Story By: Sol Tucker
Photos By: Sol Tucker
Washington, D.C–
After watching another stellar performance by Kyle Kuzma and the return of Bradley Beal, it appears the Wizards when they have all of their weapons available, they are able to beat just about any team in the NBA right now. Just ask the Sixers, as they handled them in Beal’s first game back from Health and Safety protocols, 117-98.
Today was another game for the Wizards where they did not have Head Coach Wes Unseld Jr. on the bench but would have to do without the services of Assistant Coach Pat Delany, who also had to enter Health and Safety protocols prior to the game today which left Joseph Blair next in line to take the helm for a game. His last stint fully coaching a squad was a head coach in the G League with the Rio Grande Valley Vipers in 2018-19. After the game he was asked about what it meant for him to be next in line to win a game for the Wizards this season.
“Some feelings, words don’t do justice, and I think today was one for me,” Blair said. “You get kind of consumed in the game at a certain point, and you no longer care where you’re at. You’re just doing what you need to do to get the team moving forward, whether it’s when I’m standing up as the head coach or if I’m sitting on the bench as an assistant coach.”
Blair obviously got a lot of out of his squad in this MLK Day game and he most certainly had the Wizards giving Philly’s best player in Joel Embiid all he could handle inside of the paint. If you remember back to just a few weeks ago, Embiid had to be separated by Wizards and Sixers players after going nuts after a hard foul. Today he was able to remain calm, but the foul calls did get to him quite a bit. Embiid finished the game with 32 points and 8 rebounds in 29 minutes.
The highlight of the day came when Kuzma dunked over Embiid with one hand to give the Wizards a 58-47 lead.
“I owed him, actually, because my rookie year I tried to dunk on him, and it didn’t go so well,” Kuzma said.
Moments later, Kuzma blocked a shot attempt by Embiid at the other end.
Washington had seven players in double figures. Montrezl Harrel led the way with 18 points, and Thomas Bryant had 15.
