Post-Game Analysis
Wizards win! Wizards win! Wizards win!
Start with straight shots and then pop bottles!
The Washington Wizards snap a 5-game losing skid against the top-seeded Western Conference Utah Jazz, 131-122. A win on Thursday night also ends a 9-game winning streak Utah has had against the Wizards.
“We had no choice but to guard or we were going to lose by 30,” said Bradley Beal.
The Washington backcourt was absolutely phenomenal in Thursday night’s win. Bradley Beal scored 43 points, contributed 5 assists, and had a way better night from behind the arc draining 4 out of 6. Bradley Beal now has 27 40-point games with the franchise trailing behind the great Gilbert Arenas who has 28 with the franchise.
Russell Westbrook aka Russel-Mania aka BeastBrook had 35 points, 15 rebounds, and 13 assists in 37 minutes. Russell Westbrook deserves a lot more credit. Since ASG Weekend, Russell has been more aggressive, improving at the free-throw line as well as shot selection, and provides a great deal of help for Bradley Beal.
Russell is averaging 28 points, 9 rebounds, and 12 assists in the month of March and has lowered his 3 point attempts to 5 a game.
Isaac Bonga, who does not see much playing time, played exceptionally well last night as a role player. Isaac was spacing out the floor on transition as well as securing offensive rebounds in very clutch moments during the 4th when Washington was playing with fire.
The power of the pen is mighty. On the article released yesterday covering the Sacramento game, it was predicted that Washington would have this game in the bag and that they did.
Washington came out aggressive and stayed aggressive throughout the course of the game. After a 14 percent shooting night from behind the arc against Sacramento, Washington made the smart choices on shot selection and improved to 41% (7/17) in their contest against Utah.
This has been said time and time again when the Wizards play defense, great things happen. Washington forced 16 turnovers that contributed to 24 points. Utah was absolutely abysmal from the free-throw line that led to easy transitional scores for Washington.
”We guarded for 48 minutes,” Beal said. ”We just did a good job of making them uncomfortable. We executed on the offensive end. We made sure everyone was involved, but it was definitely the defense that won us the game.”
Rudy Gobert scored 10 points, secured 13 rebounds, and missed his first 7 free throws. That was one of the funniest things I have witnessed all season. Donovan Mitchell scored 42 points on 53 percent shooting from the field in 38 minutes. Mitchell had all Washington fans scared in that 3rd Q.
Joe Ingles scored a career-high 34 points on 8 for 10 shooting from downtown.
Takeaways
Washington’s last win against Utah came in 2016 but their win last night proved that any team can be beaten. Washington has now taken out all the top 6 seeded teams in the Western Conference. The Wizards are currently 7-2 when facing top 6 seeded teams.
”We’re playing against the best team in basketball,” Washington coach Scott Brooks said. ”Our antennas were up. We’ve got to do that every night.”
Davis Bertans exited his second game in a week last night only playing a few minutes. Bertans left last night’s contest due to a calf injury. His next available outing will be against the Brooklyn Nets on Sunday but it has not been determined yet.
