Bradley Beal drops 40 for second straight game in win vs Grizzles
Bradley Beal has been on FIRE, scoring 40 points for the second straight game as the Wizards beat the Memphis Grizzlies 135-128, bouncing back from a home loss to Charlotte on Friday. Beal shot 12 of 17 from the field and made a career-high nine 3-pointers. He added seven assists, five rebounds and two steals while only committing one turnover. Bobby Portis had a nice bounce-back game after combining for only nine points in his last two games. Portis had 18 points, six rebounds and shot 3-for-5 from three. Jabari Parker added 20 points and 11 rebounds.
On the Grizzles side of the ball, Mike Conley had 28 points and 12 assists for Memphis. Jonas Valanciunas scored 22 points and Avery Bradley added 21. The Grizzles also got production from Chandler Parsons who had season highs in points (16) and rebounds (six). Joakim Noah was also in on the action and added 15 points with eight rebounds and gave the Wizards’ bigs some real trouble.
The game was another high scoring affair as both teams scored 100 points through the first three quarters. Beal shot a go ahead 3-pointer to give the Wizards a 119-114 lead with 6:03 remaining and then followed with a driving layup to increase the lead to seven. Memphis cut the lead by three when Jonas Valanciunas dunked and Mike Conley made two free throws after a Washington turnover, but Jeff Green made up for it by hitting a corner 3 for Washington to make it 129-123. Conley also answered with a 3, but Beal scored on a drive as the shot clock expired. Valanciunas has another dunk that pulled Memphis to 131-128, but Jabari Parker hit two free throws with 6.2 seconds left off a clear-path foul. Eventually Washington would go on to win the game and now have moved within three games of eighth-place Miami and improved to 3-1 on a five-game homestand.
Wizards host the Utah Jazz on Monday.
