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WASHINGTON — If the Washington Wizards want to improve their playoff position in the final days of the regular season Rich Hill Los Angeles Dodgers Jersey , they can start by beating one of their potential opponents when the Boston Celtics visit Capital One Arena on Tuesday night.

Washington (42-38) has lost four straight to drop into eighth place in the Eastern Conference with games remaining against the Celtics and at Orlando on Wednesday.

An eighth-place finish would match the Wizards with the Toronto Raptors, and seventh place gets them the injury-depleted Celtics (54-26) and sixth place either Philadelphia or Cleveland.

Right now, the Wizards just need to win a game. Friday night’s home loss to last-place Atlanta saw the Wizards plagued by poor defense and a selfish offense.

“Not passing the ball to one another. Simple as that. Nobody wanted to share the basketball tonight,” coach Scott Brooks said. “When you do that, you end up taking bad shots. When you take bad shots, you end up missing. Simple game. You pass it to your teammate.”

Washington, which shot 40.2 percent (35 of 87) from the field against Atlanta, is 6-13 since Feb. 28, a .316 winning percentage. Granted Kyle Lauletta Color Rush Jersey , the team was without John Wall (sitting out the second of back-to-backs) and mostly minus Markieff Morris (ejected after two first-quarter technical) versus Atlanta, but the issues were pre-existing.

“What’s concerning is how we’ve played the last three or games last week and how we’ve changed from the way we played before,” Wizards guard Tomas Satoransky said. “We are supposed to be playing great for the playoffs, improving in all things and now we are just struggling all over the floor. We have to really change it quickly.”

The Wizards are just a game back of the Miami Heat for seventh and a game-and-a-half behind the sixth-seeded Milwaukee Bucks.

Boston, meanwhile, is locked into second place and coach Brad Stevens is working to prepare his team to enter the playoffs without Kyrie Irving, Marcus Smart and Daniel Theis. He used his regulars for most of the first three quarters against the pesky Hawks on Sunday, and Atlanta rallied from a 13-point deficit to beat Boston 112-106.

“Weird. Yeah, I mean it’s strange Dante Pettis Color Rush Jersey ,” Stevens said told the Boston Globe of the Celtics having their final position determined with several games remaining. “But, you know, to be able to play those guys and to get them reps and to be able to do some of that stuff — you know, I wish Guerschon (Yabusele) would’ve been available because he would’ve been able to take advantage of that as well.

“But obviously when you start looking down our bench with (Marcus) Morris and Guerschon (sore left knee) out, we’re pretty thin and pretty small. So we needed to give those guys a chance to make plays and I thought they did some good things. But, obviously, not enough to win the game.”

According to the Boston Globe, Stevens promised he was going to play his first unit major minutes against Washington given the playoff implications.

Boston is 14-7 without Irving, having posted wins over the Raptors (twice) Saquon Barkley Jersey Giants , Portland Trail Blazers (twice), Oklahoma City Thunder and Utah Jazz.

“This team, we’re resilient,” Morris told the Globe. “Everybody on this team is ready to compete. We all feel disrespected. Kyrie, Marcus, Theis — all those guys are major for our team. But they’re not here, so we still have to approach the game as if we’re going to win and get as far as we can.”

CHICAGO — The Chicago Cubs‘ starting pitchers may not be performing as consistent as they would like, but Joe Maddon’s offense is finding ways to make up for it.

Addison Russell’s grand slam helped bail out starter Mike Montgomery in Friday’s series opener against the Minnesota Twins. Now, as Tyler Chatwood takes the mound in Saturday’s matinee interleague game at Wrigley Field http://www.buccaneersauthorizedshops.com/authentic-alex-cappa-jersey , the Cubs will push for their third straight victory after they rallied for their second consecutive come-from-behind win Friday at Wrigley Field.

Russell’s blast erased a three-run deficit en route to a 10-6 victory that included home runs by Jason Heyward, Ben Zobrist and Kyle Schwarber. The win came a day after the Cubs scored seven runs in the seventh inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The run support could be big for Chatwood, who has struggled throughout the season and will make his first start after being activated off the paternity list earlier this week. Chatwood told reporters Friday that he feels good and that he was able to come in and throw a bullpen session as he prepared for Saturday’s start.

He admitted the uncertainty of when his wife would give birth weighed on him in his last start. Chatwood (3-5, 3.95 ERA) has taken no-decisions in four of his past five starts but was effective in his most recent outing. Chatwood allowed a run and two hits in five innings against the Dodgers when he threw 101 pitches. He is 0-2 in three career starts against the Twins with a 6.91 ERA.

“Luckily, everything worked out,” Chatwood said Friday of the week’s events, according to the Chicago Tribune. “Everybody’s good.”

Chatwood will start after the Cubs hoped Yu Darvish could return from a right triceps injury on Saturday. Darvish, who experienced pain in a bullpen session on Thursday, flew to Dallas for a second opinion. Tests showed he has a right elbow impingement and inflammation and will be re-evaluated in three to five days.

The Twins http://www.coltsauthorizedshops.com/authentic-darius-leonard-jersey , who have lost six of their last eight games despite Joe Mauer’s five RBIs in Friday’s loss, will attempt to get back on track when left-hander Adalberto Mejia makes his first start of the season. Mejia, who went 4-7 with a 4.50 ERA in 21 starts last year, has spent the entire season in the minor leagues.

Mejia pitched well at Triple-A Rochester and struck out 50 and registered a 2.74 ERA in 49 1/3 innings. He has posted a 4-1 record in June with a 1.41 ERA with 30 strikeouts in 32 innings. Mejia will face the Cubs for the first time in his career.

The Twins announced this week that they would recall Mejia at a time that manager Paul Molitor said makes sense for everyone involved.

“The reports have been his command has been much better,” Molitor told reporters earlier this week, according to the team’s official website. “More efficient. His off-speed seems to be working. His changeup is the only pitch that’s been hot and cold. His fastball-slider command has been really good. He’s had a handful of good outings in a row. Efficient is good.”
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