Monday NBA Roundup: Wizards Turning Corner in Complicated Eastern Conference

Earning the split in a back-to-back series with the Milwaukee Bucks wouldn't normally qualify as a turning point, but the Washington Wizards' 107-102 win on Monday kind of felt like one anyway.

The Wiz used a 20-4 fourth-quarter comeback surge to avenge Friday's 123-96 loss in Milwaukee and have now won seven of their last 10 games.

Yes, these are the 14-16 Wizards we're talking about. The ones with a negative point differential on the year. The ones whose defensive focus shares the blink-and-you'll-miss-it quality of a John Wall push in transition.

This is a wildly imperfect team whose recent history includes lots of flirting with .500, but not much deal-sealing. So invest hope or interest at your own risk.

Still, in this recent 7-3 stretch, the Wizards' plus-2.9 net rating ranks behind only the Cleveland Cavaliers and Toronto Raptors among Eastern Conference teams. And they fought hard on Monday.

Head coach Scott Brooks must not have liked what he saw early, as the Bucks got whatever they wanted inside against a lazy Wizards defense. Duck-ins, drives and cuts all seemed to yield easy looks at close range.

This, after Brooks laid into his team for surrendering 66 points in the paint during that Friday meeting, telling reporters: "We can't do that, we can't expect to win on the road and give an athletic team easy buckets around the paint. That is what they do. We didn't make them pay for their weaknesses at all."

To be fair, there's not a lot you can do about plays like this:

Washington still allowed plenty of point-blank scoring, surrendering 52 paint points. But John Wall's 16 assists and Otto Porter's 32 points overshadowed the shoddy D. And if the Wizards are really going to turn this season around, they'll have to do it with ugly, fight-back wins like this one.

Ball-sharing and better team play helps, too.

Porter, who hit that critical three to give Washington a four-point lead with 49 seconds left, may be turning a corner of his own, according to this dynamite stat from Kyle Weidie of Truth About It:

The Wizards are two games under the break-even mark with two very winnable home contests against the Indiana Pacers and Brooklyn Nets left on the 2016 schedule. The new year could bring a .500 record and a fresh start.

From there, Washington's forecast is hazier.

Only the Cavs, Raptors and Boston Celtics have established themselves as surefire postseason participants in the East. And though it's beyond far-fetched to imagine the Wizards ever joining that upper tier, are they really so much worse than the Charlotte Hornets (who suffered a cripplingly disappointing loss on Monday), New York Knicks, Atlanta Hawks or any of the conference's vast and jumbled middle class?

Think of it in these terms: Washington is two-and-a-half games out of the No. 4 seed right now, and that's after a horrid start and a mostly inconsistent stretch since. If Wall keeps piling up assists, Beal's game grows and Porter's breakout continues, there's a real chance this Wizards team, which started 2-8, could host a first-round series.

We're miles and months ahead of ourselves here, but if things do turn out that well for the Wiz, we should remember what happened on Monday as a catalyst.

The Grizzlies Reject Your Expectations

Fernando Medina/Getty Images

The senseless season continues for the Memphis Grizzlies, who somehow excelled without Mike Conley, got what looked like a 24-point breakout from him on Friday after struggling badly since his return, and then, on Monday got rolled by the not-so-mighty Orlando Magic.

Go figure.

Memphis cosmetically fixed up the final score of 112-102 with a garbage-time comeback (31-16 fourth-quarter scoring margin), but this was all Orlando when it mattered. Behind a startling shooting night that saw Aaron Gordon pump in 30 points while hitting all four of his triple attempts, the Magic led by 25 points at the end of the third.

It was...odd, as Chris Vernon of The Ringer noted:

The Grizzlies refuse to do anything expected this year (other than rank among the league leaders in defense), and this wretched loss coming on the heels of a season-defining 115-109 win against the Houston Rockets on Friday is just the latest example.

Sorry, Celtics

Just when the Brooklyn Nets had seemingly settled into a comfort zone as the worst team in the league—and, more importantly for the Boston Celtics' purposes, the team with the best lottery odds—Randy Foye goes and does this:

The Celts have the right to swap their first-rounder with the Nets in the 2017 draft. So every Brooklyn loss brings Boston closer to the unfathomable reality of adding a top overall pick to what is, right now, at least the third-best team in the East.

Brooklyn's 120-118 shocker gave it eight wins on the year, one more than the Philadelphia 76ers, who fell to the Sacramento Kings on Monday to hit 7-23.

Foye won't find many friends in Boston for the foreseeable future.

The Mavs' Time Is Coming

Layne Murdoch/Getty Images

But that's a whole lot different than the Dallas Mavericks' time actually being here.

I was all set to raise the issue of recalibrating our expectations for the Mavs when Dirk Nowitzki—playing his second game since returning from an Achilles injury—was drilling shots against the New Orleans Pelicans in the first half.

Deron Williams was looking shifty, Justin Anderson was logging chase-down blocks and Wesley Matthews was hitting contested threes. It was going to be a Mavs love-fest, an opportunity to remind everyone that before injuries hit, this was a team with a shot at .500 and playoff-chase relevance that could have lasted into April.

The thinking was: Dirk's back, Andrew Bogut and J.J. Barea are getting closer, Harrison Barnes is way better than anyone expected and Dallas, already a winner in two straight, was about to make things semi-interesting.

But then Nowitzki sat out the second half to rest, the horrible New Orleans Pelicans closed down the game and Dallas fell to 9-22.

Not yet, Mavs. Not yet.

It's How You Finish

Dwyane Wade played the entire fourth quarter of the Chicago Bulls' skid-stopping 90-85 win over the Indiana Pacers, and even though he'll be 35 in a few weeks, he conserved enough pep to finish strong.

"I kind of played free safety on that one," Wade told reporters afterward. "Kind of baited him to throw it a little bit."

Also relevant on the topic of closing games out: Rajon Rondo didn't play the fourth quarter.

His energy was vital on early plays like this one:

But Rondo's unwillingness to shoot and spotty defense make him a high-risk option in crunch time. It's no surprise he wasn't part of the close-out phase against Indiana, but it'll be interesting to see how he handles any future benchings like this.

Ricky Will Get It Right

Ricky Rubio is a flawed, sometimes frustrating point guard whose shaky jumper and poor finishing make it too easy for opponents. Ignoring him has always been a viable option for defenses.

But according to Minnesota Timberwolves analyst Jim Peterson, Rubio's efforts in a 104-90 win over the Hawks on Monday have him in an exclusive club—and one game away from history:

Rubio made just one field goal against Atlanta, but his 10 dimes helped a balanced scoring night that saw Karl-Anthony Towns go a perfect 8-of-8 from the field while all three of the Wolves' young guns—Towns, Zach LaVine and Andrew Wiggins—scored at least 21 points.

The advanced stats still say Minnesota is better with Rubio off the floor this season, but those numbers have just never felt right. Let's put our trust in the 76 games he logged last year, when Minnesota played to a plus-1.1 net rating with him on the floor and a minus-8.2 without.

A few more high-assist, low-turnover games like this, and we'll all remember how much Rubio means to Minnesota.

Giddyup, Kings

The meeting between Joel Embiid and DeMarcus Cousins did not disappoint.

Not in drama, as the Sacramento Kings pulled out a 102-100 victory when Cousins' clear foul on Embiid's desperation attempt at a game-winner went uncalled. Not in excitement, as the two big men traded buckets throughout the second half, with Cousins hitting a decisive triple of his own.

And not in butt slaps.

Cousins, who finished with 30 points, seven rebounds, five assists, three steals and two blocks in the Kings' fourth straight win, had nothing but good things to say about Embiid afterward, giving him "a chance to be the best big in the league" with an important caveat.

Embiid was terrific in stretches of his 25-point night, physically overpowering Cousins in ways few opponents ever have. But his eight turnovers were a big reason Philly let this one slip away.

Sacramento is now all alone at No. 8 in the West. 

Monday's Final Scores

• Washington Wizards 107, Milwaukee Bucks 102
• Orlando Magic 112, Memphis Grizzlies 102
• New Orleans Pelicans 111, Dallas Mavericks 104
• Brooklyn Nets 120, Charlotte Hornets 118
• Detroit Pistons 106, Cleveland Cavaliers 90
• Chicago Bulls 90, Indiana pacers 85
• Houston Rockets 131, Phoenix Suns 115
• Minnesota Timberwolves 104, Atlanta Hawks 90
• Toronto Raptors 95, Portland Trail Blazers 91
• Denver Nuggets 106, Los Angeles Clippers 102
• Sacramento Kings 102, Philadelphia 76ers 100

Follow Grant on Twitter @gt_hughes and Facebook.

Stats courtesy of NBA.com and Basketball-Reference.com unless otherwise indicated. Accurate through games played Monday, Dec. 26.