Wizards at Suns
Time is ticking away for the Washington Wizards, who seem to be playing their way out of contention for a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. The Wizards will try to keep their rapidly diminishing chances alive when they visit the Phoenix Suns in the fourth of a five-game road trip on Friday.
Washington enters play on Thursday 3 1/2 games behind the eighth-place Indiana Pacers in the Eastern Conference – with the Chicago Bulls in between – and has not helped itself with losses in four of the last five games. Two of those setbacks came against teams well out of the race, including a 120-111 loss at Sacramento on Wednesday in which the Wizards committed 20 turnovers and allowed Sacramento to shoot 56 percent from the floor. “To me, it felt like we gave up,” Washington guard Bradley Beal told reporters. “We have a great opportunity to still make the playoffs, but we’re just not hungry enough.” The Suns are returning home after dropping two straight on the road and have lost four in a row overall.
TV: 10:30 p.m. ET, CSN Mid-Atlantic (Washington), FSN Arizona (Phoenix)
ABOUT THE WIZARDS (36-39): Washington head coach Randy Wittman ripped his team for a lack of discipline on both ends of the floor after Wednesday’s loss but Beal thought it was much simpler. “Everybody’s a (grown) man,” Beal told reporters. “Either you want to play or you don’t. It’s plain and simple. Either you want to win or you don’t. If you don’t want to win, then you need to sit down.” John Wall picked up his 10th double-double in 11 games with 14 points and 13 assists in the loss but was just 4-of-16 from the floor and committed five turnovers.
ABOUT THE SUNS (20-55): Phoenix looked like it might be putting together a decent closing run with wins in three of five games before the current slide and was plagued by 22 turnovers in Wednesday’s 105-94 loss at Milwaukee. “The coaches are doing a great job of putting a great game plan out there for us,” Suns point guard Ronnie Price told the Arizona Republic. “When we execute what we go over, we have extreme success. But once we get away from that and starting doing our own thing, we get ourselves in trouble.” The starting guard tandem of Brandon Knight and Devin Booker combined for 12 of those turnovers to go along with their collective 35 points.
BUZZER BEATERS
1.Washington SF Otto Porter Jr. is averaging 14.6 points in the last 11 games to raise his season average to 11.8.
2. Suns F Mirza Teletovic (illness) sat out Wednesday and is day-to-day.
3. Beal collected 34 points, eight rebounds and five assists in a 109-106 home win over Phoenix on Dec. 4.