(Sports Network) - The Washington Wizards embark on a three-game road trip
starting Wednesday with an appointment north at Philadelphia to take on the
76ers at the Wells Fargo Center.
The Wizards have played good basketball over the last three weeks, going 7-4
in the last 11. John Wall has been back for 10 games and is averaging 14.6
points, 6.6 assists and 2.3 rebounds per game.
Bradley Beal is constantly improving. After he won the Eastern Conference
Rookie of the Month honors for December, he is averaging 15.1 ppg in the month
of January.
The real revelation of late has been Emeka Okafor. The veteran big man is
averaging 11.8 points and 13.5 rebounds in his last six games and has pulled
down 15-plus rebounds in three of his last six.
None of it helped Monday night when the Wizards' five-game home winning streak
was snapped by the Sacramento Kings. Washington fell 96-94 when Isaiah Thomas
floated home the go-ahead bucket with just a second left on the clock.
"We know we're in a situation where we can win these games," said Wall. "We
have the talent to do it, we just didn't execute and had a couple of
misdirections and turnovers down the stretch."
Okafor was excellent with 23 points and 15 rebounds. Wall added 19 and Martell
Webster chipped in 18.
The Sixers are on the third game of an eight-game homestand. They are 1-1 thus
far after dropping a heartbreaker to the Memphis Grizzlies on Monday night,
103-100.
Rudy Gay provided the go-ahead basket for the Grizzlies with 13.3 seconds left
and Marc Gasol came over from guarding the in-bound passer to block Nick
Young's 3-pointer to tie.
"I told our guys today we're playing winning basketball right now, but we're
making losing plays," Collins said at practice on Tuesday. "Unfortunately, the
results recently here were a couple of really tough losses against really good
teams."
Evan Turner led the way for the Sixers with 27 points and seven assists.
Thaddeus Young added 23 points and seven rebounds and All-Star Jrue Holiday
had 18 points and 10 assists.
The Sixers shot 54.2 percent from the field and 44 percent from long range,
but allowed Memphis to shoot 54.8 percent from the field and 61.5 percent from
beyond the arc. The Grizzlies are not known for their 3-point prowess.
Philly was out-rebounded, 38-27, by the Grizzlies.
The Sixers, who haven't won consecutive games since late November, took three
out of four last season from the Wizards. Washington hasn't won in
Philadelphia since Jan. 5, 2010, losing four straight there.
The Sports Network