Clippers at Wizards
THE STORY: The Clippers begin a six-game trip as Los Angeles hosts the Grammy Awards, and they welcomed a newcomer Friday. The Clippers signed veteran forward Kenyon Martin to a one-year, $2.5 million deal. Martin, 34, who had played briefly this season in China, is expected to join the team in Orlando. Martin has a career average of 13.5 points and 7.2 rebounds. “He's a pro and I think he's going to fit in perfect for us,” said coach Vinny Del Negro, adding Martin might rest a bit before playing. The Clippers, who saw their four-game winning streak come to a thud in a 112-91 loss to Denver on Thursday, catch a breather themselves in opening the trip at Washington on Saturday night. The Wizards fell to 1-10 on the road in a 106-89 loss at Toronto on Friday. Pick a category and the Wizards lost it against the Raptors. They were outrebounded 61-37, lost bench scoring (63-35), points in the paint (68-38) and second chance points (28-13). “You have to tip your hats to Toronto. They outplayed us in every phase of the game,” Wizards coach Randy Wittman said. “We’ve been playing at a pretty good, high level, but tonight wasn’t it.”
TV: 7 p.m. ET, Prime Ticket (Clippers), CS Washington (Wizards).
ABOUT THE CLIPPERS (13-7): Blake Griffin, who won the NBA All-Star Slam Dunk contest last year by leaping over the hood of a car on his winning dunk, said he was not sure if he would enter this year’s dunk contest. Griffin was more adamant about the Clippers’ upcoming trip. “Win them all. That is our goal,” Griffin said. Griffin recorded his first triple-double with 33 points, 17 rebounds and 10 assists in a 127-119 double-overtime victory last March against the Wizards.
ABOUT THE WIZARDS (4-19): The Wizards were still trying to wrap their heads around the lackluster effort against a Toronto team missing Andrea Bargnani, its best player. “I didn’t anticipate this kind of effort,” said JaVale McGee. “But we’ve got to get better and we are getting better. We can’t fault ourselves for one game.” Nick Young, who scored 21 points against Toronto despite missing 10 of 17 shots, has averaged 20.8 in his last four games.
BUZZER BEATERS:
1. Washington’s Rashard Lewis is six points shy of 15,000 for his career.
2. Griffin averaged 29.5 points in two games against the Wizards last season.
3. McGee and Los Angeles’ DeAndre Jordan are tied for first in the NBA with three blocks per game.