Short takes
It has been a tough month for former Timberwolves point guard Ricky Rubio, who has been knocked to the floor three times by three players who all were ejected. Wolves guard Jeff Teague body-checked Rubio into the Wolves' bench nearly three weeks ago and Thursday, first Phoenix's Jared Dudley shoved Rubio to the floor and then teammate Marquese Criss did it again as soon as Rubio got up. They did so, apparently, because Rubio had stepped over Criss while he was on the floor after a missed dunk.
"This is a problem for our team when these things happen and they happen multiple times," Jazz coach Quin Snyder said. "It becomes cumulative so the other team, they move on to the next game and it happens again to us with a different team and then it happens to us again with another team. ... Guys are going to have each other's backs. Where that goes when it gets like that, you never know what's going to happen. Those guys in that locker room, there's a brotherhood and they're going to defend each other."
Out since late January, the Wizards' John Wall is expected to begin contact work this week on his road back from knee surgery. Before Saturday's game against Indiana, the Wizards were 13-8 in games without him, thanks plenty to backcourt mate Bradley Beal.
"It's different seeing him out there because we haven't seen him for a long time," Beal said. "It's like we welcomed back a new player onto the team. It's good. We're excited. I know he'll be back in no time, for sure. He looks really good."
