August 14, 2022

Washington Wizards Game Wrap 39: Wizards Top Trail Blazers 98-95 on Crawford’s Buzzer Beater

January 22, 2013 by

If you’re a Washington Wizards (9-30) fan who has held on throughout the course of the season thus far, Monday night’s 98-95 win over the Portland Trail Blazers (20-21) was your reward.

Jordan Crawford’s buzzer-beating 3-pointer well after midnight on the east coast proved enough to send Wizards fans to bed with a smile on their faces. So, too, was the somewhat clumsy – but hard-earned – celebration that commenced afterwards on the court.

But, while Crawford – who posted 13 points and one rebound in Portland – was undoubtedly the hero of the game, the true promise for celebrations to come rests not in the final seconds of Monday’s contest, but in the fact that the Wizards have learned to spread the wealth and move the ball.

In addition to Crawford, Martell Webster and Nene each tallied 24 points apiece. Nene added nine rebounds and five assists, and Webster another four rebounds and six assists. Emeka Okafor rounded out the double-digit crew with his eighth double-double of the season – which consisted of 13 points and 13 rebounds. Perhaps more telling was the fact that the Wizards added Monday’s win to the books without many offensive contributions from John Wall – who added just six points – and Bradley Beal – who posted just two. [Read more…]

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Washington Wizards Wrap Game 13: Wizards end season long nightmare with win over Blazers

November 28, 2012 by

Who says 13 is not a lucky number? For the Washington Wizards, it is now their favorite number. The team finally pulled out their first win of year in game number 13 by hanging on for a hard fought 84-82 win over the Portland Trail Blazers.

Familiar writing was on the wall for the Wizards as time was winding down in the fourth. Up by as much as 15 in the quarter, Washington found themselves suddenly tied with Portland after the Wizards went ice cold from the field. With 2:27 left in the game, the Wizards even found themselves down one to a scrappy Portland team who lit up the field for much of the fourth quarter. Almost two minutes later, it was offseason acquisition Emeka Okafor shooting two free throws, hitting two and giving Washington a lead they would not relinquish.

After a dicey moment where the Trail Blazers very nearly scored on a last millisecond inbounds pass, Chris Singleton came down with the defensive rebound to seal the Wizards’ first victory of the season.

It was starting to look like Washington was going to really challenge the New Jersey, now Brooklyn, Nets for the record for worst start in NBA history. With the team staring 0-13 in the face and a tough recent stretch featuring the New York Knicks and Miami Heat in back-to-back games coming up, Wednesday’s game against the Trail Blazers was one of their last legitimate shots to get a win.

The game was tied at halftime with both teams putting down 43-points. Neither team shot well in the first half and really for the game. Portland only hit 35-percent of their shots and missed six free throws, while Washington shot 44-percent from the field, but only missed two from the line, which ended up being the difference.

Jordan Crawford was a force for the Wizards and was their main scoring threat, hitting seven buckets for 19 points and hit all four of his free throws. Pair his double-digit points with Trevor Ariza’s 14 and the Wizards suddenly had their go-to scorers for the evening. Of note was Kevin Seraphin who had another double-double with 10 points and 10 boards, but was ineffective late missing some easy buckets that could have really put the game away sooner.

Washington got a lot of support off the bench in its win, while Portland leaned heavily on its starters. With only four total points coming of the bench, it was Nicolas Batum and Damian Lillard who lead the Trail Blazers in scoring with a combined 40 points. Like Seraphin, J.J. Hickson also had a double-double with 15 points and 19 boards, 10 of them on the defensive side of the ball.

Now sitting at 1-12, the Wizards can start to focus on getting healthy and getting a sense of flow on the court instead of just getting their fist win. John Wall did warmups before the game with a knee brace and looks closer to coming back, but is not quite ready yet. In terms of finding their flow, it might be hard with their next two games against two of the best teams in the Eastern Conference in the Knicks and Heat.

For now though, Washington can celebrate, as their season long slump is over, history will not be made and the Wizards finally pulled out a win.

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Wizards continue winning ways on western swing, beat Portland 124-109

February 15, 2012 by

After a resounding win in Detroit on Sunday, the Washington Wizards travelled to face the Portland TrailBlazers in the second contest of a five-game road trip. They won their second game in a row, defeating the TrailBlazers, 124-109.

It is the first time that the Washington squad has won in Portland since 2005.

On Sunday, JaVale McGee led the way fro the Wiz.  On Tuesday, a new player stepped forward – Nick Young.

Although he can be erratic times, his play overall this season has been solid and he stepped it up against the Blazers, scoring 35 points and making seven out of his eight three-point attempts.  Meanwhile, John Wall too had an impressive night, dropping 29 points with nine assists.

Off the bench, Jordan Crawford scored 22 points. JaVale McGee also contributed with 18 points and 11 rebounds.

The Blazers spent much of the night without All-Star LaMarcus Aldridge, who injured his ankle in the first quarter.

Throughout the season, the Wizards have been hurt by sloppiness and inconsistent play; however, that was not the case against the Blazers.

They showed efficiency with their shots, shooting 60 percent from the field, plus hit 9 out of 17 attempts from the three-point line (52.9 percent); in addition, the Wizards shot 82.6 percent from the free throw line.

After the game, Wizards’ coach Randy Wittman spoke about his team’s effort.

“That’s complete a game as we’ve played this year. I thought our guys were in tune. We told them this is a tough place to play. The key was our start. We moved the ball as well as we’ve moved it tonight.”

He added, “We kept the crowd out of it for the most part; when they did make a run a couple times, our guys kept their composure. We saw a lot of different things down the stretch that we haven’t seen as a young group. We had a couple miscues, but for the most part, I thought we attacked it pretty good.”

For Portland, Nicolas Batum led all scorers with 33 points, and Gerald Wallace had 25.

The Wizards held a slim 28-26 lead after the first quarter against the Blazers; however, a strong second period put them up 58-46 by halftime.

Portland tried to hang with Washington in the third period, as they came within seven points, 70-63, off a short tip-in by Marcus Camby at the seven-and-half-minute mark; however, two consecutive three-pointers by Young within twenty seconds put the Wizards up 76-63 with a little less than seven minutes remaining.

From there, it was all Wizards. They finished up the third quarter up 91-82 and ran away at the end, outscoring the Blazers, 33-27.

For the second game in a row, Washington put down the clamp and closed out their opponents.

Wittman said, “It’s a growth process. We haven’t been able to do that in the past. We’ve kind of played scared a little bit when that happened, but we’re not now. “

 He added. “You’ve got first- and second-year guys that now understand that you have to continue to attack and not worry about what the other team is doing so much.”

It has been a long struggle for the Wizards this season; however, Crawford summed up Washington’s effort on the night and how they can build momentum thanks to a successful road trip so far.

“It shows that we can definitely compete with everybody, it’s just that we have to do it every night.”

The Wizards continue their trip tonight as they face Chris Paul, high-flying Blake Griffin and the Los Angeles Clippers at the Staples Center out West.

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