Wizards at Heat
The Washington Wizards don't seem to need John Wall to find the win column with the way Bradley Beal and Tomas Satoransky are steeping up to fill the hole left by the All-Star point guard. The Wizards will try to make it three straight wins without Wall when they begin a three-game road trip by visiting the Miami Heat on Friday.
Washington dropped a 101-92 decision against Chicago last Friday after it was announced that Wall would need season-ending surgery on his heel but bounced back to knock off Charlotte and Atlanta with several players picking up their respective levels of performance. "I feel like I have more of a responsibility," Beal told reporters after scoring a team-high 24 points in Wednesday's 114-98 win over Atlanta. "I definitely have an opportunity to be able to show that I can carry the team. Or at least sustain where we are and if not do better, get us to the playoffs. That's definitely my biggest and main goal because everybody roots us out. With John being out, that's just even more motivation for me: 'Okay, can I lead this team to the playoffs?'" The Heat are operating without an All-Star point guard as well with Goran Dragic (knee) out until mid-February but come in hot with wins in seven of the last nine games as small forward Justise Winslow acts as the point guard for an offense with several weapons. "It's not a criticism for our team to say one of our biggest strengths was our depth and versatility," Miami coach Erik Spoelstra told reporters. "We should be a team with seven or eight guys in double figures. ... It takes a mature, emotionally stable team to be able to understand that."
TV: 8 p.m. ET, NBCS Washington, FS Sun (Miami)
ABOUT THE WIZARDS (15-23): Satoransky showed off all of his talents in Wednesday's win while collecting 14 points on 5-of-10 shooting, a career-high 11 rebounds, seven assists and a pair of steals. "(Satoransky is) about winning. He's a winner," Washington coach Scott Brooks told reporters. "He'll be the first to tell you that he only focuses on helping the team win. He'd love to have three more assists tonight -- he probably won't tell you that -- to get the triple-double. He just plays hard. You just love the way he plays, he gives you great effort. He just makes the right reads. He has a pure heart, and just he wants to do the right thing. He's a great teammate who plays hard every night." Satoransky is averaging 17 points and 6.5 assists while totaling two turnovers in the last two games.
ABOUT THE HEAT (18-18): Miami shooting guard Dion Waiters missed more than a year following ankle surgery but made his return on Wednesday and contributed seven points in 11 minutes off the bench. The 27-year-old averaged 14.3 points in 30 games before going down last season and adds another scoring threat to a team that entered play on Thursday 26th in the league in scoring average (106.9 points). "I've been working my (butt) off," Waiters told reporters. "Coming into it, I was ready. If you think negative thoughts, you get a negative outcome. My whole intention was stay positive, make the shot, take the shot. At the end of the day, you have to bet on yourself. I went in with a great sense of urgency to play the game, have fun. I was mentally just ready. Being able to step between the lines with my brothers, that was the best thing about it."
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Wizards F Markieff Morris (neck) is expected to miss at least six weeks of action.
2. Heat SG Josh Richardson knocked down at least two 3-pointers in each of his last 12 games.
3. The road team took each of the first two meetings, with Washington grabbing a 116-110 victory at Miami on Nov. 10.