Story By: Sol Tucker
Photos By: Sol Tucker
Washington, D.C–
It’s beginning to look like a scene from the movie Ground Hog Day with the Wizards the past week. Fall behind, battle back with a minute or less remaining and then fall short after an amazing effort. This is exactly what happened to them tonight in a 109-105 loss to the Raptors.
After a rim rocking dunk to tie the game by Montrezl Harrell, Fred Van Fleet decided that he was going to take matters back into his own hands just as he did for quite a bit of the fourth quarter, hitting a huge three pointer with 59 seconds to go in the game and forcing the Wizards to foul the remainder of the way.
Toronto got a huge game from Rookie Scottie Barnes scored a career-high 27 points, VanVleet scored 21 and had 12 assists, Pascal Siakam also scored 21 points for Toronto, which went 2/3 on a five-game trip.
Bradley Beal again led the way for Washington with 25 points. He also had eight assists, but committed nine turnovers, equaling his career high. The Wizards, who began the season 10-3, are 13-20 since.
“We turned it over way too many times,” Beal said. “That’s unacceptable. It’s 100 percent on (me).”
Beal, who has continued to give it his all night and night out since coming off the COVID list, had to do without the services of Kyle Kuzma tonight. This could have been the difference in the game had Kuz been able to go tonight.
Kuzma who had to sit out with neck spasms has been a huge part of the team this season and after the game acting coach Joseph Blair commented on this whirlwind week.
“This has been a week of curveballs,” Blair said. “We’ve constantly wondered how we’re going to deal with our depth, and this is a good opportunity to utilize it.”
The Wizards will have yet another tough match-up on Sunday against the Celtics.