Bradley Beal scored 33 points to help the Washington Wizards pull off the 119-117 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers just over a week after they took a loss to them back at the Staples Center.
Russell Westbrook, who had 27 points, 11 assists and nine rebounds in the game, came flying in from behind the 3-point line up top and tapped the loose ball off Rui Hachimura‘s missed free-throw to Beal as Beal ultimately sprinted away from multiple Clippers’ defenders to let the game clock run out.
“Initially no, but then I saw a red jersey flying out of nowhere, but then I knew it had to be Russ because nobody else is doing that,” Beal said in response to a question regarding if he saw Westbrook coming in for the game-saving rebound.
Another one of his teammates wasn’t particularly surprised about Westbrook’s end-of-the-game heroics.
“Don’t tell him I said this, but he has the heart of a lion,” Moritz Wagner said. “I don’t wanna give him too much credit. I’m very privileged and happy to be his teammate.”
With around 4:30 left in the fourth, Beal missed a 3-pointer that looked like it was going to go down, but it ultimately rimmed out. With the Wizards down by four, it seemed like the momentum was very much in the Clippers’ favor.
However, Davis Bertans and Wagner responded with back-to-back threes to push Washington back in front for the first time in the final period of play after entering the quarter with the game tied up.
Washington extended their run to 10-0 which carried them to about the 42-second mark on the game clock, as Nicolas Batum sank the triple to make it a one-possession game.
30 seconds later, Kawhi Leonard ran up the court and stepped up to drill the open 3-pointer for his only made field goal in the period to bring the Clippers within one, but the Wizards were ultimately able to hold off their late surge.
For as close as this game was throughout, Los Angeles actually led by as many as 16 points late in the second quarter. However, Washington responded with a 21-2 run bridging the second and third quarters to put them right back into the swing of things.
The Wizards head into the All-Star break just two games out of the 8th seed in the Eastern Conference, and 1.5 games out of a play-in spot.
