Wizards account for one-third of the NBA’s 15 postponed games through first four weeks of this seasonNBAE/GETTY IMAGES
The Wizards now are "assured of going at least 11 days between games" after the NBA postponed the team's game that was scheduled for tomorrow against the Hornets, the 14th game moved since Jan. 10 and 15th of the season, according to Tim Reynolds of the AP. The 14 postponements in a little over a week now have "involved 19 of the league’s 30 teams." Meanwhile, yesterday's Heat-Pistons game was "pushed back five hours, with the league and teams making that decision so additional virus testing could be processed" (AP, 1/18). In DC, Ava Wallace notes the Wizards "now account for one-third of the NBA’s 15 postponed games through the first four weeks of the season." No other team has had more than three games scratched "because no other team has had an outbreak as large as Washington’s" (WASHINGTON POST, 1/19).
TIME CRUNCH: In Ft. Lauderdale, Ira Winderman wrote with the NBA adding an additional round of COVID-19 testing, the "time squeeze" for yesterday's late-afternoon Heat-Pistons game "proved too tight," leading to the five-hour delay. Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said, “I think the 3 o’clock game was a curveball. And, look, everybody, the NBA, there’s nobody to fault on this. Everybody is dealing with so much and nobody was prepared to handle this additional workload." He added, “It never would have been an issue with an 8 o’clock game or 7 o’clock game, even. It was the 3 o’clock turnaround that had to be adjusted to" (South Florida SUN SENTINEL, 1/19).
