Bucks-Wizards Preview

By JORDAN GARRETSON
Posted Nov 08 2012 5:39PM

A matchup between the Milwaukee Bucks and Washington Wizards would normally see two of the league's most promising young point guards go head-to-head in John Wall and Brandon Jennings.

Instead, two of the biggest surprises in the frontcourt could be in the spotlight in Friday night's matchup in the nation's capital.

Wall still hasn't played because of a stress injury in his right knee and currently has no target date for his season debut. Washington is 0-3 without him, including a 100-94 overtime loss at Boston on Wednesday - four days after an 89-86 home loss to the Celtics.

Both defeats to the perennial Eastern Conference contender were close, but represented missed opportunities.

"We know that the Celtics are a great team and we know that we have the potential to be a great team as well," rookie Bradley Beal told the team's official website.

"We are not going to back down from anybody," added the No. 3 overall pick, who had 16 points Wednesday after combining for 10 in his first two games. "We are just going to keep competing."

Milwaukee (2-1) missed out on a chance at its first 3-0 start since 2005 with a 108-90 loss at Memphis on Wednesday.

Jennings, the reigning Eastern Conference Player of the Week, struggled, scoring 19 on 6 of 20 shooting. Backcourt mate Monta Ellis didn't provide much help either, shooting 5 of 18 to score 15.

The Bucks shot 38.5 percent, no match for a Grizzlies team that hit 53.0 percent of its shots.

"We had a bad shooting night," said Jennings, who averaged 17.0 points and 13.0 assists in the first two games. "We missed a lot of layups, especially myself. They were layups that I usually make."

Milwaukee's frontcourt hasn't done much with the exception of the surprising Larry Sanders. The third-year forward is averaging 12.3 points and 8.3 rebounds after averaging 3.6 points and 3.1 boards last season. His scoring improvement of 8.7 points per game is fifth-best in the NBA for those that have played in at least half of their team's games since the start of last season.

"I think my teammates are trusting me out there, and I trust them," the 6-foot-11 Sanders told the Bucks' official website. "It feels good to get opportunities. We just have to keep working together and getting the continuity right."

Washington has its own frontcourt surprise in 6-foot-9 Kevin Seraphin, who is averaging team highs of 17.5 points and 8.0 rebounds in his third year. He averaged 7.9 points and 4.9 boards last season, and his scoring improvement of 9.6 points ranks third-best.

Despite the strong play from Seraphin, Washington has been plagued by slow starts - a big reason for its early struggles. The Wizards have been outscored by an average of 8.7 points in the first quarter. They did erase an 11-point, fourth-quarter deficit Wednesday, but shot 3 of 10 in the overtime period.

"We gotta learn to play down the stretch," coach Randy Wittman said. "It's a learning process."

Washington's Jordan Crawford is averaging 21.8 points in six career games against Milwaukee - his highest average against any East team - but he sprained his ankle Saturday and wasn't at full strength Wednesday, scoring two points in 15 minutes.

Although Crawford has been on top of his game against the Bucks, it hasn't led to many victories for the Wizards, with Milwaukee winning seven of the last nine meetings.

Ellis, Bucks drop Wizards to 0-4 with 101-91 win

By HOWARD FENDRICH
Posted Nov 09 2012 10:55PM

WASHINGTON (AP) Rookie Bradley Beal insists his winless Washington Wizards are not getting discouraged.

Not yet, anyway.

"That's one thing that we most definitely try to avoid," the No. 3 overall pick in the June draft said. "I mean, once we get that, we hang our heads low, then we come out sluggish, and then teams really start beating us. And then we just get into the `I don't care anymore' mode."

Even a 12-0 head start against the Milwaukee Bucks and Beal's additional aggressiveness - 22 points plus a flagrant foul that got him ejected in the final minute - were not enough for the Wizards to avoid falling to 0-4.

Monta Ellis scored 22 points, and the Bucks quickly erased an early deficit before pulling away with a 13-point run bridging the third and fourth quarters to beat the Wizards 101-91 on Friday night, when Milwaukee's Brandon Jennings also was sent to the locker room for shoving Beal.

With the outcome no longer in doubt, Beal knocked Ellis to the court on a breakaway. As Beal leaned over to offer Ellis a hand to help him up, Jennings ran up and pushed Beal.

"Who knows what their coach told them to do? `Fight through every play.' It ended up in a bad situation," Ellis said.

Jennings' take? "I was just trying to protect my teammate," he said. "I didn't think I was going to get kicked out for it."

And Beal's? "It was just a foul."

When he was asked about his first back-to-back set of NBA games, with Washington playing at the Indiana Pacers on Saturday, Beal smiled and said: "If I play tomorrow."

His club is one of only two in the 30-franchise league that will enter the weekend without a victory. The other? The Detroit Pistons are 0-6 after a 105-94 loss at Oklahoma City on Friday.

"We just need a win. We need a win," said A.J. Price, who is starting at point guard for Washington while John Wall sits out with a knee injury. "We need a win as much as possible."

Washington is without its top two players, Wall - the No. 1 overall pick in the 2010 draft - and center Nene. Wall is expected to be sidelined until next month, while there is no definitive timetable for Nene's return from a foot problem.

The Bucks, meanwhile, avoided what coach Scott Skiles said would have been a "bad loss" and improved to 3-1. They were coming off their first defeat, against Memphis on Wednesday.

At the outset Friday, Milwaukee was as bad as can be, and Washington broke out to a 12-0 lead, thanks in part to an efficient fast break that produced eight points. The Bucks, meanwhile, missed their first five shots and began the game 1 for 8, the only basket a 3-pointer by Tobias Harris.

"We've got to get to the bottom of why we start games so sluggish," Skiles said.

Eventually, Milwaukee got going, led by as many as 11 points in the second quarter and 56-47 at halftime, paced by Ilyasova with 11 points, and Ellis and Mike Dunleavy with 10 apiece.

The Wizards used a 14-2 stretch to lead 63-62 midway through the third quarter. The game was tied entering the final 10 seconds of that period, but Ekpe Udoh's three-point play gave Milwaukee a 75-72 edge entering the fourth.

That began a segment in which Udoh and Beno Udrih scored 11 consecutive points, before Milwaukee's Larry Sanders hit a hook shot for an 85-72 lead.

"We were on 72, it felt like, for eternity," Washington coach Randy Wittman said, then lamented that only his starters or his reserves - but not both sets of players - play well each game.

"We need everybody," Wittman said. "We're not good enough right now to afford off-nights by a group and survive it."

Notes: Washington's Trevor Ariza (15) and Emeka Okafor (11) combined for 26 points, matching their output from the team's first three games. ... The Wizards started last season 0-8 and eventually fired coach Flip Saunders when they were an NBA-worst 2-15. ... Bucks F Drew Gooden was inactive. ... Milwaukee began a stretch of three games in four days. It hosts Boston on Saturday night, then heads to Philadelphia on Monday.

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Follow Howard Fendrich on Twitter at http://twitter.com/HowardFendrich

Notebook: Bucks 101, Wizards 91

Rich Dubroff, For NBA.com
Posted Sat Nov 10, 2012 12:36 AM - Updated Sat Nov 10, 2012 12:36 AM

THE FACTS: Monta Ellis had 22 points, whie Mike Dunleavy and Larry Sanders added 13 each as the Milwaukee Bucks kept the Washington Wizards winless with a 101-91 win on Friday night.

The Bucks (3-1) took the lead on Ekbe Udoh's three-point play with 0.7 seconds left in the third quarter. Milwaukee scored the first 10 points of the fourth quarter to take an 85-72 lead with 7:32 to play.

Bradley Beal, who led Washington (0-4) with 22 points, was ejected along with the Bucks' Brandon Jennings when the two got into a pushing match with 23.7 seconds to play.

QUOTABLE: "That's what teammates are supposed to do. That was a great job. That's what we've got to do. We've got to make our mark. When somebody fouls us like that, we've got to react."

-- Ellis on Jennings coming to his defense after Beal fouled him.

THE STAT: The Wizards are now 0-4 after they began last season 0-8.

TURNING POINT: After the Wizards fell behind by 13 in the first 4 1/2 minutes of the fourth quarter, they could not get within five points again.

QUOTABLE II: "I don't know what it was tonight. We were on 72 ... it felt like eternity."

--Washington coach Randy Wittman on his team's cold streak.

HOT: Udoh and Beno Udrih combined for 11 straight points in the Bucks' 13-point run.

NOT: The Wizards missed 12 of their 16 shots from the field in the fourth quarter..

GOOD MOVE: Milwaukee coach Scott Skiles kept Ersan Ilyasova on the bench after he cooled off. Ilyasova had all 11 of his points in the first quarter, and didn't play at all in the fourth quarter.

BAD MOVE: Beal elbowing, then shoving his hip into Ellis as he drove for the basket with Washington tailing by nine with 23.7 seconds left. Beal went to help Ellis up, and Jennings shoved him. Both were ejected and will likely be suspended for a game.

NOTABLE: Milwaukee veteran forward Drew Gooden was inactive for what he said was the first time in his career on Friday. He's yet to play this season.

NEXT: Bucks: Saturday vs. Celtics, Monday @ Sixers, Wednesday vs. Pacers

Wizards: Saturday @ Pacers, Tuesday @ Bobcats, Wednesday @ Mavericks

• Bucks: Gooden, Mbah a Moute
• Wizards: Nene, Wall

• Bucks: Jennings
• Wizards: --

• Lead Changes: 9
• Times Tied: 7

• Arena: Verizon Center, Washington, DC
• Officials: #24 Mike Callahan, #40 Leon Wood, #74 Curtis Blair
• Attendance: 14531
• Duration: 2:10