Without Bradley Beal, Wizards are short on answers in blowout loss to Knicks
Beal watched the Wizards’ 109-91 loss from the sidelines dressed in avenue garments with matching sneakers and a beanie. In a super world, Washington (6-17) would have preferred him to lace up his basketball sneakers as an alternative.
But in this actuality, the Wizards are attempting to keep away from grinding their star participant to mud.
“This is a period that we feel he could get some rest,” Coach Scott Brooks mentioned on a videoconference earlier than the sport. “It’d be good for his body, he’s fought a lot. He’s not hurt, he’s just — you know, we need to look ahead in the schedule and that’s the way it is.”
The Wizards have been steamrolled at Capital One Arena with out him, posting their second-lowest offensive outing of the season and solely holding issues respectable by way of most of three quarters due to how terribly the Knicks (12-15) shot from past the arc.
Otherwise, Washington’s offense was inert in Beal’s second missed recreation. He additionally sat throughout a Jan. 9 loss to Miami due to the league’s coronavirus protocols. This loss featured poor spacing, sticky ball motion and 14 turnovers.
Starting level guard Russell Westbrook led the group with 23 factors on 10-of-22 capturing, together with 9 rebounds and 10 assists. Garrison Mathews, who’s on a two-way contract with the Wizards and splits his time between the NBA and the G League, received his first profession begin in place of Beal and added 14 factors together with 4 three-pointers.
Starting ahead Rui Hachimura and backup guard Troy Brown Jr. every added 10 factors.
Julius Randle led the Knicks with 24 factors and 18 rebounds. Starting middle Mitchell Robinson might need been proper there with him — he had a double-double at halftime — however left the sport after one half with a fractured proper hand, in accordance to New York.
Washington performed the second half down a person as effectively. One recreation after he missed time as a result of he wanted stitches in his lip, backup level guard Ish Smith missed the second half Friday with tightness in his proper quad.
Before their departures, the Wizards as soon as once more had bother on the three-point line: Washington made 4 of 20 from past the arc in the primary half, two of which belonged to Brown.
The Knicks weren’t a lot better from lengthy vary — they shot 1-for-6 from three in the primary half and ended the sport going 6-for-24 — however they balanced issues out by dominating in the paint. Robinson performed bully earlier than his harm and had 10 factors and 14 rebounds by halftime, serving to New York to a 75-47 edge on the boards for the sport.
The Wizards had simply seven second-chance factors all evening.
