The Washington Wizards have had a less than stellar start to the season. So facing the Brooklyn Nets with the duo of Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving a win didn’t seem likely. It seemed like another blowout was coming with some predicting a loss by double figures.
Yet that seemingly was going to happen with the Wizards trailing by 18 in the first quarter. Bradley Beal and Russell Westbrook made sure a double-digit loss wasn’t going to happen managing to cut the deficit to six by half time at the end of three trailed by seven.
Washington didn’t make their run until the seconds of the game. In fact trailed by five with under 10 seconds left to play. Beal then hits a three with 7.6 seconds on the clock. Joe Harris inexplicably tries to get the ball in quickly resulting in a steal by Garrison Mathews who then found Westbrook who buries a three with 4.3 seconds left.
Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot got an excellent look off an in-bounds play for the game winner and missed. The Wizards got the rebound with .7 seconds left and Beal ended at the free throw line and made both which gave the Wizards the 149-146 win.
For Beal he finally was able to smile. He and Westbrook combined for 78 points, 16 rebounds and 12 assists and the Wizards improve to 4-12 on the season. Meanwhile Washington exposed the poor defense of the Nets and what perfectly illustrates that was the 48 points put up in the fourth.
Here’s a look at the closing seconds of the game.
Things that just happened in the NBA:
THIS ??? (? @NBCSWashington / @NBATV) pic.twitter.com/gdgCuni7E4
— NBC Sports (@NBCSports) February 1, 2021