Wall, Arenas, Blatche miss practice ahead of game against champs
It’s always difficult to play the Los Angeles Lakers. It’s even harder short-handed, which is where the Wizards have found themselves repeatedly this season. They might be in that position again when the reigning NBA champions visit on Tuesday. But the greatest obstacle to Washington’s progress this season is still one of its own making.
“The Lakers, they’re going to go on their runs,” Wizards forward Al Thornton said. “The thing is, how are we going to respond to their runs? We’ll get down. There’ve been times this year when we’ve got down and just, I hate to say this, pretty much just quit.”
It won’t help if the Wizards (6-16) are without Andray Blatche (swollen left knee), whose absence from practice on Monday along with John Wall (sore right knee) and Gilbert Arenas (general soreness) meant that coach Flip Saunders didn’t have any of his top three scorers available.
Saunders said Blatche was “probably out” for the Lakers game, but later on Monday, Blatche said on his Facebook page, “Bout to get my knee drained so I can try and play tomorrow. Dedicated to my team.”
| Up next |
| Lakers at Wizards |
| Where » Verizon Center |
| When » Tuesday, 7 p.m. |
| TV/Radio » Comcast SportsNet/106.7 FM |
Wall, who has missed seven of 22 games, was characterized by Saunders as questionable. Arenas is expected to play, but the offensive punch the Wizards have relied on of late has come from Nick Young, who scored 30 points off the bench in Washington’s 115-108 loss to the Lakers at Staples Center last week. Rookies Trevor Booker and Kevin Seraphin also were impressive in that game, and the Wizards need them — particularly if Blatche is unavailable. Blatche missed two games last week, which exposed Washington’s thin rotation in the paint.
“We came back in L.A. because we played hard,” Saunders said. “We’re at a point now, with our talent level because of the injuries, that we’re going to have to play harder than other people. That has to be the only way that we can hang in games, and at home, our crowd will get into games and that extra adrenaline pump will help us.”
The Lakers (17-7), who are in the midst of a seven-game road trip, joined President Obama for a service project on Monday, making care packages for wounded soldiers at the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Washington in lieu of a second straight visit to the White House.
