All posts in basketball

What the Minnesota Timberwolves lack in name recognition, they more than make up in production. Casual fans obviously know all-everything guard Anthony Edwards, the former No. 1 overall pick who remains one of the most entertaining players in the game today. But he’s by no means a one-man show.

The T’Wolves made it to the Western Conference finals last season thanks in large part to a well-constructed roster that boasts six different double-digit scorers. Pitting a stacked squad like that against the rebuilding Washington Wizards seems almost unfair.

Edwards was the main attraction in a dominant 141-115 victory over the Wizards, finishing with 35 points in just three quarters of action. At one point during the third quarter, an obnoxious fan sitting courtside yelled out to Edwards, encouraging him to finish the game with at least 40 points. The 24-year-old smiled and replied, “Naw. We don’t need 40 from me tonight.”

Timberwolves forward Julius Randle scored 22 points and veteran center Rudy Gobert controlled the paint with 18 points, 14 rebounds and four blocks for Minnesota. Wizards guard CJ McCollum scored 20 points on a night when the home team was overwhelmed from the jump. With many starters rested down the stretch, the Timberwolves still maintained control over the youthful lineup of the Wizards, leading by as much as 37 in the fourth quarter. Washington’s 19 turnovers during the game clearly didn’t help matters.

Gobert has earned NBA Defensive Player of the Year honors four times in his career and has earned his place on four All-NBA teams. Wizards center Alex Sarr — averaging 17.2 points, 7.8 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 2.3 blocks per game this season — finished with just seven points, three rebounds, four assists and zero blocked shots. The discrepancy in paint production between the two big men summed up the evening for both franchises.

More than in any other sport in this country, conventional wisdom suggests the way to win an NBA championship is to load a roster with as many big-name superstars as possible. Without a “big three,” it’s nearly impossible to take home the Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy. That said, not all super teams are created equally.

Phoenix Suns owner hoped to make a splash by building a roster around Kevin Durant, Bradley Beal and Devin Booker. On paper, that talented trio checks a lot of boxes. On the court though, they failed to come anywhere close to expectations and were the league’s most expensive non-playoff team one year ago. Durant was shipped to the Houston Rockets in exchange for Dillon Brooks, Jalen Green, the No. 10 pick and five second-round picks. The franchise also agreed to a contract buyout with Beal, allowing them to move on from the injury prone guard.

This season, few pundits gave the Suns much of a chance in the stacked Western Conference. After subtracting Durant and Beal, it seemed to be conventional wisdom that the rest of the roster lacked the firepower to be an actual contender, as presently constructed. This, as they say, is why they play the games.

Phoenix continues to be one of the biggest surprises of the season, looking much more formidable as everything revolves around Booker. The Washington Wizards, on the other hand, continue to be exactly what everyone expected — a young and inexperienced bunch who are still learning what it takes to win consistently.

Brooks scored 26 points and Booker added 22 as the Suns earned their fourth win in a row by defeating the Wizards, 115-101. For Washington, rookie Tre Johnson scored a career-high 24 points, while converting all five three-point attempts. CJ McCollum chipped in 17 points in the loss.

Obi Toppin scored 31 points and 10 grabbed rebounds, both season highs, to lead the Indiana Pacers to a 134-130 overtime win against the Washington Wizards.

The Pacers trailed by 19 points during the third quarter but mounted a comeback by outscoring the Wizards 36-23 during the fourth quarter. Bennedict Mathurin scored 28 points — including 11 in the fourth quarter — and Tyrese Haliburton added 20 points to complete the Pacers’ rally.

Jordan Poole led the way for Washington with 42 points, and nearly won the game for the home team, but his buzzer-beating attempt at the end of regulation missed the mark. Corey Kispert chipped in with 21 points, but it wasn’t enough to stop the Wizards’ 11-game home losing streak.

Indiana seized control of the game on a Toppin three-pointer with 1:26 left in overtime that increased their lead to nine points, which was too much for the Wizards to overcome. The Pacers head into the All-Star break in fourth place in the Eastern Conference with a 30-23 record. The Wizards, meanwhile, having lost four games in a row and are now a league-worst 9-45 on the season.

In injury news, Pacers center Myles Turner missed his third straight game with a cervical strain, while Wizards rookie Alex Sarr returned from an eight-game absence due to a left ankle sprain to score nine points on 3-of-13 shooting, with six rebounds, four assists and two blocks.

Although Sarr returned to action, Washington finished the game without two of his teammates, after Malcolm Brogdon (left ankle sprain) and Justin Champagnie (post-traumatic headache) exited the game due to injury.

Veterans Khris Middleton and Marcus Smart, who were acquired at the trade deadline from Milwaukee and Memphis, respectfully, have yet to make their debut for Washington.

The Dallas Mavericks are championship contenders in “win now” mode. The Washington Wizards, to put it kindly, are not. In related news, Luka Doncic posted a triple-double and Kyrie Irving added 25 as Dallas soundly defeated the Wizards, 137-101.

Washington, which is in the early stages of a lengthy rebuild, entered the contest with 15 consecutive losses and limited firepower, thanks to injuries to forwards Kyle Kuzma and Corey Kispert. After completing a winless November, the Wizards remain content to take their lumps now while dedicating extended minutes to the kids on the roster in hopes of brighter days ahead. While that’s a smart strategy long term, it makes for some ugly struggles in the interim.

Seven Dallas players finished with double digits in points, including Doncic (21 points, 10 assists and 10 rebounds) as the Mavericks toyed with the Wizards for most of the night. The Mavericks, who have now won six straight games, shot 53 percent from the field and 52 percent from three-point range, while also dominating the boards (58 to 39) and blocked shots (12 to 3).

Forward Marvin Bagley III and guard Malcolm Brogdon each scored 16 points for Washington, which drops to an NBA-worst 2-18 record after the loss. For the second year in a row, the Wizards have a 16-game losing skid. Washington now needs to defeat the 2023 NBA champions Denver Nuggets in order to avoid setting the franchise’s new record for futility, with a 17th consecutive loss.

Anyone who stumbles upon tickets to a Washington Wizards game should be forewarned — the team is in the infancy stage of a sorely needed rebuild. Gone are the days of John Wall and Bradley Beal. Now, any hope of sustained success for one of the NBA’s most frustrating franchises rests at the feet of a new dynamic duo, Michael Winger and Will Dawkins.

Moving on from a well-established backcourt pairing to a front office tag team makes for a difficult transition and certainly necessitates a step back in the short term, but the franchise hasn’t won consistently in more than 40 years. There’s no shame in utilizing a long-term vision while attempting to build the Wizards into a legitimate contender, even if there will be obvious growing pains along the way.

Maybe, if the new regime is fortunate enough, Washington will eventually land a player as impactful as Victor Wembanyama, who instantly changed the outlook of the San Antonio Spurs. Until then, the Wizards need to stockpile young assets, like 19-year-old rookie Bilal Coulibaly, and hope some of them pan out.

Wembanyama was excited to visit the nation’s capital, where he could reunite with Coulibaly, his close friend and former Metropolitans 92 teammate. Starting as 13-year-olds, Wembanyama and Coulibaly played together on various French pro teams before both were ultimately selected in the top seven picks of the 2023 NBA Draft. That explains why this matchup was circled on both players’ calendars when the schedule was released.

Less than three weeks after his 20th birthday, Wembanyama had nine of his game-high 24 points and two of his six blocked shots in the fourth quarter as the Spurs rallied from 12 down for a 131-127 win. Coulibaly finished the game with an efficient 14 points on six of nine shooting in 23 minutes.

Spurs coach Gregg Popovich continues to exercise extreme caution with his franchise cornerstone, sitting him out regularly to limit wear and tear. The approach seems to be working, as the 7-foot-4 Frenchman leads the Spurs in scoring (19.8 points per game), rebounding (10.1) and blocked shots (a league-leading 3.1). If Coulibaly eventually posts half of those stats, it would be a welcome boost to Washington’s future outlook.

After a promising start to the season, the Washington Wizards are in a free fall. Long gone are the feel-good days of the season, which saw Wes Unseld Jr.’s squad win 10 of the first 13 games on the schedule.

Since then, the Wizards have struggled to do much of anything right, thanks to in-fighting, an absence of defense and an overall lack of talent. Compounding matters is the fact that Washington’s best player, shooting guard Bradley Beal, is currently dealing with a wrist injury and his supporting cast isn’t exactly built to overcome anything resembling adversity.

In related news, the Wizards hosted the Miami Heat in their final game before the NBA trade deadline … and promptly got blown out.

Jimmy Butler, Kyle Lowry and friends started fast and put this one to bed early, scoring 39 points in the first quarter while cruising to a stress-free 121-100 victory. The loss was Washington’s eighth in nine games and dropped the team’s record to 6-12 during 2022.

Rookie Corey Kispert scored 20 points in 25 minutes of action, while nearly everyone else who took to the court for the home team had a night to forget. That fact was driven home during the fourth quarter, as Miami coach Erik Spoelstra rested his starters while Heat fans loudly and proudly took over Capital One Arena.

Now Wizards general manager Tommy Sheppard is faced with the unenviable task of trying to figure out where to go from here. Does he trade Beal or sign him to a massive-contract extension? Does he try to swing big and add an established veteran or two, or blow it all up and embrace a rebuild?

It’s safe to say Sheppard has plenty to think about over the next few days.