Wizards manage to beat Heat
THE WASHINGTON Wizards can't beat many teams, but they beat the best: LeBron James and the Miami Heat. Perhaps inspired by the courtside presence of Redskins rookie quarterback Robert Griffin III, the Wizards doubled their victory total this season with a 105-101 win over the visiting Heat on Tuesday night, despite James' triple-double of 26 points, 13 rebounds and 11 assists.
THE WASHINGTON Wizards can't beat many teams, but they beat the best: LeBron James and the Miami Heat.
Perhaps inspired by the courtside presence of Redskins rookie quarterback Robert Griffin III, the Wizards doubled their victory total this season with a 105-101 win over the visiting Heat on Tuesday night, despite James' triple-double of 26 points, 13 rebounds and 11 assists.
Jordan Crawford led Washington with 22 points, including three free throws in the final 11 seconds, while James missed a potentially tying three-pointer with 3.9 to go.
While the reigning NBA champion Heat's six-game winning streak ended, and they fell to 12-4, the Wizards improved to 2-13. They started the season 0-12, but have won two of their last three games.
Dwyane Wade scored 24 for Miami, while Chris Bosh added 20 points and 12 rebounds. Miami made only eight of 28 three-point attempts.
Before the game, Wizards coach Randy Wittman said he had no idea when point guard John Wall will play.
Wall hasn't played at all this season for Washington. Wall, who was diagnosed with the early stages of a stress injury to his left knee cap, in late September, has yet to play this season.
In other games *
At Chicago, Paul George had 34 points and nine rebounds to lead the Indiana Pacers to an 80-76 win.
Bulls star Derrick Rose was seen shooting around at the United Center earlier in the day, but coach Tom Thibodeau remained stalwart in his preseason resolution to avoid talking about Rose's knee rehab at length.
* At Brooklyn, Kevin Durant had 32 points and six assists to lead the Oklahoma City Thunder to a 117-111 win over the Nets, who were led by Deron Williams' 33 points and seven assists.
* At Houston, Toney Douglas had a season-high 22 points and Greg Smith added a career-best 21 to lead the Rockets to a 107-105 win over the Los Angeles Lakers, who had a 13-point lead with less than 10 minutes to go.
* At Memphis, Zach Randolph had 38 points and 22 rebounds to lead the Grizzlies over the Phoenix Suns in overtime, 108-98. Randolph was 15 of 22 from the field and also recorded three blocks, two in overtime.
Noteworthy *
The New Orleans Hornets are expected to become the New Orleans Pelicans, perhaps as early as the 2013-14 season, according to a report. Yahoo! Sports, citing numerous sources, reported that the team also considered the nicknames Krewe and Brass. A name change has been in the works since New Orleans Saints owner Tom Benson, who also owns the rights to the Pelicans nickname, bought the team in April.
Charlotte Bobcats owner Michael Jordan said in November he'd be interested in bringing the Hornets' name back to Charlotte.
The pelican is Louisiana's state bird and appears on both the state seal and flag.