Washington Wizards: Garrison Mathews is a professional shooter

The Washington Wizards have a professional shooter on the roster and he goes by the name of Garrison Mathews.

The Washington Wizards are injured. Very injured. As a result, some fringe players are getting chances they wouldn’t get otherwise. Against the Miami Heat, Garrison Mathews took full advantage of his chance. For once, Kendrick Nunn wasn’t the most impressive undrafted rookie on the floor. And somehow, the dilapidated Wizards knocked off the Miami Heat and snapped their four-game winning streak, 123-18.

Now the name Garrison Mathews isn’t quite a household name in DC (yet). The rookie has logged a total of 130 minutes in just 11 Wizards games this season. He’s nearly matched that minutes total in his five games with the Capital City Go-Go. In less than half the games, Mathews has played nearly the same amount of minutes, 114.

But Mathews is a household name in Nashville, Tennessee. At least among Lipscomb fans. During his four-year run at Lipscomb, Mathews cemented himself as one of the NCAA’s most prolific shooters. By the time he left the school, Mathews had rewritten nearly every scoring record, including single-game scoring, career-scoring, and three-pointers made. Each season, he found himself among the top performers in the Atlantic-Sun Conference. He made fist-team all-conference three times and was named Conference Player of the Year in 2019.

Now, we are finally starting to see some of that unparalleled shooting ability on the NBA stage. Davis Bertans is still this team’s best shooter, but Mathews isn’t far behind.

Before the Wizards took on the Miami Heat, Chris Miller of NBC Sports Washington gave Mathews a proper introduction. Mathews isn’t simply an NBA player. He is a professional shooter.

And the introduction could not have come at a better time. With Bradley Beal now among the ever-growing list of injured Wizards, Mathews was the latest “next man up” vs Miami. And he didn’t disappoint.

After a quiet first quarter, Mathews absolutely took over in the second quarter. A guy who had been playing in the G-League on Sunday lit up one of the best teams in the Eastern Conference on Monday.

In the second quarter, Mathews was in rare form, knocking down four three-pointers (on five attempts), and making six of his seven free-throw attempts. In the second quarter, alone, Mathews scored 20 points. The only Miami Heat player to score 20 or more points the entire game was Jimmy Butler.

Mathews finished the game with 28 points and 4 rebounds with shooting splits of 66/57/92. It was by far the best game of his young NBA career.

https://twitter.com/WashWizards/status/1211847670316224513?s=20

Honestly, Mathews was really nothing short of incredible against Miami. Performances like that are exactly why the Wizards signed the undrafted rookie to a two-way deal this summer. And we might have never seen it had it not been for some unfortunate injuries.

Seeing more and more suits on the sidelines is never a good thing. But with all these injuries, The Wizards are giving some unproven talents a chance. Whether it’s Troy Brown Jr or Gary Payton II or Garrison Mathews, these Wizards are stepping up while the stars are out. And in Mathews’ case, they’re proving they belong.

Teams can never have enough shooters. Why not keep this professional shooter around, too. Who knows when he’ll get hot again.