The Washington Wizards started their four-game road trip with a 129-134 loss to the Miami Heat.
If there was ever to be a game during the Washington Wizards’ 2019-2020 that felt like a ‘must-win,’ Wednesday’s loss to the Miami Heat may have been it. Miami, the number two seed in the Eastern Conference, looked just that against Washington.
Even at the end of the fourth, trailing the Wizards, Jimmy Butler and the Heat looked poised. And in overtime, each bucket came at exactly the right time, with each defensive stop being just as timely. Washington went toe to toe with a championship contender, but there are no moral victories in DC.
Despite going 0-for-2 on potential game-winners, Bradley Beal put up 38 points, 9 rebounds and five assists in 38 minutes. One could say it was the best game Beal’s during a season that’s plagued the roster from top to bottom with injury and frustration with each loss.
Star Power
Wednesday night’s overtime thriller essentially came down to a superstar showdown between Beal and Butler in crunch time. Washington’s star provided most of the scoring for the Wizards in the fourth quarter and overtime while Miami’s number one guy opted to facilitate on the offensive end.
Butler finished the game with a double-double scoring 24 points and dishing out 10 assists. He was an absolute dog on the defensive end and prevented Beal from putting the Heat away late in the fourth quarter. Butler’s assist to Derrick Jones Jr gave Miami the lead that eventually sealed their victory.
It’s only his first season with the Heat, but Butler is largely to credit for their success in tight games this year. Following their win over the Wizards, Miami is now 8-0 in overtime this season. Butler has missed two of those games but has no doubt been an influence.
Wednesday night was only Washington’s second overtime game of the 2019-2020 season. Despite many late-game heroics from Beal, they are 0-2 in those games.
The Positives
There are at least a few positive takeaways from this loss in Miami. Washington passed the ball very well, finishing the game with 30 assists on 50 made field goals. Considering Beal had 16 makes of his own, a lot of which came from isolation sets, that’s an encouraging number.
And for the second game in a row, the Wizards were winners in the turnover column. In their home win over the Heat back in December, Miami had 18 turnovers to Washington’s 9. That trend continued on Wednesday, with Miami coughing it up 16 times and the Wizards losing it just11 times
Davis Bertans had his most points since returning from injury with 24, albeit behind a relatively poor 44/33/80 shooting split. One of his eight made shots was a clutch corner three-pointer to keep the Wizards in the game with three minutes to go in regulation.
Latvian Laser!! 🇱🇻 pic.twitter.com/RDBnTJQrGd
— Washington Wizards (@WashWizards) January 23, 2020
Bertans gave Washington as much a chance to win it as Beal did down the stretch.
And Ian Mahinmi had another strong showing against the Heat with 10 points, 10 rebounds, 4 assists, and 2 blocks. Players playing well before the trade deadline is never a bad thing.
Still, this is another loss for the Wizards, who fall to 5-18 on the road this season. They’ll move on to face the Cleveland Cavaliers on Thursday for their second game of the road trip. Tip-off is at 7:00 pm est.