Top Stories of the Week: Wizards start second half of the season, win on Polish Heritage Night

Happy Martin Luther King Day weekend! Here are the main storylines from the past week.

Wizards are consistently inconsistent

The Wizards lost two in a row to start this week off. First, they lost to the Bucks, 110-103 last Saturday and then to the Jazz, 107-104 last Wednesday after three days off. They finished off with wins over the Magic and beat the Nets 119-113 in overtime on Polish Heritage Night.

Ultimately, Washington remains 5th place in the Eastern Conference with a 25-18 record, and 2-0 in the first two games of the latter half of the season.

Even though Washington is fifth place in the East, let’s face it. We expected more. ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith had some tough love to deliver earlier this week. And on top of it all, it seemed like Marcin Gortat wanted to play for the Orlando Magic again next year.

But on Saturday, Neil Dalal of Hoop District got Gortat to clear the air about that remark. Gortat didn’t deny saying his comments but also noted that those comments came after being asked to assume he would be traded within the next couple years.

The Mystics and Go-Go Arena and Monumental Sports basketball practice facility will be ready in September

Last Friday, Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser and Events DC commemorated the “topping out” of the new Mystics and Go-Go arena at St. Elizabeth’s in Southeast. We also have some final dates established. The 4,200 seat arena will open in September in time for the Go-Go’s inaugural season this fall. The practice facility, which the Mystics, Go-Go, and Wizards will share will be ready in the fall — or just in time for training camp for the 2018-19 season.

So in short, the Mystics will play at Capital One Arena for the last time this summer. At least some Mystics fans are not happy with this move. So it remains to be seen how they’ll feel about moving from an NBA arena that they were too small for anyway to this facility.

POLISH HERITAGE NIGHT!!!

Since last Monday, we’ve posted daily on Marcin Gortat’s time in Washington and various aspects of Polonia, or the Polish diaspora as part of out own Polish Week. Click here to see our StoryStream, on all of the stories we have on it leading up to Saturday’s Polish Heritage Night game against the Nets.

And there’s more!

Last Friday, Scott Allen of The Washington Post wrote about Kristy Probst, a teacher in Washington and two of her students, Erick Saxon and Fatou Gaye who traveled to Poland last summer on an all-expenses paid trip. They got to visit Marie Curie’s childhood home, Gortat’s hometown of Lodz and even meet Gortat at his basketball camp.

Neil Dalal of Hoop District also spoke to Gortat on Friday. The game meant a lot to him because the game is a cultural exchange between Poland and the United States. He also talked about his concerns about Russia, Poland’s eastern neighbor. Historically, much of Poland’s territory has been ruled by Russians, Germans, and Austrians, which makes him worried about a potential invasion given that Eastern European relations have grown tense lately.

These are only just some of the many stories from last week, and they aren’t all of them. If you have another link that you’d like to share, feel free to do so in the comments or as a FanPost.

Enjoy the rest of your weekends!