The Wizards, who currently own the tiebreaker over the Hawks (2-1 season series), had six players score in double figures in Tuesday’s win led by Bradley Beal’s 28 points. Washington has won its past five games overall, the same number of wins the Knicks had all month.
January was good to the Wizards as they finished with a 12-4 record. Only the Warriors (12-2) had a better record this past month.
The defending NBA champions have now lost seven of their past 11 games after falling Monday night to the fourth-worst team in the NBA, the Mavericks. Between a developing mini drama with the front office over spending, a back injury to Kevin Love and rumors of a trade involving Carmelo Anthony, the Cavs’ distractions are playing out on the court.
Cavaliers big man Tristan Thompson, who said Sunday he’s earned every penny of his $82 million extension, didn’t attempt a shot and scored zero points while registering a minus-22 in the 104-97 loss in Dallas.
LeBron James and Kyrie Irving didn’t play well, either, going a combined 16 of 40 from the field.
Despite a poor shooting night, James was at least close to another triple-double. He finished with 29 points, nine rebounds and nine assists.
“You have to kind of pick your poison on the pick-and-roll,” Marc Gasol told The Washington Times after Porter drained six 3-pointers against the Grizzlies. “When the initial action is not played correctly and they get to the paint either with a drive or a pass, somebody has to help and you have to Cheap Jerseys Outlets pick whether to come off Bradley Beal or to come off Porter. So you pick the one guy, and he Cheap Lacrosse Jerseys got hot on 3s and got going.”