Story By: Richard Thomas
Photos By: Sol Tucker
Washington, D.C–
The Wizards have played some close games this season, but this one against the Hornets almost got away. If it wasn’t for some late antics by John Wall, this would have been another disappointing loss for the Wizards after returning home from a huge let down in Miami.
Point guard John Wall led the Wizards with 25 points and 10 assists. Five other Wizards reached double-figure scoring.
Against Washington, the Hornets led by as many as 10 early in the third quarter, then trailed by as many as 12, but made things interesting at the end.
The Hornets pulled within two points after Marco Belinelli stole the ball from Wall, leading to Cody Zeller’s layup with 10.6 seconds remaining. Wall made one of two free throws a second later for a three-point lead, before Nicolas Batum and Walker both missed 3s that would have tied it.
Wall tallied his 13th double-double of the season with 25 points, 10 assists, six rebounds, and a season-high seven steals. With those seven steals, Wall passed Greg Ballard (762) to become the all-time franchise leader in steals with 764. Wall entered last night averaging 27.5 points, 8.8 assists and 5.8 rebounds over the team’s last four home games.
Beal, 0 for 6 in the first half, scored 11 points in the third. He finished with 20 points, a career-high nine assists and one turnover.
“Oh, that’s a good ratio,” he said with a big smile.
Next up for the Wizards is a match-up against the Clippers on Sunday at Verizon Center.
Bradley Beal finished with 20 points, including 3-of-7 from beyond the arc, to go along with a career-high nine assists and four rebounds. He is now one three-pointer away from being the third player in franchise history with 500 made three-pointers.