Story By: Sol Tucker
Photos By: Sol Tucker
Washington, D.C–
While the Detroit Pistons are quite a way from being super competitive in the NBA, tonight they gave the Wizards a little bit of a ride until Kyle Kuzma took over in the fourth quarter helping the Wizards to a 103-94 victory.
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope added 16, and Deni Avdija had 12 points and a career-high 15 rebounds as the Washington Wizards sent the Detroit Pistons to their eighth straight loss, 103-94 on Monday night.
Saddiq Bey led Detroit (12-45) with 24 points. Jerami Grant scored 14 and Cade Cunningham, who leads NBA rookies in scoring, was in foul trouble for much of the game and finished with 12 points.
The Wizards are getting a new offensive look all without Bradley Beal and we have yet to see Porzingis in the line-up. Could this be the Wizards team that creeps into the playoffs after unloading so many new faces that came to D.C? Can Kuzma lead this team the way he has been over the past few weeks?
Washington (26-30), losers of nine of their previous 11, took a 75-74 lead on Ish Smith’s jumper with 2:47 left in the third. Kuzma scored seven points in the final 80 seconds of the quarter as the Wizards took an 87-78 lead after three.
In other game news, Rui Hachimura, who has been playing extremely well over the past few games was involved in a collision with Marvin Bagley III early in the second quarter. Bagley was assessed a flagrant foul, Hachimura converted on a four-point play and left the game later in the quarter with a sprained right ankle. No immediate reports on the condition of Hachimura was available after the game.
“We will evaluate Rui again tomorrow and get a further update on him before we head out to Indiana,” said Wizards Head Coach Wes Unseld Jr.
