Story By: Erin Zollars
Photos By: Sol Tucker
Miami, FL–
Before the game today the Heat’s Dwyane Wade talked about facing the Wizards for the second time in a week and he said it was just another must win game for his team, only he didn’t think it would be this kind of win, the most lopsided of the season so far.
For the Wizards all of the talk about how well the team has performed without John Wall, well you can forget that even was mentioned at one point over the past month, because their performance tonight indicated that they need him in the line-up no matter what if this team hopes do anything in the playoffs.
Bradley Beal played 27 minutes and produced a minus-26 rating, finishing with 14 points ono 5-of-12 shooting. The starting front line of Marcin Gortat, Otto Porter Jr. and Markieff Morris secured 12 rebounds. Miami backup center Kelly Olynyk grabbed 11 on his own.
The Wizards (38-29) gave up 43 points in the third quarter, hardly looking like the team that had entered the night just a half-game behind the Cleveland Cavaliers for the third spot in the Eastern Conference.
“We just could not get anything going tonight,” said Wizards Head Coach Scott Brooks. ” I recognize that things got away from us really quick in the second half and we will have to find ways to fix that.
“Our energy was great, both ends of the court, said Heat Coach Eric Spoelstra. “Right from the beginning, it looked like we were the more aggressive, faster, quicker team. And they’re coming off a back to back and they had to travel from New Orleans. That is part of what we wanted to.. ( when referring to being aggressive).
The Wizards sort of knew their night was over when the Heat went into the fourth quarter with a 103-76 lead.