TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 23 , 2021. THE WASHINGTON POST EZ M2 D5
road trip, a four-game stint that
starts Wednesday in New Orleans,
but said “we’ll see” when asked
whether he will.
“He looks great. Just having
conversations with him, he seems
like he’s eager to get out there and
do more, seems happy, in a good
place and ready to compete,” Un-
seld said.
Bertans, who sprained his left
ankle Nov. 1 at Atlanta and has not
played since, scrimmaged with the
Go-Go on Monday and will travel
with the Wizards on the road trip.
Unseld expects he will be available
to play at some point in that
stretch.
[email protected]ASSOCIATED PRESSJayson Tatum scored 30 points,
Jaylen Brown had 19 in his return
from missing eight games with an
injury and the Boston Celtics
coasted by visiting Houston, 108-
90, on Monday night, sending the
Rockets to their 15th straight loss.
Dennis Schröder added 18
points for Boston, which has won
eight of its past 11. Al Horford had
11 points and 11 rebounds. It was
Tatum’s fourth straight game with
30 or more points.
“We love what the young guys
have done and the other guys have
done in those roles, but obviously
we want to be whole,” Boston
Coach Ime Udoka said. “It’s good
to get some continuity there to see
where we’re going to be eventually
when we get healthy.”
Armoni Brooks had 17 points
for Houston (1-16). No starter
reached double-digit scoring. The
Rockets’ only win came at home
against Oklahoma City in their
second game.
Starting center Robert Wil-
liams III also returned for Boston
after being out the previous three
games with a sore left knee. He
had 15 rebounds and two points.
l SUNS 115, SPURS 111: Devin
Booker had 23 points, Deandre
Ayton had 21 points and 14 re-
bounds, and visiting Phoenix won
its 13th straight game.
Cameron Payne added 20
points off the bench for the Suns,
who had six players finish in dou-
ble figures.
San Antonio point guard De-
jounte Murray had 18 points, 11
assists and 10 rebounds for his
seventh career triple-double. But
the Spurs have lost five straight
and eight of 10 for the second-
worst start in franchise history.
San Antonio outscored Phoenix
20-10 to open the fourth quarter,
pulling within 100-95 with six
minutes remaining.
l NETS 117, CAVALIERS 112:
Kevin Durant returned to Brook-
lyn’s lineup and scored 27 points,
James Harden added 14 points
and a season-high 14 assists, andthe visiting Nets beat Cleveland.
LaMarcus Aldridge had 21
points and 11 rebounds off the
bench for the Nets, who won for
the sixth time in seven games.
Durant was back after missing
one game with a sprained right
shoulder.
Darius Garland scored 24 and
Jared Allen had 20 points and 15
rebounds for Cleveland, which has
lost four straight.
Durant (24,367) moved within
one point of tying Allen Iverson for
25th on the career scoring list.
l BUCKS 123, MAGIC 92: Jrue
Holiday scored 18 points, and Mil-
waukee opened the biggest half-
time lead in franchise history
against visiting Orlando.
The Bucks’ 77-36 lead at the
break also was the Magic’s biggest
halftime deficit ever.
Before Monday, Milwaukee’s
largest halftime lead was a 78-40
advantage over Detroit in 1978.
Milwaukee eventually built the
margin to 51, becoming the first
team to lead a game by at least 50
points this season.
l HAWKS 113, THUNDER
101: Trae Young scored 21 of his 30
points in the second half, Clint
Capela finished with 10 points and
15 rebounds, and Atlanta closed a
perfect five-game homestand by
beating Oklahoma City.
Thunder rookie Josh Giddey, a
19-year-old guard from Australia,
had 1 5 points and eight assists.
The Hawks are 8-1 at home and
1-8 on the road.
l PACERS 109, BULLS 77: Do-
mantas Sabonis scored 21 points,
Malcolm Brogdon added 16, and
visiting Indiana routed Chicago
for its second straight win.
DeMar DeRozan led the Bulls
with 18 points, while Zach LaVine
scored 17 — just the second time
this season he was held to fewer
than 20 points.
l GRIZZLIES 119, JAZZ 118:
Jaren Jackson Jr. scored a season-
high 26 points, winning a jump
ball and hitting a three-pointer in
the final seconds, to lift Memphis
over Utah in Salt Lake City.
l TIMBERWOLVES 110,
PELICANS 96: In New Orleans,
Karl-Anthony Towns had 28
points and 10 rebounds as Minne-
sota extended its winning streak
to four games.NBA ROUNDUPBoston hands Houstonits 15th straight defeatCELTICS 108,
ROCKETS 90ards in mid-October following an
extended absence for personal
reasons, and that is a key step in
his return to the court.
Asked about Hachimura’s sta-
tus, Unseld repeated a now-famil-
iar line.
“I don’t have a definitive time-
line,” he said.
The plan, for now, is to continue
nudging Hachimura along, with
Unseld and his fellow coaches re-
lying on information from the
team’s medical staff, conversa-
tions with Hachimura and the eye
test to determine when the 23-
year-old is ready to return. Unseld
said Hachimura is able to travel
with the team on its upcoming“We have to look in the mirror. I
have to look in the mirror: I got
out-coached. How do we re-
spond? How do we learn from
this? We’ve been able to skate by
getting double-digit deficits and
climbing our way back into it, and
that’s a great story, but do we
learn a lesson?”Hachimura, Bertans practice
Washington assigned Rui
Hachimura and Davis Bertans to
its G League affiliate, the Capital
City Go-Go, so they could take part
in practice Monday. Although
Hachimura did limited work, it
was the forward’s first practice
session since returning to the Wiz-its starting point guard is aggres-
sive. Dinwiddie had a huge 10-
point fourth quarter to spur a
comeback against Miami and was
highly effective in the three
games Beal missed — so much so
that the Wizards went 3-0 in
those games.
But Dinwiddie was far too qui-
et Monday, hitting 2 of 11 at-
tempts from the field — both in
the fourth quarter, both despera-
tion threes — for eight points. He
added four rebounds and three
assists.
Unseld said he wanted simply
“more” from his point guard.
“In every facet of the game, and... i t’s not just him,” Unseld said.
NBA (30.9 percent).
Still, Charlotte lit up Washing-
ton from deep Monday, hitting
48.4 percent of its attempts. Be-
yond Rozier’s eight made at-
tempts, Ball added three and Gor-
don Hayward had two.
Unseld said the Wizards
weren’t switching on defense at
the level they needed to for the
Hornets to be uncomfortable, an
issue with a lack of urgency,
awareness and effort at its root.
They also gave up too many threes
in transition — especially to Ro-
zier.Quiet night for Dinwiddie
Washington is at its best whena djust accordingly, resorting to
chucking up threes instead of
moving the ball.
“Once those plays break down,
we kind of stop and stand,” Coach
Wes Unseld Jr. said. “We have to be
comfortable continuing to keep
energy on the ball. That’s not just
one guy making a play for every-
body else.... Move. Cut. Re-space.
It takes a little bit of effort, and at
times, if you’re not getting the
payoff, you stop doing it. That’s
where we need to fight that dis-
ease of me and just say, ‘Hey, I’ve
got to do what’s best for the group
right now.’ ”
Harrell led the way with 24
points and 18 rebounds. Beal add-
ed 18 points, seven rebounds and
nine assists. Caldwell-Pope had 17
points, and Kyle Kuzma had 11
points and 13 rebounds.
Terry Rozier led the Hornets
with 32 points with eight three-
pointers, including a dagger after
Caldwell-Pope’s three. LaMelo
Ball added 28 points and 13 re-
bounds.
Here is what to know from
Monday’s game:
Three-point trouble
Something about the Hornets
makes the Wizards shrink at the
three-point line.
Washington is struggling from
three this season, entering Mon-
day’s game 25th in the league in
three-point percentage (33.2). But
Charlotte seems to bring out the
worst in the Wizards — Washing-
ton went an abysmal 9 for 36 (25
percent) from deep Monday after
making just 8 of 42 attempts (19
percent) from beyond the arc the
previous time these teams played,
a 97-87 Hornets victory Wednes-
day in Charlotte.
A nd the Hornets aren’t exactly
savants at defending the three-
point line: Heading into Monday’s
matchup they were 10th in the
league, allowing opponents to
shoot 33.2 percent from three —
the same percentage the Wizards
were converting.
Defending the perimeter has
been one of Washington’s defining
skills in this young season. The
Wizards are posting the second-
best three-point defense in the
WIZARDS FROM D1
Wizards’ comeback falls short in third loss in four games
WIZARDS’ NEXT THREEat New Orleans PelicansTomorrow 8NBCSWat Oklahoma City ThunderFriday8NBCSW Plusat Dallas MavericksSaturday8:30NBCSWRadio: WTEM (980 AM)RICKY CARIOTI/THE WASHINGTON POST
Kyle Kuzma fouls LaMelo Ball on his way to the basket in the fourth quarter. The Wizards chipped away at a 16-point deficit before losing.professional basketball15, was having it. We’re going to
protect our brother.... [The
reaction] was uncalled-for.
You’ve got a cut above your eye,
accidental; it wasn’t on purpose.
We weren’t going to allow him to
keep charging our brother like
that.”
The Lakers improved to 9-9
and snapped a three-game losing
streak by coming back to beat the
Pistons after James’s ejection.
Their frustration has been evi-
dent at times early this season;
James has missed significant
time with injuries, and Davis and
teammate Dwight Howard en-
gaged in a shoving match on the
bench during a timeout.
“To me, [the altercation is] one
of those things that can change
the momentum of your season,”
Vogel said Sunday.
[email protected]manner.”
The second-year center will
serve his suspension during the
Pistons’ games against the Mi-
ami Heat in Detroit on Tuesday
and at the Milwaukee Bucks on
Wednesday. Both James and
Stewart are in line to be available
when the Lakers host the Pistons
on Sunday.
Although James did not ad-
dress the media after Sunday’s
game, Lakers Coach Frank Vogel
said the initial blow was “unfor-
tunate” and unintentional.
“Everyone in the league knows
that [James] isn’t a dirty guy,”
Lakers forward Anthony Davis
said after Sunday’s game. “As
soon as he did it, he looked back
and told him: ‘My bad. I didn’t
try to do it.’ I don’t know what
[Stewart] was trying to do. No-
body on our team, one throughthat is deemed “unnecessary and
excessive” and triggers an auto-
matic ejection. This incident
marked just the second time that
James has been ejected and the
first time he has been suspended
during his 19-year career. The
league office deemed that James
“recklessly hit” Stewart and that
his action “initiated an on-court
altercation.” The four-time MVP
will serve his suspension when
the Lakers visit the New York
Knicks on Tuesday night.
Stewart was issued a personal
foul for his initial shove of James
and a pair of technical fouls for
unsportsmanlike actions during
the altercation, which required
his ejection. The league office
deemed Stewart “escalated an
on-court altercation by repeated-
ly and aggressively pursuing
[James] in an unsportsmanlikeThe two players briefly shoved
each other and were quickly
separated by their teammates
and the officials, but an increas-
ingly incensed Stewart twice
tried to reengage with James,
breaking free from a pack of
coaches who attempted to hold
him back.
At one point, he plowed
through four people before team-
mate Cade Cunningham could
grab him by the waist and redi-
rect him toward Detroit’s bench.
When he finally left the court,
Stewart sprinted into the tunnel,
leading security staffers and lo-
cal police to guard the entrance
near the Lakers’ bench in case he
tried to return to the floor.
James was issued a Flagrant
Foul 2, which applies to contact
JAMES FROM D1
James is s uspended for bloodying Pistons’ Stewart
NIC ANTAYA/GETTY IMAGESLakers star LeBron James was handed his f irst career suspension, for one game, following his altercation with the Pistons’ Isaiah Stewart.
Hornets 109, Wizards 103
Charlotte ............................ 2633242 6— 109
Washington ........................ 2723233 0— 103
CHARLOTTE MIN FG FT O-TAPFPTS
Bridges 41:23 3-13 0-0 1-5 216
Hayward 34:32 5-13 4-4 1-5 2416
Plumlee 22:00 4-6 1-5 0-4 369
Ball 38:1610-24 5-71-13 7128
Rozier 35:0311-19 2-2 0-2 4332
Martin 28:26 1-3 0-2 1-2 213
Oubre Jr. 22:24 3-7 0-0 0-2 147
Richards 9:21 3-4 1-2 2-3 007
McDaniels 8:35 0-2 1-2 0-0 021
TOTALS 240 40-9114-246-36 2122109
Percentages: FG .440, FT .583. 3-Point Goals: 15-31, .484
(Rozier 8-11, Ball 3-9, Hayward 2-2, Martin 1-1, Oubre Jr.
1-4, Bridges 0-4). Team Rebounds: 10. Team Turnovers:
None. Blocked Shots: 4 (Plumlee 2, Ball, Hayward).
Turnovers: 10 (Ball 6, Bridges 2, Oubre Jr., Rozier).
Steals: 11 (Ball 3, Martin 2, Rozier 2, Bridges, Hayward,
Oubre Jr., Plumlee). Technical Fouls: None.
WASHINGTON MIN FG FT O-TAPFPTS
Caldwell-Pope 28:16 4-10 7-8 2-3 1217
Kuzma 30:49 5-12 0-03-13 5311
Gafford 21:12 3-7 2-43-10 058
Beal 39:23 5-18 6-6 3-7 9218
Dinwiddie 29:52 2-11 2-2 0-4 328
Harrell 26:4810-13 4-57-18 0124
Avdija 18:58 2-5 1-2 0-4 126
Holiday 16:49 2-7 0-0 1-3 315
Kispert 16:28 1-5 0-0 1-1 012
Neto 11:25 2-5 0-0 0-2 114
TOTALS 240 36-9322-2720-65 2320103
Percentages: FG .387, FT .815. 3-Point Goals: 9-36, .250
(Caldwell-Pope 2-6, Beal 2-7, Dinwiddie 2-7, Avdija 1-3,
Holiday 1-4, Kuzma 1-4, Neto 0-2, Kispert 0-3). Team
Rebounds: 12. Team Turnovers: None. Blocked Shots: 6
(Avdija 2, Gafford 2, Beal, Kuzma). Turnovers: 18 (Beal 4,
Kuzma 4, Neto 3, Gafford 2, Harrell 2, Holiday 2, Avdija).
Steals: 6 (Caldwell-Pope 4, Beal, Holiday). Technical
Fouls: Dinwiddie, 10:51 second