pun intended) season that saw Chris Webber go down for most of the season. He was selected to the rookie team during the ’95-’96 All Star Weekend. He averaged ten points a game and just under five rebounds. Even more impressive was the fact that a 6'11 power forward sank the three-ball pretty well, averaging at least one per game and shooting the deep ball at 33%.

Not too shabby.