Wizards coach Wittman to miss 2 games after brother’s death

James Harden had 40 points, 11 assists and seven rebounds, but Houston lost its third straight.

Gary Neal had 12 points, and Bradley Beal and Garret Temple each added 11 for Washington.

As hot as Rockets interim coach J.B. Bickerstaff had been when he sprinted 50 feet to call a timeout, only to be hit with a technical foul, that was nothing compared to how he felt when the Washington Wizards’ 123-122 win Saturday night was complete at Toyota Center.

The pendulum kept swinging from there, with the Wizards leading by as many as four in the second quarter before Harden closed the half with a 3-pointer with 1.9 seconds left for a 62-59 edge at the intermission.

“As much as Dwight Howard’s name was kicked around earlier in the season, league sources continue to say that Houston is not looking at Howard trades and that the odds of Howard being moved are so incredibly small it’s not worth exploring”, Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders wrote earlier this week.

Randy Wittman will be away from the Wizards for a couple of games. The Rockets were playing their fifth game in seven nights on the second night of a back-to-back. Dudley was given a flagrant foul midway through the second quarter after wrapping his hands around Howard’s neck while Howard went for a dunk. Harden found another gear after Rockets center Dwight Howard earned his second technical and an ejection for a second consecutive game with 8:08 left following a skirmish with Wizards forward Nene, who was also ejected. But, they’re not clean with the way they play. And dirty, it’s not physical; if they let Dwight be physical and be clean that’s one thing.

“We don’t mind being physical”. They allow people to grab his arms, hold his shoulders. Cheap is one thing.

Any sequence in Saturday night’s loss to the Washington Wizards could have gone differently.