Wizards erase 15-point deficit to beat Heat in OT originally appeared on NBC Sports Washington
The Washington Wizards beat the Miami Heat 107-106 in overtime on Friday night at Capital One Arena. Here are five takeaways from what went down…
A win, but an ugly win
During the Wizards’ recent four-game winning streak, they had some entertaining, aesthetically appealing victories. On Friday night, they had to gut it out to win an ugly one.
Miami was without nearly all of its best players. Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo, Tyler Herro, Duncan Robinson and Gabe Vincent were all sidelined with injuries. But they still had Kyle Lowry, who was a problem for the Wizards. He had 24 points, 15 assists and 10 rebounds. And they still had Max Strus, who added 22 points, and rookie Nikola Jovic who had 18.
The Heat are a well-oiled machine and this game was a great example of it. They had enough reinforcements to keep it rolling and play their style of agile, maximum stamina defense, forcing the Wizards into 16 turnovers.
Washington, though, held on because of their defense. After Kyle Kuzma (21 points, eight rebounds) made a free throw with 2:48 left in overtime both teams went scoreless the rest of the way. Fans had to hold their breath as the Wizards scraped out stop after stop until the final buzzer.
Kristaps Porzingis had the best stat-line with 20 points, 17 rebounds, five assists and two blocks. Bradley Beal had 27 points and eight assists, but also seven turnovers.
With the win, the Wizards are 9-7 on the season. They will see the Heat twice again next week, both times in Miami.
‘Big 3’ reunion
It was a one-of-a-kind night at Capital One Arena, as the Wizards honored former players Gilbert Arenas, Caron Butler and Antawn Jamison during a halftime ceremony. Jamison is still connected with the Wizards as a member of the front office and Butler was part of the game already as an assistant coach for the Heat. For Arenas, it was his first time being honored in front of Wizards fans since he was traded to the Magic in 2010.
Wearing a gold suit, Arenas waved a towel as he walked to halfcourt while being introduced. The three were then presented with framed jerseys to commemorate the occasion. Before the game, they met the media in a press conference where Arenas explained how it all came together. He said he was very nervous about coming back, but ended up getting a very nice ovation from the fans. Given he was sitting courtside, perhaps it was appropriate the game went down to the wire and featured a game-tying three by Kuzma with 15 seconds left in regulation.
Arenas, Butler and Jamison weren’t the only legends in the house. Former broadcasters Steve Buckhantz and Phil Chenier were also on hand, as was former Wizards mascot G-Man. If it was the same guy in the suit, then he’s still got it.
Gibson got some run
With the Heat having a little too much success playing physical against the Wizards, and with Deni Avdija nursing a dislocated left pinky finger, Unseld Jr. went deeper into his bench to call on Taj Gibson. The veteran big man even started overtime at the four alongside Kristaps Porzingis. Gibson ended up playing a total of 16 minutes and started overtime. Gafford, meanwhile, logged only five minutes.
Gibson gave the Wizards a nice boost. He had eight rebounds, a block and a steal. Three of his rebounds were on the offensive end. Gibson also spent his fouls, as only a backup big man can. Gibson hadn’t played more than eight minutes in a game this season, but he’s on the roster for a reason and Unseld Jr. needed him on a night like this one.
The Zags were good
One positive for the Wizards was the combination of Rui Hachimura and Corey Kispert off the bench. The two former Gonzaga stars got hot early and kept it up in the 2nd half. Hachimura had 13 points on and eight rebounds in 28 minutes, while Kispert had 17 points, including 5-for-8 from three.
Hachimura found daylight in the middle of the Heat’s trademark zone. When the Heat closed out on threes, Hachimura was there in the middle, ready to attack the midrange. Kispert, meanwhile, hit a slew of threes from the wing and also got rewarded for running the floor. It was a reminder of the upside the Wizards’ bench has with two recent first-round picks who were drafted for their offense. The hope would be they have more games like this moving forward.
Jordan Goodwin sidelined
Feel-good story of the year Jordan Goodwin was out with left knee soreness. He was injured during Wednesday’s game when Deni Avdija inadvertently fell on his leg. Goodwin appeared to be in a lot of pain and immediately left for the locker room. The Wizards then put him through a series of tests the following day.
The good news is that serious injuries were ruled out. Goodwin, in fact, was originally considered questionable for this game, which means he had at least a small chance of playing. Ultimately, the Wizards held him out and now consider him day-to-day moving forward. Up next are the Hornets on Sunday.
