Post by dengdai on Jan 9, 2014 6:34:03 GMT
WASHINGTON -- John Wall gave his teammates a lift with 14 points and four assists in his first game of the season, and the worst-in-NBA Washington Wizards have their first winning streak after a 93-83 victory Saturday night over the Atlanta Hawks. babyliss perfect curl . Walls playing time will be limited as he returns from a knee injury, but he appeared to have his old speed and explosiveness back while playing seven minutes in the first half and 15 in the second half. No. 3 overall pick Bradley Beal, getting to play with Wall for the first time, scored 16 points for the Wizards, who are 6-28 but have strung together two wins in a row following their upset of Oklahoma City on Monday. A.J Price added 16 points and Martell Webster had 15 for the Wizards, who never trailed in the second half. Jeff Teague scored 19 points, Al Horford had 16 points and 12 rebounds, and Josh Smith added 11 points for the Hawks, who have lost five of six. Atlanta had won 18 of its previous 19 against Washington, including six in a row. Typical of the game -- and by far the lowlight for the Hawks -- came when Ivan Johnson missed a wide-open layup by throwing the ball completely over the basket and catching it on the other side, thus committing a travelling violation. The basket would have cut the Wizards lead to four with about 9 minutes to play. Applause rippled around the half-full arena a little over midway through the first quarter when Wall stood up in front of the Wizards bench and removed his warm-up jacket. When the whistle next blew, with 4:56 to play in the quarter, the teams franchise player walked onto the court to a standing ovation. Wall didnt acknowledge the crowd and instead simply tied his shorts and took his place near the free-throw line. His first highlight was a fast-break assist to rookie Beal, the kind of play the Wizards have been envisioning from a speedy Wall-Beal backcourt. Wall also had a three-point play as he dribbled down the clock at the end of the third quarter, and he lit up the crowd with a dazzling assist to Trevor Ariza in the final two minutes of the game. Wall went 5 for 11 from the field and 4 for 5 from the free-throw line. His driving layup gave the Wizards an eight-point lead with 4:25 to play. Wall was expected to miss about two months when he was diagnosed with a stress injury to his left kneecap in late September. He began increasing his basketball activity last month, but it wasnt until Wednesday that he had his first full-throttle practice with the team. After three consecutive days of pain-free workouts, Wall was given medical clearance Friday to suit up, but his minutes are being carefully monitored by coach Randy Wittman. Wall hit the floor a couple of times during the game trying to take a charge, but bounced up with no apparent issues with his knee. Even with Walls return, the Wizards are far from healthy. Jordan Crawford (sore left ankle) and Cartier Martin (hyperextended left knee) remain sidelined, and four other players are having their playing time monitored. Trevor Booker returned Saturday after missing 24 games with a strained right knee. Price and Trevor Ariza returned from long injury layoffs in Tuesdays win over the Thunder, and Nene is nursing tendinitis in his right knee. NOTES: The Hawks were called for three technical: Smith and Williams in the first quarter, and Teague as part of a double-technical with Kevin Seraphin in the fourth. ... Wizards F Jan Vesely played four minutes and committed five fouls. ... Hawks G Anthony Morrow missed his ninth straight game with a sore lower back. ... The Wizards had nine players with at least one turnover in first half. ... It must be NFL playoff time: Random cheers were heard throughout the game whenever the Baltimore Ravens made a big play in their overtime win over the Denver Broncos. babyliss curl secret . The NHL fined McQuaid US$2,500 on Thursday for the incident that occurred late in the second period of Bostons 5-2 win. McQuaid stuck his knee out to impede Foligno at the Ottawa blue-line as the Senators left-winger looked to exit the zone. babyliss procurl . The Timberwolves havent reached the playoffs since the 2003-04 campaign and their losing ways continued with Mondays 135-127 overtime setback in Phoenix. Channing Frye hit nine three-pointers for a career-high 33 points to burn Minnesota, which got 26 points from Michael Beasley and 24 out of Anthony Randolph.Wimbledon, England (Sports Network) - Reigning champion and five-time titlist Serena Williams and last years runner-up Agnieszka Radwanska were a pair of easy opening-round winners Tuesday at Wimbledon. The world No. 1 superstar Williams extended her career-best winning streak to 32 matches by handling Luxembourgs Mandy Minella 6-1, 6-3 on Centre Court at the venerable All England Club. Williams won every point on serve in a lopsided first set, but Minella stunningly broke the American stalwart and then held for a 2-0 lead in the second. The formidable Williams, however, then went on to win four straight games, including a pair of breaks, to assume control once again. Minella would later fight off a match point before the American great converted on a second to move on. "For me, its the greatest moment for a tennis player, to walk out on Centre Court," Williams said. "That was such a great moment, too. So many great memories on this court." Williams is now 75-3 since losing in the first round at last years French Open. The 31-year-old is the reigning Wimbledon, French Open and U.S. Open champ who owns 16 Grand Slam singles titles overall. She beat Radwanska in last years final here to capture her third Wimbledon title in four years and also captured an Olympic gold medal at the All England Club last summer. Up next for Williams will be Frances Caroline Garcia. The fourth-seeded Radwanska routed helpless Austrian Yvonne Meusburger 6-1, 6-1. The high-flying Williams and Radwanska were joined in the round of 64 by sixth-seeded Australian Open runner-up and former French Open champ Li Na, as the Chinese star drubbed Dutchwoman Michaella Krajicek 6-1, 6-1. Krajicek is the half sister of former mens Wimbledon winner Richard Krajicek. Seventh-seeded German left-hander Angelique Kerber moved on by driving out American Bethaanie Mattek-Sands 6-3, 6-4. babyliss pro perfect curl. Also, left-handed British crowd favorite Laura Robson took out 10th-seeded Russian Maria Kirilenko 6-3, 6-4, 11th-seeded Italian Roberta Vinci vaulted past South African Chanelle Scheepers 6-2, 6-1, and 14th-seeded former U.S. Open champion Sam Stosur whipped Slovak Anna Schmiedlova 6-1, 6-3 on Day 2. Kirilenko was a Wimbledon quarterfinalist a year ago. Meanwhile, 18th-seeded Slovak Dominika Cibulkova snuck past Italian Maria Elena Camerin 6-4, 4-6, 6-4; 24th-seeded Chinese Peng Shuai pasted Spaniard Anabel Medina Garrigues 6-3, 6-2, Romanian Alexandra Cadantu vanquished 28th- seeded Austrian Tamira Paszek 6-2, 7-5; 30th-seeded German Mona Barthel held off Romanian Monica Niculescu 6-3, 4-6, 7-5; and American Alison Riske upended 31st-seeded Romina Oprandi 6-7 (5-7), 7-5, 3-1, as the Swiss retired in the third set. Paszek had reached the Wimbledon quarterfinals the last two years. Several other women landed in the second round, including American Madison Keys, hot Romanian Simona Halep, Polands Urszula Radwanska, Estonian Kaia Kanepi, and 42-year-old Japanese Kimiko Date-Krumm, who is the second-oldest player to win a main-draw match at Wimbledon. The great Martina Navratilova holds the record, at 47 years of age. Halep headed to Wimbledon having won back-to-back tournaments, on clay in Germany and grass in The Netherlands, respectively. Shes now enjoying an 11- match winning streak after beating Belarusian Olga Govortsova in three sets. And Russian Olga Puchkova topped Arantxa Rus 6-4, 6-2, as the Dutchwoman Rus tied the WTA record for consecutive match losses at 17, equaling the mark set by Sandy Collins between 1984-87. "I need to play better to win matches at this level," Rus said. "I try my best. I try to keep working hard. Thats the only thing you can do." ' ' '