A few days after their heavy defeat conceded on the field of the Bucks, the Wizards took revenge on Milwaukee by winning narrowly at home (107-102). Slow to start, the Wall-Beal tandem was decisive late in the game, alongside 32 points (and 13 rebounds) from Otto Porter. It is their 7th victory in 10 matches. Washington has only one more defeat than Milwaukee, 8th, which loses its 6th game out of 9.
The evolution curve of the Wizards-Bucks score this night does not leave too much doubt: the match was played with one possession for almost the entire game. Milwaukee appears to be off to the best start thanks to its up-and-coming All-Star Giannis Antetokounmpo. At dunk in counter-attack, on the step-back away from the circle, or fixing passes for Snell, the Greek has every intention of doing as well as in the previous confrontation between the two teams. With Tony Snell, he finds a partner of choice tonight. On fire in the second quarter, the former Bulls shooter had the best game of his season with 20 points and 6/11 from three points.
Wall distributes everything
Opposite, Porter sends his first darts from the arc. John Wall pushes the tempo and distributes for everyone. His friend Beal, not much more skilful, does the same. Only 6 points (at 2/11 on shots) for the back duo at the break, but Washington is still in the running (53-57). Interesting number: the first 16 shots of the premises come from assists.
In the third quarter, Snell and Porter continue to respond by 3-point interposed. But Beal and Wall begin to heat up. The leader, author of his best passing game of the season (16) misses his finish near the circle, but takes his own rebound, with authority, to get back in just before the buzzer of the 3rd quarter (82-84) .
Monroe and Beasley widen the gap
On the Bucks side, substitutes Beasley and Monroe chain the jumpers. With them, Milwaukee takes the biggest advantage of the game (84-94), 9 minutes from time. But Washington reacted: a winning shot from Porter, then Beal, then Wall on the pull-up and the Wizards are back in the game (94-96). Jabari Parker dunks in traffic, well served by “Ante” to bring his team to a point (101-100), one minute from the end. But on the next possession, Porter carries the three-point thrust, well served by theextra-pass of Beal.
Porter, super skillful in this match (13/18) is the X factor, in addition to the activity of Beal (22 points), and especially Wall (18 points, 16 assists but 7 stray bullets). It’s the Wizards’ 6th straight win at home, and the 7th win after trailing by 10 points, proof that this team has character. Opposite the Parker-Antetokounmpo tandem was well supported by Tony Snell and points from the bench of Greg Monroe (16 points), but Milwaukee narrowly failed.
His next match will be with Detroit on Wednesday. The same evening, Washington welcomes Indiana. A good opportunity to continue its momentum.