Story By: Erin Zollars
Photos By: Sol Tucker
Washington, D.C–
Whenever the Wizards seemed to have a touch of bad luck, Bradley Beal is right there to waive his shooting wand to make things better. Tonight, well it worked again against the Hawks in a 114-98 victory without John Wall and Markeif Morris.
Beal had 24 points, Jeff Green added 22 and Thomas Bryant scored 16 to go with a career-high 15 rebounds.
No matter what the circumstances have been during this season, Beal has always been there to step up in the absence of players, which has seemed to be quite often this season.
Without Wall, Beal is going to have to carry a heavy load if the expect to keep from falling off in the Eastern Conference in the remainder of the first half of the season.
“We all have to be better,” Beal said. “We know how much weight he carries, and his importance to this franchise and this team. We’re definitely going to miss him. We hate that he’s out. We’re not sitting here saying we’re a better team without him. … We have to realize, accept the fact that he won’t be with us this year and we’ve got to do our best to make a run at it.”
Another big blow for the Wizards tonight was the absence of Morris. He has missed his third straight game with upper back/neck stiffness. He saw a specialist and the Wizards were awaiting results. The did get Otto Porter back in the lineup tonight after he missed 10 games with a bruised right knee. He didn’t start for the first time this season and was restricted to 13 minutes. He scored nine points.
Next up for the Wizards is a road trip to Miami on Friday. The Heat are currently atop of the Eastern Conference.