Wizards finally win; Wade returns, Kobe erupts

Dwyane Wade came back, but so did the Golden State Warriors. Derrick Rose dueled Ricky Rubio. And Kobe Bryant erupted for 48 points.

But they all have to take a momentary backseat to the Washington Wizards, who finally won a game.

All it took was an overhaul of their starting lineup, a spark from their previously invisible prized rookie and a visit from the weary Toronto Raptors.

The last winless team in the NBA broke through Tuesday night with a 93-78 win over the Raptors, who were playing their third game in three nights and fully cooperated by shooting under 40 percent and committing 23 turnovers.

Washington got a lift from Jan Vesely, the high-flying sixth overall pick who missed the first seven games with a hip injury. His NBA debut Sunday vs. Minnesota included an airball free throw. But in 16 minutes Tuesday, he had four points and five steals.

From Michael Lee of the Washington Post: “Vesely had an uneven debut on Sunday, but he was energetic on both ends of the floor, fighting for rebounds, creating steals and providing two highlight dunks. He stole the ball from Calderon, dribbled up the court, dunked with two hands and got a standing ovation from the fans. He later fed Crawford for a layup that led the 14,055 in attendance to give their approval with several standing ovations. Vesely provided another crowd-pleasing dunk in the second half, when he soared high above the rim to catch an impossible alley-oop pass from Mack. Despite being well outside the paint, Vesely was still able to throw down the ball, and he shivered as a form of celebration.”

Coach Flip Saunders also benched starting forwards Andray Blatche and Rashard Lewis, starting Trevor Booker and Chris Singleton in their place. He ended up getting production out of all four players as Lewis scored 15 points, Blatche had nine points and eight rebounds, Singleton had nine and nine, and Booker had eight and seven.

Asked about the lineup change afterward, Blatche told the Post, “It’s fine with me, as long as we’re winning. If we’re not winning, that’s when things change.”

Hunh? Does that mean that Blatche wants more minutes – and presumably touches and shots – if the Wizards go in the tank? Shouldn’t his priority be figuring out how he can make the team better instead of issuing ultimatums about his role? What a knucklehead.

Anyway, now that the Wizards are off the donut, it’s time to track home and road records.

There are seven unbeaten home teams, including the Milwaukee Bucks (3-6 overall), and four winless road teams, including the first-place Lakers (7-4) and Spurs (6-4). The Nets are the lone team winless at home, having lost their first four. The Heat were the only unbeaten road team at 5-0 but blew a 17-point lead in an overtime loss at Golden State.

Wade had missed three games – all wins – with a foot injury. He scored 34 points but shot 1-of-8 in the fourth quarter, when a certain teammate again opted to be a facilitator. LeBron James did not take a shot in the fourth quarter as Miami’s lead melted away.

And that wasn’t the only similarity to last year’s NBA Finals, which was pointed out by Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel: “This was a meltdown, plain and simple, certainly nothing to the degree of what the Heat experienced in last season’s NBA Finals against the Dallas Mavericks, but a clear teaching point, nonetheless. The loss of composure was never more evident than with 1:44 to play, when power forward Udonis Haslem was called for a technical foul, sending Warriors guard Nate Robinson to the foul line for a free throw that tied it 93-93.”

Miami’s loss and Chicago’s win in Minnesota created a change at the top of the Eastern Conference, with the Bulls (9-2) assuming the top spot as Rose had a season-high 31 points and 11 assists. He also had his hands full with Rubio, who had 13 points and 12 assists, rallying the Wolves from a 24-point deficit before the Bulls pulled away in the final period.

It was the third double-double in five games for Rubio, who may have played his way into the starting lineup. Wolves coach Rick Adelman started Rubio alongside Luke Ridnour in the second half, one of three changes he made to his lineup.

Starting Rubio would not be a stretch by any means. He already is among Minnesota’s finishers. Check out this stat from the Minneapolis Star Tribune’s Jim Souhan on the rookie sensation: “Entering the game, Rubio led all rookies in assists per game and also in a more shocking category: most fourth-quarter minutes played among all NBA players. In his first nine NBA games, Rubio sat out only seven seconds of fourth-quarter play. He sat out almost four minutes Tuesday, having played the entire third quarter. “He’s the one guy on our team that can get into the paint, going to the basket, and find the right people,” Adelman said. “He’s got the vision. I’m surprised he’s been able to do that consistently.”

Ellington, Wesley Johnson and Darko Milicic started for Minnesota but did not play again after exiting late in the first quarter. At the start of the second half, they were replaced by Rubio, Anthony Tolliver and Anthony Randolph. After playing three games in three nights, the Wolves don’t play again until Friday.

The win was the eighth in nine games for the Bulls. However, the NBA’s longest current winning streak belongs to the Philadelphia 76ers, who pounded Sacramento for their sixth straight victory. The Sixers have climbed to the top of the Atlantic Division – ahead of aging Celtics and overhyped Knicks – and coach Doug Collins believes they can stay there.

From John Mitchell of the Philadelphia Inquirer: “Collins has watched a gritty team emerge from all of this, one that defends, at least for now, better than any other team in the NBA. And even before the coach stood courtside and watched the Sixers make the Sacramento Kings their sixth victim in a row with a 112-85 rout Tuesday night at the Wells Fargo Center, he already had experienced his epiphany. “I think we have a pretty mature outlook about everything,” Collins said after the victory in front of an announced crowd of 10,225. “I don’t think our guys are getting giddy in any sense of the imagination. I said the other day, ‘Guys, if you don’t think we can win the Atlantic Division, I think you’re making a mistake’. I firmly believe that.”

Before asking Collins to get some Motrin for his fever from the team trainer, consider that during their streak, the Sixers have won all but one game by double digits and by an average of 21.8 points. They are allowing 79.7 points on 37.7 percent shooting. They have had five different leading scorers, and their bench is averaging 47.2 points.

And here’s a little basic math. Already five games over .500, Philadelphia has 21 games remaining vs. the underwhelming collection of Washington, New Jersey, Charlotte, Detroit, Cleveland, Milwaukee and Toronto. Do the math: If the Sixers go just 15-6 against that group, they only have to split their remaining 36 games to reach 40 wins. Is that enough wins to take the division? Maybe.

We can’t wrap things up without mentioning Bryant, who became the first player to score 40 points in a game this season as the Lakers handled the Suns. Despite multiple injuries that should be impacting his ability to be an effective scorer, Bryant has averaged 36.0 points over his last five games to climb within two ticks of the league scoring lead. At 33, he is six years older than anyone else in the top 10.

Kevin Ding of the Orange County Register explains what may be driving Bryant: “Maybe it’s selfish. So much of what Kobe Bryant has done over the years has been swept into that category anyway, and it’s absolutely true that Bryant is doing this for himself. He wants, bottom line, to inspire himself. If he inspires his teammates and fans along the way, great. But he can live with himself only if he’s trying, if he’s really going for it … if he’s brushing the clouds once in a while the way he did again Tuesday night. Bryant, 33, reached for the sky despite the torn ligament in his right wrist and brought 48 points of rain down on the Phoenix Suns. No one in the league this season had scored more than the 39 he’d put up Friday night against Golden State. It was Bryant’s highest point total in nearly three years. Because there is so much negativity that swirls around a guy who so often squints his eyes, snarls and calls himself a killer, it’s easy to take an uprising moment from him and still take the negative slant. No doubt, Bryant’s middle finger remains one of the few undamaged parts of his right hand, and the guy knows how to use it.”

Elsewhere …

• In a game that got chippy at times, the Blazers maintained control in a home win over the Clippers that avenged one of their two losses. Gerald Wallace scored 20 points after going scoreless in the first meeting.
• The last time the Thunder were in Memphis on Dec. 28, they won in spite of Russell Westbrook, who was 0-of-13 from the field. In their return trip, they won because of Westbrook, who scored a season-high 30 points and seems to have moved past his early season funk.
• We mentioned that San Antonio was winless on the road. The Spurs had three chances in the final minute of a one-possession game and came up empty each time in a 106-103 loss at Milwaukee, which got 34 points from Stephen Jackson and welcomed back Andrew Bogut, who had 14 points and 11 rebounds. Bogut did not disclose details of his four-game absence other than that it was a “family issue involving a hospital.”
• The Mavericks broke through for their first road win, routing Detroit to climb back to .500. The Pistons have lost five in a row by an average of 20 points, and coach Lawrence Frank admitted that turning things around will be difficult. “Everyone wants a baby, but few people want to go through the pregnancy,” he said.
• It may be a while before we get a legitimate read on the Jazz, who began a stretch of seven of their next eight games at home with a win over the Cavs. Utah is 5-0 at home, but that mark will be tested by the Lakers on Wednesday.