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Neil Dalal

Bradley Beal Cannot Will Wizards Over Thunder


Thunder 121

Wizards 112

January 25, 2018 | Chesapeake Energy Arena | Oklahoma City, OK

The Washington Wizards failed to make up for their embarrassing loss in Dallas on Monday with an impressive national television showing as they have done previously in the season. In their loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Wizards lost their first game this season when losing by 20 or more points in the previous game. The road team did not lead for any of the four quarters against the Thunder and could never overcome a 19-point deficit despite tying the game at 68 and pulling to within 88-85 in the fourth quarter.

Currently tied with the Indiana Pacers at 26-22, Washington sits as the six seed with the Philadelphia 76ers and Milwaukee Bucks each just a game back. "I’m upset," Bradley Beal said. "I think everybody is upset and frustrated, but we’re still a team. We’re still together. We keep our heads high. Tough one in Atlanta this weekend."

 

All-Star Bradley Beal Shows Up

LeBron James is proud that he selected Bradley Beal in the All-Star draft on Thursday afternoon. In 46 minutes of play, Bradley Beal scored 41 points on 15-of-26 (57.7 percent) shooting including 6-of-11 from deep to go along with a career-high tying 12 rebounds and seven assists, which are two shy of his career-high. In the previous nine fourth quarters, Beal has shot 3-of-32 (9.4 percent) from the field and misses all 17 of his three-point attempts, but he single-handedly kept Washington relevant with 18 points on 6-of-8 shooting including 4-of-5 from deep in the fourth quarter against the Thunder. Beal has long been his biggest critic and could care less about individual accomplishment if it means better team success. Following the loss, he succinctly said, “I’m pissed.”

 

MVP Russell Westbrook Shows Up

In 37 minutes, in front of his former coach, Russell Westbook put up 46 points, 6 rebounds, and 6 assists to lead a surging Oklahoma City team to their sixth straight victory. Westbrook had 21 of the home team's 39 fourth quarter points to create separation every time the Wizards put together a mini-run to make things seemingly a game again. Westbrook penetrated through Washington’s defense with ease as no one showed any interest of stopping the ball consistently, but instead surrendering straight line drives to the basket. "He's a competitor, a tough guard," Wall said about Westbrook who thought he was the last of LeBron James' draft picks behind Wall instead of realizing the chronological order.

“He has so much anger toward the ball,” Brooks said. “That ball’s scared not to go in at times. He’s not a great three-point shooter but he does everything great.”

 

Wizards Do Not Protect The Ball

Oklahoma City had 36 points off of 23 Washington turnovers during the game with the former being the most the Wizards have surrendered this season. For the third time in eight games, the Wizards had 23 turnovers, which is gifting their opponents easy opportunities in transition. The Thunder were credited with 22 fast break points on the night. Oklahoma City also had 13 offensive rebounds, seven courtesy of Steven Adams, which led to 22 second chance points.

"Giving them a 14-point lead was turn the ball over, offensive rebounds that was keeping them in the game," Wall said about the reasons behind a disappointing first half. "We already knew what we could do against this team, especially at home, and we did it."

"Offensive rebounds and turnovers," Beal attributed the loss to. "We didn't rebound well. We came in knowing Steven Adams is the best offensive rebounder in the game ... Another point of emphasis was don't turn the ball over. We had way too many turnovers tonight to even consider winning. It's crazy because our scout guys said if we don't rebound and we turn the ball over, we're going to lose and that's exactly what happened."

 

Supporting Cast Shows Up Too Late

In the first half, Washington could only scrap together 40 points because of 35.7 percent (15-of-42) shooting from the field and 23.1 percent (3-of-13) from beyond the arc. Even Beal struggled early missing his first three shots before finishing 15-of-23 (65.2 percent), but there was no one else ready to help the cause. At halftime, John Wall, Otto Porter, and Markieff Morris were a combined 6-of-22 (27.3 percent) from the field as Beal was the only Wizard with more than three buckets.

In the second half, help came in terms of 72 points on 61.4 percent shooting (27-of-44) from Washington with Wall and Morris heating up. After halftime, Wall had 16 points on 5 of 8 shooting including 4 of 5 from deep all in the fourth quarter, while Morris chipped in with 12 points on 5 of 5 shooting including two three-pointers. It was a case of too little too late for the Wizards as they could not keep up with the fire power of the Thunder late to overtake the lead.

 

Washington Center Position Is A Mess

I still believe Marcin Gortat is an above average option to play 30 or more minutes a game for the Wizards because of his ability to create open shots for Wall, Beal and Porter. Brooks has been quick on the trigger with Gortat who has not played more than 21 minutes in the past four games. Gortat had 4 points on 2-of-3 shooting but could not contain Steven Adams who had 12 points on 5-of-7 shooting and 10 rebounds compared to one for Washington's counter.

Ian Mahinmi is not much better despite having 4 points on 2-of-2 shooting as he racked up four fouls in less than 11 minutes. The $64 million man still is a major liability on offense, too, which makes things difficult for Tomas Satoransky and Mike Scott to initiate offense without drawing a double team.

Jason Smith has been DNP-CD for much of the season but got 150 seconds of run in Oklahoma City but he is also far from a solution as he is a huge defensive liability cannot shoot a jump shot if his career depended on it at the moment. Brooks has also opted to go small ball with either Morris or Scott playing center as was the case for nine of the final 12 minutes, which did seem to open up the offense.

 

Next Game: Washington will finish their longest road trip of the season in Atlanta on Saturday looking to make sure they do not lose three games in a row for the first time this season.

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