Wizards at Knicks
The Washington Wizards have managed to absorb a significant injury to their All-Star point guard and look to carry some momentum into the All-Star break when they visit the New York Knicks on Wednesday. The Wizards improved to 6-2 since John Wall had knee surgery after winning 101-90 at Chicago on Saturday, despite a woeful night for fellow All-Star Bradley Beal.
"It's not often that you can win a game on the road and our All-Star guard didn't have a good game -- 0 for 7 from 3," coach Scott Brooks told reporters before turning his attention to Tomas Satoranksy, who saved Washington with a career-high 25 points. "Tomas was on fire, played a great game, made a lot of plays for us. He's really developing. He's tough, he's competitive and he makes good plays for us." The Knicks are suffering through their longest losing streak in two years at seven in a row, the latest of which was a 108-92 setback at Philadelphia. Tim Hardaway Jr., one player the team hoped to pick things up when it lost All-Star Kristaps Porzingis for the season, continued to slump and missed all eight of his 3-point tries in the loss. "I am frustrated. Kind of in a slump right now," Hardaway told reporters. "Just got to try to shoot my way out of it. Can't harp on it. You can't keep on letting it go. I mean, it's too many games in a row now. I've got to figure it out."
TV: 7:30 p.m. ET, NBCS Washington, MSG (New York)
ABOUT THE WIZARDS (32-24): Satoransky, who made 10-of-12 shots against the Bulls to go along with six assists and two steals, also left the game early after crashing to the floor due to a hard foul with a little over two minutes remaining. The 26-year-old was bleeding from the temple and reportedly did not participate in Monday's practice, casting some doubt on his status for Wednesday. Point guard Tim Frazier broke his nose Saturday at Chicago and underwent surgery Sunday, which left Washington with just seven healthy players at practice on Monday.
ABOUT THE KNICKS (23-35): New York is 0-3 since losing Porzingis and is averaging 91.6 points during the seven-game slide. Coach Jeff Hornacek promised some revamped rotations at guard after the acquisition of Emmanuel Mudiay last week, but veteran Courtney Lee still saw 30 minutes of action against Philadelphia and scored 18 points while making 3-of-4 3-pointers. Michael Beasley stepped into the starting lineup in place of Porzingis and is averaging 19.7 points on 52.2 percent shooting and 8.3 rebounds in his last three games.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Hardaway is shooting 25.8 percent during the losing streak while making 5-of-42 3-pointers.
2. Beal was 3-for-13 from the floor in a seven-point effort versus the Bulls and he is 10-for-40 over his last two games - including 3-for-16 from 3-point range.
3. Washington has won seven in a row at Madison Square Garden and it also claimed the lone meeting this season at home on Jan. 3. behind 27 points from Beal.