Wizards Blow Chance to Get Within a Game of the 8 Seed, Lose to Nets 118-110
The Washington Wizards lost their second game in the bubble Sunday as they fall to the Brooklyn Nets 118-110, forfeiting an opportunity to inch their way back into the last playoff spot as they are now 7 games back of the aforementioned Nets for the 8th seed in the East. Washington had an 85-83 lead entering the fourth quarter until Nets SG Caris Lavert scored 14 of his game high 34 points in the final seven minutes of the game to put away the Wizards and drop their season record to 24-42.
The bright spot for the Wizards in this game would undoubtedly be Thomas Bryant, as the former Hoosier scored a career high 30 points and 13 rebounds while shooting 4-6 from 3 point range. Troy Brown Jr also had a very impressive outing, close to landing himself a triple-double with 22 points, 10 rebounds and a game high 8 assists. Disappointing, however, would be the lack of production from rookie Rui Hachimura, as the rising star would post a lackluster 9-4-4 stat line Sunday and was ultimately a non factor for the game.
At the end of the day, the Nets just had too much talent on the floor for the Wizards to keep up with. Caris Lavert was the star of the game logging 34 points for Brooklyn, UVA product Joe Harris shot a lights out 6-7 from 3 to score 27, and Jarrett Allen posted a 22 point, 15 rebound performance that would prove too much for the Wizards, who are already down their top two scorers this year in Bradley Beal and Davis Bertans.
With a playoff spot looking like a long shot for the Wizards, the best we can do is enjoy our team while they’re on television, and if that’s too depressing, we can always fall back on this John Wall video that he posted on Instagram yesterday and look to the future.
The Wizards next game is today at 4 pm against the Indiana Pacers.
