The Washington Wizards came into Tuesday night’s home game against the Miami Heat having lost a season-worst three games in a row. This was an important game as the fight for good playoff seeding is at its peak. Washington got off to a fast start, cooled off, but stayed level despite a lot of turnovers to defeat the Heat 117-114. You can read more about the game itself in our game recap here. Read on to hear what the team had to say after the game.
“It was two competitive teams [and] we both fought,” head coach Scott Brooks said. “It’s one of those games that someone is going to have to come away with a loss. We’ve been in those situations, it feels like, the last three games in a row on our home floor. We made enough right plays at the end.”
Coming into this game, both the Wizards and the Heat were fighting for seeding in the Eastern Conference playoffs. A loss to the Pacers on Sunday night brought the Wizards down to fifth place after spending most of the season in fourth. The Heat on the other hand moved up to seventh in the East after a win Monday night over the Suns.
(Photo: Ned Dishman via Getty Images)
This game needed overtime to decide the winner, but the additional heart shown by both teams in the 48 minutes of regulation was something to take notice. The Wizards led by as many as 18, but the Heat clawed back and kept with it thanks in large part to a vintage Dwyane Wade showing that made things feel like it was 2006 all over again. Wade finished with 22 points.
On the Wizards side, Bradley Beal had an excellent game with 30 points, his 13th game this season where he has scored 30 or more points. Tomas Satoransky added 19 as he continues to fill in for John Wall as he recovers from knee surgery.
“Our pace and passing, talk about the two P’s,” Brooks said. “It was good and at a high level in that first half. Especially that first quarter.”
The Wizards led 27-9 early on in the game thanks to some excellent ball movement and great shots. Everybody was eating, no pun intended.
Beal had 10 points in the first quarter, Satoransky added seven, while Porter and Morris each chipped in with five. The Wizards shot 54.5 percent (12-of-22) from the field and 71.4 percent (5-of-7) from three-point.
Markieff Morris and his teammates met with Monty McCutchen, the NBA Head of Referee Development and Training, along with other NBA officiating representatives on Tuesday morning to discuss the on-going theme of respect of the rules. This was his two cents on what he got out of the meeting.
“Nothing,” Morris said. “I still got a tech tonight so obviously it really doesn’t [matter]. … All of it just went in one ear, out the other. Sometimes emotions get involved and guys just jumping the gun.”
Morris finished the game with five fouls as well as the aforementioned technical foul at the tail end of the third quarter. The technical, his 10th of the season, came as a result of Morris being upset on a blocking foul called against him. Morris believed that the drive by Justise Winslow should have been a charge.
Bradley Beal had a chance to win the game in regulation with the game tied at 105, but his jumper in the final seconds fell short clanging off the front rim. This was the second straight game Beal took the final shot and could not win it or tie it as was the case on Sunday against Indiana.
“I got a thousand more to go,” Beal said when a reporter brought up his lack of efficiency late in clutch situations.
Beal is 1-of-15 when the Wizards are tied or trailing by five or fewer points with under 30 seconds to go. This needs to improve sooner rather than later with John Wall not back yet. But like Beal said, Tuesday’s game certainly will not be his last chance to win a game.
With the Wizards up two with nine seconds to go, Goran Dragic found Dwyane Wade inside the paint. Wade faked out Satoranksy with a pump show of the ball, but Morris was there to contest the shot. It bounced off the rim and Kelly Oubre Jr. grabbed the rebound before hitting a pair of free throws to seal the game.
“I think I made him change the look in his shot,” Morris explained. “I just so happened to see Tomas go for the fake so I just crashed down.”
The Wizards will get some much needed rest before playing a road back-to-back on Friday and Saturday. First up, the red-hot Pelicans before rounding out the stretch against this same Miami Heat team.