The Washington Wizards (2-8) lost to the Miami Heat (4-4) on Saturday night by 128-124 in a game in which Washington’s top stars stayed out of the game, but some younger players went up, though it wasn’t enough.
I’m not sure what to think of the game that I will see later. The most important thing is to focus on the coronavirus. Bradley Beal was left out of the game because he was a close contact for a positive case of coronavirus, that is, Jayson Tatum. In the coming days, we can see players from Washington testing the positive virus, which killed more than 370,000 people and infected more than 22 million. But, given that the NBA is hesitant to stop games, unless its lists are eliminated (or have less than eight players), it is not something I would do.
Anyway, Russell Westbrook was also left out due to a hip injury. I’m not sure what to think about the injury at the moment, but at least it gave Raul Neto another game and Garrison Mathews an extended playing time.
And if that weren’t enough, Thomas Bryant played briefly and left the game early due to an apparent knee injury.
Even Moritz Wagner and Troy Brown had time again, although it was probably due to Beal and Westbrook not playing.
As for my feeling about the game itself, the Wizards again let the Heat do what they wanted, although they kept it relatively close in the first half and were only losing 75-71. Let me say that again. 75-71! If the Wizards weren’t shooting well to start the game, they would have been kicked out of Arena Capital One!
The two teams calmed down in the third quarter, but the Wizards did … a little too much. they hit just 23.1 percent overall and allowed the Heat to enter the fourth period with a 103-86 lead. Although it wasn’t enough, in the end we saw Garrison Mathews score 22 points to lead Washington and Deni Avdija set his career record with 20 points and made a pair of three to make this game interesting in the end.
Jimmy Butler led the Heat with 26 points.
The Wizards’ next game is on Monday, January 11, against the Phoenix Suns at 7:00 pm Eastern time. I’m still not feeling well with this week’s events and … yes. It’s hard to be a Wizards fan now. But somehow, it will also pass.