Story By: Sol Tucker
Photos By: Sol Tucker
Washington, D.C–
Tonight the Wizards returned home for a week of games that contained a good chance for a couple of much needed victories in there for Scott Brooks… enter the woeful Knicks and well not the state they wanted. It’s beginning to seem like their chances without Bradley Beal out and a mixture of G League and veteran players, it seems every night is no longer a given anything for this team.
Washington who basically was run off the court in Detroit, certainly at times could have had a lot of the same happen tonight, but two runs in the third and fourth quarters kept the game close until the final minutes of the fourth quarter when the Wizards were forced to foul in hopes of keeping the game alive. A turnover with under a minute spelled the end of the chances dropping them to another loss to the Knicks, 107-100.
There were 19 lead changes, and the final one came when Randle hit a jumper with 7:56 remaining to give New York (9-24) a 93-92 lead. The Knicks held Washington (9-22) scoreless for 5:51 in the fourth quarter. The Wizards scored just eight points in the final 8:19.
Isaiah Thomas and Jordan McRae each scored 20 points for Washington. Gary Payton II, one of the two free agents the team signed this week who started, had 15.
For the Knicks they had a strong night from Center Julius Randle with 30 points and 16 rebounds and 6 assists. Randle had his way with the Wizards late in the second half as they failed to figure a way to get stops when they needed them.
“We made a few mistakes late in the game and Julius got a few tough buckets that put us down two baskets. I thought we still had a shot at it when we were down by six, then we turned the ball over when we needed a bucket to cut it a one possession game and we missed. We have to do better with whatever guys we have on the floor late to finish games.” said Wizards Head Coach Scott Brooks.
The Wizards return home on Monday to face the Miami Heat before starting 2020 off against the Orlando Magic on January 1st.
