(Photo: Ned Dishman/NBAE via Getty Images)
By now, you know that the Washington Wizards had a chance to complete a 25-point comeback against the Miami Heat on Friday. With 5.8 seconds to play, Washington had the ball down two looking to force overtime or win the game. Bradley Beal received the inbounds pass and immediately had some space to potentially launch a game-winning three. Almost as if he was surprised by how free he was, there was an awkward pause before Beal then dribbled inside the arc. With a slight hesitation step-back move, Beal freed up for the shot, but the ball fell short and clanged off the front rim as the fading nature of the shot cost the Wizards a chance at overtime. Read what Beal himself as well as John Wall and Scott Brooks thought about the team's last shot of the game.
“I felt like it was a good look,” Beal shared. “I’m still debating in my head if I should have shot the three or if I should have went to my step-back or whatever. I’m still confident in that shot and that’s a shot I make every day, so I’m a little pissed off at myself, but I’ll have another opportunity to be in that situation again and it will be a different result.”
“I see (Josh) Richardson closing up pretty hard, so my first instinct was to just shoot a three,” Beal elaborated. “Somewhat in my head, I’m still thinking if I should have shot it or not or if I had time to shoot it. I had time to shoot it, but if my feet were set to be able to do. I seen him closing out, so I just wanted to get by him and try to get downhill and act like I was going towards the hoop and just shoot a quick pull up. He gave me a little bump and I should have shot my step-back. I probably faded a little too much, but I make that shot every day, so I’m a little mad at myself, but you know, I just gotta move on from it.”
“I think he could have shot a three, but he didn’t feel comfortable with it. He still got a clean look, just missed it,” Wall pondered.
“It was a great shot,” Brooks began about Beal’s shot with seconds left. “He had a wide open three; he could have taken that one. One dribble pull-up is hard to stop, because he pulls up on a dime, he has great lift on his jump shot. Couldn’t ask for a better look. Unfortunate it didn’t go down, it would have been a fun overtime game. I’m proud of our guys the way we competed. I just wish we would have had a better first half, but it wasn’t. We didn’t give up, we didn’t give in, we kept competing and gave our self a chance to tie the game in a last second shot.”
Now, to the video. First, Marcin Gortat sets a solid screen on Josh Richardson to get Beal free on the inbounds pass from Wall. For what it is worth, Beal should have been called for a travel on the catch for moving his pivot foot according to the NBA's last two minute report, but it was only observable via enhanced video. The screen was so good that Beal could have taken the three-point shot to try and win the game in regulation because Richardson was considerably slowed up by the Gortat screen. Instead, Beal decided to hesitate dribble to the free throw line extended where he got a clean mid-range jump shot, but the ball fell just short. Something that should not be taken for granted is Otto Porter Jr. working for offensive rebounding position, but unluckily seeing the ball bounce farther than he anticipated in a non-ideal direction.
