On Facebook
On Flipboard
On Twitter
The Washington Wizards fought a lot in their 123-105 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Monday night inside the Paycom Center.
Coming into the game as massive underdogs, the Wizards played like they had nothing to lose, and that worked for them for a decent amount of time.
Through three quarters, the Wizards hung in the game, which impressed head coach Brian Keefe.
“Give our guys a lot of credit tonight,” Keefe said postgame. “We played a good basketball game. Ball was movement great, we were sharing it. Our defense held them to 24 in that third quarter and they just made that little run right there. I thought we ran out of a little gas and during that stretch but our guys battled. Our guys put a terrific game, credit to them.”
Going up against the best team in the Western Conference as the worst team in the Eastern Conference is no small task, especially when several players were out for the Wizards. But the Wizards didn't play like that, they gave it their all even when the deck was stacked against them.
“Our effort was terrific," Keefe said. "I mean this is a good high-powered team with some really high-powered guys and I thought it was a multiple effort game from us defensively. [We] made these guys work first on the boards a little bit but like we gave full out commitment to the game plan. It was impressive.”
This kind of effort is what will keep the Wizards moving on the right path this season. It may not lead to a win against a top team like the Thunder, but Washington may be able to pull out victories against lesser teams with a performance like that.
The Wizards' next game comes Thursday against the Charlotte Hornets.
- Wizards Staying Committed to Their Rebuild
- Wizards Suffer Two Injuries vs. Thunder
- Insider: Kings, Wizards Could Make Trade
- Wizards Named Landing Spot for Hawks Center Clint Capela
- Wizards Bottom in Power Rankings, But There's Hope
More must-reads:
- Do NBA players secretly admire Kawhi Leonard's alleged side hustle?
- Insider suggests Giannis Antetokounmpo's days in Milwaukee 'numbered'
- The 'Most NFL QB two-rushing-TD games' quiz
Breaking News
Trending News
TODAY'S BEST
LeBron James & Steve Nash Send Strong Message to Adam Silver Over Long-Standing Kawhi Leonard Issue
Bulls may have found gem in former 12th overall pick
The Chicago Bulls have lost in the play-in tournament in three straight years, thus securing a pick at the end of the lottery. Based on their first preseason game, they may have found a gem at No. 12 in 2024. 20-year-old Matas Buzelis scored 19 points in 18 minutes as the Bulls defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers, 118-117, Tuesday night. The young forward shot 8-for-11, grabbed eight rebounds, hit two three-pointers and blocked a shot in an all-around impressive performance. Matas Buzelis is a local product who could be a much-needed star The Bulls took Buzelis, a Chicago native who went to high school 20 miles from the United Center, out of the now-defunct G League Ignite team. He started slowly, playing minor minutes and averaging 6.4 points in the first half before playing his way into the starting lineup. After the Bulls traded Zach LaVine, Buzelis had a 24-point game, shooting 10-for-10 from the field with four threes. He started all 31 games after that, averaging 14.2 points in the season's last three months. In March, he had a 31-point game against the Los Angeles Lakers, followed by a 28-point game against the Dallas Mavericks a week later. On Tuesday, he continued to get buckets. Buzelis has more star potential than anyone on the Bulls roster Buzelis is intriguing because he combines size and skill. He's a 6-foot-10 forward who shot 36.1 percent on three-pointers last season, but who also gets to the rim. Despite playing 18.9 minutes per game, Buzelis racked up 65 dunks, taking over 30 percent of his shots within three feet of the rim and shooting 63.3 percent. He's a passable defender already, a rarity for a player who still can't legally buy a drink until Oct. 13 — his 21st birthday. All that means Buzelis is locked in as the team's starting power forward and should get 30 minutes per game and plenty of touches on offense, especially with top scorer Coby White banged up already. The Bulls find themselves in a peculiar position. They only have long-term commitments to Josh Giddey and disappointing forward Patrick Williams. The Bulls have a chance at massive cap space next summer, although they're likely to extend White's contract. Suppose Buzelis can emerge as a genuine scoring threat; that makes the Bulls' upcoming roster decisions much easier, especially since Buzelis should be able to play either forward spot. Chicago has shown no willingness to tank for a better draft pick, so finding a star requires a trade, a likely free-agent overpay, or getting lucky at the back of the lottery. It's only been one game, but Buzelis was scoring at will at Summer League in July. After years of being mired in mediocrity, Buzelis gives the Bulls a chance to go from play-in to playoff contender in the near future. For a team that often feels directionless, this Chicago native represents a tantalizing path to NBA relevancy for the Bulls.
North Carolina reportedly considering nuclear option with Bill Belichick, and that's justified
Cowboys list 18 players on their injury report but a couple of names steal the spotlight as their return appears very likely
The Dallas Cowboys just revealed their first injury report of Week 6 on Wednesday and it's a long one. The team listed 18 players on it ahead of their matchup against the Carolina Panthers, five of which were non-participants while 10 were limited. The remaining three players on the report were listed as full participants. Two of latter stole the spotlight amid the bitter updates as their "full" participation means they're close to making their 2025 debut very soon: Cornerback Caelen Carson and wide receiver Jonathan Mingo. Neither of the them are currently on the 53-man roster but the Cowboys activated their 21-day practice window last week. Carson and Mingo were limited participants in each of last week's practices. To be upgraded to full on the first practice of the week is a promising sign for their chances of playing against the Panthers. The coaching staff would need to open up roster spots to place them on the 53-man roster. Other notes on Cowboys' initial injury report for Week 6 CeeDee Lamb was a non-participant once again as his chances of playing Week 6 remain up in the air. KaVontae Turpin also missed practice and told reporters he wasn't expecting to play. Right guard Tyler Booker also missed practice. The new additions to the non-participants were LB Jack Sanborn (concussion) and S Donovan Wilson (elbow/knee). Safety is starting to look like a serious concern. Malik Hooker was placed on Injured Reserve last weekend and now Wilson missed practice while Juanyeh Thomas popped up on the injury report as a limited participant. Other starters that were limited participants: CB Trevon Diggs, CB DaRon Bland, OT Tyler Guyton, LG Tyler Smith. Head coach Brian Schottenheimer suggested Guyton will start at left tackle if cleared. Thursday's full Cowboys' injury report window.addEventListener('message', function (event) {if (event.data.totalpoll event.data.totalpoll.action === 'resizeHeight') {document.querySelector('#totalpoll-iframe-375').height = event.data.totalpoll.value;}}, false);document.querySelector('#totalpoll-iframe-375').contentWindow.postMessage({totalpoll: {action: 'requestHeight'}}, '*');
Bengals QB Jake Browning angry about being benched for Joe Flacco, but team had no choice
Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Jake Browning has officially been benched, and he is not taking it lightly. Browning has started the last three games for the Bengals in the wake of a toe injury that Joe Burrow suffered in Week 2. After going 0-3 in those games, the Bengals decided to acquire Joe Flacco in a trade with the Cleveland Browns on Tuesday. Bengals head coach Zac Taylor announced on Wednesday that Flacco will start in Week 6 against the Green Bay Packers. That means the new guy is taking Browning's job right away, which is hardly a surprise. Jake Browning is not happy about losing his job Browning spoke with reporters shortly after Taylor revealed that Flacco will start in Green Bay. The 29-year-old quarterback said the situation "sucks" but that he understands how the business of the NFL works. "I think it sucks but, like I said, everyone's in the middle of a season. I think, 'Welcome to pro football,'" Browning said. "If you don't play well, you're gonna get replaced, and that's what I'm going through." Browning also admitted he is angry over being benched. Though, he said he is not willing to shoulder the blame for everything that has gone wrong for Cincinnati since Burrow went down. "For me, I'm trying to respond the right way. Obviously, I'm pi--ed. If I wasn't pi--ed, then I shouldn't be in this locker room," Browning added. "I'm aware of the role I played in the offensive struggles over the last few weeks, but I'm also not shouldering the entire situation. I went through yesterday, watched my throws, tried to come up with some stuff I want to work on, and just doing that." Zac Taylor had no choice but to make a switch Browning threw three interceptions in Cincinnati's 37-24 loss to the Detroit Lions on Sunday. He completed 26 of 40 passes for 251 yards and three touchdowns as well, but anything positive that the veteran did came when the game was essentially out of hand. In his two starts prior to the Lions loss, Browning threw for a total of 265 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions. The Bengals scored 13 points in the two games combined. Ja'Marr Chase looked extremely frustrated at times and even had a heated exchange with Taylor on the sideline. Taylor had been facing tremendous pressure from fans to make a quarterback change. It would not be a surprise if Cincinnati's front office and some players expressed a desire for Browning to be benched, as well.
4 concerning Vikings statistics that must improve after the bye
The Minnesota Vikings are a 3-2 football team heading into their bye week. They've done some good things through the first five weeks of the season, but they also have a lot of areas they need to improve. Frankly, the Vikings are a bit fortunate to have three wins, considering the comebacks they had to mount to beat the Bears and Browns. They've trailed going into the fourth quarter in four of their five games, including three games where they didn't score a touchdown in the first 45 minutes of action. That level of play isn't going to be nearly good enough for the rest of this season. The Vikings have had one of the easier schedules in the league so far, but they have one of the toughest schedules for the remainder of the campaign. Improvement must start with cleaning up these four unsightly statistics, which are all areas where the Vikings rank at or near the bottom of the league. Sack percentage (offense): 11.7 percent NFL rank: 32nd Through five weeks, no team has taken more sacks than the Vikings, whose quarterbacks have gone down 21 times on 180 dropbacks. That 11.7 percentage leads the league; the Ravens are the only other team with at least a 10 percent sack rate on offense. J.J. McCarthy was the worst offender, taking nine sacks on just 55 dropbacks over the first two weeks (16.4 percent). But Carson Wentz was sack-prone too, with 12 of them on 120 dropbacks. It's something McCarthy will have to show that he can improve in order to regain the starting role. Sacks fall on the play-caller, the quarterback, and the offensive line to varying degrees. All three have to find a way to fix this drive-killing issue for the Vikings after the bye week, starting against an Eagles defense that is surprisingly towards the bottom of the league in sacks so far. Third down conversion percentage (offense): 31 percent NFL rank: 31st This one, to some extent, goes hand in hand with the previous stat. The Vikings are converting third downs less than a third of the time, which is not where you want to be. Only the Titans and rookie QB Cam Ward have been less effective on third down this season (29 percent). Kevin O'Connell's team was up near 40 percent last year. Part of this stat has to do with the average third-down distances teams face. But despite their sack woes, the Vikings are actually near the middle of the pack in terms of yards needed on third down. One reason for that is that third down is where a big chunk of those sacks have occurred. Third and longs are tough for everyone, so a big key to being successful on third down is avoiding those situations by staying on schedule on early downs. With that said, the Vikings are also well below the league average with a 47 percent conversion rate on third downs of three yards or fewer remaining, so they also need to improve in short-yardage situations. Percentage of first downs gained via rush (defense): 47.1 percent NFL rank: 32nd Most of the statistics for the Vikings' defense are pretty positive. They've been good so far, even if it's fair to admit that their advanced numbers are skewed a bit by a dominant performance against the Bengals in Week 3. The one area why the Vikings could use some real improvement is in their run defense. The raw numbers for the Vikings' rushing defense (yards per game, yards per carry, etc.) aren't great. But this stat we found was particularly interesting. 47 percent of Vikings opponents' first downs are coming on the ground, which is the highest rate in the league. Teams aren't having a ton of success against the Vikings through the air, but why throw the ball when you're confident you can move the chains with the run game? That stat would be notable by itself, but it's even more interesting when you look at the 2024 numbers and see that the Vikings had the second-lowest rate in this category last season, with just 25.5 percent of opponent first downs being acquired via the run. Accepted penalties per game: 8.8 NFL rank: 1st (in a bad way) Simply put, the Vikings have to find a way to stop generating so many flags against them. They lead the league in both total accepted penalties (44) and penalties committed on a per-game basis. They've had procedural issues on offense, they've committed fouls on defense, and they've been flagged in the kickoff and punt phases on special teams. Across the board, they have to clean up their execution and avoid the negatives that put them in more difficult siutations.
Customize Your Newsletter
+
Get the latest news and rumors, customized to your favorite sports and teams. Emailed daily. Always free!
PRIVACY POLICY EDITORIAL POLICY CONTACT US
ABOUT YARDBARKER TERMS OF SERVICE
Use of this website (including any and all parts and
components) constitutes your acceptance of these
Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.
This site is for entertainment purposes only.
There is no gambling offered on this site.
Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-Gambler.
