Top Stories of the Week: Bradley Beal is on a roll while John Wall gets ready for his return

Happy Sunday everyone. We’re now just a little over two weeks away from the Christmas holiday when the the Wizards take on the Celtics on national television. But for now, the Wizards are in the middle of a west coast road trip. Let’s catch up with what went on the last week if you were busy.

The Wizards go 2-2 on their current road trip with Beal taking his game to another level

After the Wizards won big against the Pistons on Go-Go Night, they went on a five-game road trip. First, they played against the Jazz on Monday, but lost 116-69. The performance was so bad all around that there’s really nothing you can take away from the game except that the Wizards were asleep at the wheel.

They headed to Portland the next day to play the Trail Blazers, where they came out with a big 106-92 victory. Bradley Beal scored a career-high 51 points in the game where he didn’t make many free throws along the way. The Wizards then followed up with a 109-99 win over the Suns last Thursday with Beal scoring another 34 points where he made just one three point shot.

Finally on Saturday, the Wizards faced the Clippers where they lost, 113-112 on a Lou Williams game winning three with just 1.2 seconds left. It was kind of a bizarre affair, where the Wizards were losing by double digit early on, made a comeback, but Lou Williams went back to his usual “Wiz Killer” ways.

The Wizards are now 14-12 with nearly one third of the season now completed. If you’ve been checking out the standings, Washington was eighth in the Eastern Conference right after they lost the Clippers game, though they’re seventh now. Given the lofty expectations they had to start the season, this is nothing short of disappointing.

John Wall may be back next week

The Wizards are in need of reinforcements, even though they’ve won two of the four games on their road trip so far. John Wall practiced with the team on Friday, will again on Monday, and could be ready to go as soon as Tuesday when the Wizards play the Nets.

And more links

• Kelly Oubre and Jason Smith are better dancers than we give them credit for. Ian Mahinmi, not so much.
• The Wizards played DeAndre Jordan and the Clippers on Saturday, but as you may know, Jordan could be traded in the near future. Here are some possible ideas on how he could end up in Washington.
• Buy this t-shirt to celebrate Beals’ 51 point night!
• Jerry Brewer of The Washington Post wrote about how the Wizards have grown without John Wall, but they still have more room to go.
• Tim Cato of SB Nation writes that even though Beal is on a roll, his best role is still as a second option to John Wall.
• Ted Leonsis was on a podcast last week about the the Wizards season so far.

That’s what I have for now. If there’s another link you’d like to share feel free to do so in the comments or as a FanPost. Enjoy the rest of the weekend!