Wizards 106
Knicks 103
April 6, 2017 - Madison Square Garden, New York, NY
The Wizards survived a near scare at The Garden, beating the Knicks 106-103 for their 48th win of the season. Two more till the big 5-0. Washington swept the four-game season series over New York and now turn their attention towards the Heat on Saturday night in their regular season home finale. Following that contest is two more road games. Notice how I said regular season. They’ll open the playoffs on their homecourt, it’s just a matter of where they’ll be seeded. Record-wise, the Wizards are even with the Raptors but remain in fourth due to Toronto owning the tiebreaker.
The Wizards led by 12 in the final quarter but the Knicks wouldn’t go away. Carmelo Anthony did his thing and the Knicks tied it at 101 before a clutch three by Bradley Beal with 49 seconds gave DC the lead for good. Beal would later hit a pair of free throws and Melo missed the game-tying three. Beal finished with a game-high 25 points while John Wall added 24 points and eight assists.
Quick Hits:
Defense was alright (in the beginning) but needs improvement.
Last game, the Wizards gave up 63 first half points and Coach Brooks was furious. Whatever he told them in the locker room that night worked for a win. Last night, the Wizards were much more improved on the defensive end in the first half. Bradley Beal got in on the act with a couple of steals early on. In the second half it was a different story. What hurt them the most was on the boards as the Knicks had 20 offensive rebounds. According to CSN’s Chase Hughes, this was the third time the Wizards had allowed 20 or more offensive rebounds in a game this season. The season-high was 22 against this same Knicks team on Jan. 31. The only difference about the Knicks from that game to the most recent is that Brandon Jennings is now with the good guys.
Wall said it best after the game, plain and simple:
“We have to do a better job defensively.”
He would later say:
“Defense is a big factor in the playoffs. Every possession matters.”
Hammer time
The Wizards turned to the Polish Hammer early on and it paid off right from the get-go. Marcin Gortat scored 16 points and made all seven shots he took. It was the most field goals he’s had since shooting 7-for-12 on Feb. 10 against the Pacers. There’s this old saying that you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take. For Gortat, he can make 100% of the shots he’s taken against the Knicks. He also went 7-7 against the Knicks back on Jan. 31.
Scott Brooks for Coach of the Year
Before Beal hit a pair of free throws to pretty much seal the game, Brooks called a timeout with the Wizards ahead 104-103 with 10.2 seconds left. He drew up an inbounds play that I think was one of the big differences in the game. Wall in-bounded the ball to Beal, who was boxing out Justin Holiday to the right side corner of the hoop down low in the paint. Beal leaped and caught it and while he missed the tough play, he drew the foul and that helped put the Wizards up by a safer margin of three. Worst case scenario: Knicks make a three to tie it and force overtime but thankfully we didn’t have to worry about that.
Highlights:
When a Panda doesn’t have their bamboo, they get it even if it involves stealing.
John Wall doesn’t tip toe in his Jordans…. He leaps and dunks in them
Panda, Panda, Panda… I get clutch points from three landa. Okay I’ll stop now.