The Wizards will have Nick Young back in uniform tonight against Golden State after he missed the last game with a twisted right knee. With Young out, Jordan Crawford had 31 points in Washington’s 101-98 win over Cleveland. It means the battle for starting shooting guard is officially back on.
Rashard Lewis (sore left knee) is still out, as is Ronny Turiaf, who Wizards coach Randy Wittman said is expected to arrive back in the U.S. today after having sorted out his visa issues. Turiaf is expected to see a doctor first thing on Tuesday morning in the hopes of being cleared to return to practice after having been out since suffering a broken hand on Jan. 1.
Monta Ellis leads the Warriors (14-20) with 22.1 points per game, having 20-plus for the sixth time in the last seven games in Golden State’s 83-75 loss at Toronto last night. The Warriors, who have lost two in a row and three of their last four games, will jet home tonight after completing a six-game road swing.
“He’s a scorer, and we’ll have our hands full tonight, but we’ll have different guys give him different looks, try to keep him off balance, don’t give him the same look the whole night because he’s too good,” Wittman said. “If he understands what you’re tyring to do and you don’t make adjustments and change things up on him, he’s too good to play that way. You’re not going to hold a guy like him scoreless, that’s where guys have to understand, but we have to make it difficult for him as much as we can.”
Ellis’ backcourt partner, Stephen Curry (tendon strain, right foot) might play but won’t start. He’s missed 12 games this season. Warriors center Kwame Brown (torn pectoral muscle) is out, which means Verizon Center will avoid a battle of boos between him and Andray Blatche. Former Wizard Dominic McGuire will make his fifth start of the year at forward.
