Russell Westbrook posted yet another triple-double – 19 points, 19 rebounds and 10 assists as the Washington Wizards went on to defeat the Detroit Pistons 106-92.
The Wizards regained control of this game in the fourth quarter after nearly blowing a 30 point lead, with Detroit outscoring Washington 34-11 in the third quarter.
“It was a good win for us,” Wizards head coach Scott Brooks said. “We needed it. We needed a win to get off the bad taste in our mouth from the last game.”
After Isaiah Stewart‘s putback layup with a little over 10:15 left in the game, the Pistons trailed by just three points. However, the Wizards responded with a game-defining run, as their defense prevented any Pistons points from going up on the board for a little under five minutes as they built their lead up to double-digits. Washington pulled away even further from there.
After Bradley Beal exited the game with just nine minutes left in the third due to an injury, the Pistons quickly went on a 23-2 spurt to bring the game within single digits after trailing by as many as 30 in the period.
Wayne Ellington‘s three consecutive 3-pointers near the halfway point of the third was huge, as that helped the Pistons slice Washington’s big lead to 16, almost half their biggest lead in the period.
Detroit then went on another 7-0 run capped off a Stewart three at the 2:17 mark to make it a nine-point game. The Pistons didn’t stop there, as they ended the period down by just four points.
New Wizard Impresses
Daniel Gafford put up 13 points on 6-of-7 shooting, five rebounds and three blocks in his Wizards debut, displaying great athleticism, soft touch around the rim and awareness out there on the court.
Gafford has a couple of nice finishes at the rim off of feeds from both Beal and Westbrook, as Beal set the 6-foot-10 forward/center with a nice alley-oop.
“They can throw it to the moon, and I’ll go up and bring it back down to Earth,” Gafford said of the alley-oop connection with Beal.
Gafford also had a couple of nice finishes off of feeds from Westbrook, including another alley-oop slam.
“I didn’t wanna be out there like a chicken with his head cut off and be in the wrong spot because Russ, I think he would yell at me,” Gafford said.
To Gafford’s point, if you’re in the right spot, Westbrook will feed you. There’s a reason why he’s averaged a triple-double for three consecutive seasons.
