3 Takeaways from the Washington Wizards win over the Charlotte Hornets

The Washington Wizards got a much-needed 121-107 win against the Charlotte Hornets behind a monstrous effort from Bradley Beal. Here’s what we learned.

Thursday night was a rare occurrence for the Washington Wizards in that they walked out of the game as the victors of the match. Their win over the Charlotte Hornets improves their record to 16-31, and bump them up to the 11th seed in the Eastern Conference.

Here are three takeaways from Washington’s last game of January.

Thomas Bryant Should Be Starting at Center

Since big man Thomas Bryant returned from injury, a span of eight games, he’s primarily shared the frontcourt with Ian Mahinmi. It’s yielded distasteful results on a number of levels.

The idea, per head coach Scott Brooks, is to open up more minutes for Anžejs Pasečņiks, whose two-way deal was recently converted to a three-year contract. And it supposedly to help the Wizards match up with the length of some of the bigger frontcourts they’ve faced recently.

But to the surprise of none, it just ain’t working. Bryant looks lost within the offense, and all the benefits he provides as a floor spacer are rendered null and void next to Mahinmi. The Wizards’ big man is far more effective in the five slot, next to a natural four, like Dāvis Bertāns.

Hopefully, Bryant’s performance against Charlotte – 21 points, eight rebounds – is enough to convince coach Brooks to give him the bump back to starting five. Because playing him next to Mahinmi, or off the bench to start games, is accomplishing slim to none for Washington.

Bradley Beal is Not Happy with His All-Star Snub

This shouldn’t come as much of a surprise, but Bradley Beal is not pleased with the fact that he was left off of the All-Star reserves.

Instead, the NBA opted to go with Kyle Lowry, Ben Simmons, and Khris Middleton.

So naturally, Beal came out and gave an ‘All-Star’ effort in Thursday’s win, posting a near thirty-point triple-double. The Wizard’s swingman went for 34 points, 9 rebounds, and 9 assists:

Beal reportedly left the Wizards’ locker room without speaking to the media following Thursday’s win. But not after getting his own words in on his way off the floor:

It seems he’s going to let his play do the talking for now, regarding his feelings about All-Star weekend. And it’s hard to blame him, because his recent stretch has been off the charts.

Over Washington’s last five games, Beal is averaging 39.0 points, 6.8 assists, and 4.6 rebounds per game. Sounds like an All-Star to me, but hey, you be the judge.

It’s (Way) Too Early for Playoff Talk

I’m sure some of you are thinking: “What a weird take to offer up after a win.” And hey, you’re probably right. But it felt like something that needs addressing.

The Wizards are now 16-31 on the season, and three and a half games back from the ever-elusive eighth seed. But if Washington’s recent play has shown us anything, it’s that they’ve got a lot of catching up to do with their Eastern Conference competition before there’s any playoff talk.

That goes for now, and hell, even when John Wall gets back. Because I’m not sure he’s going to fix what is quite possibly the worst defensive team in NBA history overnight.

Nonetheless, a game they win is a good game for Washington. They’ve been fun to watch all season, and Thursday night was no different. The Wizards will look to make it two straight wins on Saturday night, when they host Kyrie Irving and the Brooklyn Nets. Tip-off is at 8:00 pm est.