4 Takeaways from the Washington Wizards 119-118 win over the Dallas Mavericks

Bradley Beal cannot be stopped

Call it an All-Star snub revenge tour, or just call it Bradley Beal being Bradley Beal, but there is no denying that the Wizards’ shooting guard has been on an absolute tear over his last nine games.

In that span, Beal is averaging 37 points, 4.1 rebounds, and 6.2 assists per games while shooting a nearly unbelievable 51 percent from the field. And don’t call these empty stats. Over the course of these nine games, the Wizards are 5-4, the most wins they’ve had during any nine-game stretch this season.

Without Beal, the Wizards wouldn’t have won against the Mavericks. Literally. It was Beal who hit the clutch go-ahead bucket, despite having a rather pedestrian fourth quarter otherwise.

This recent run of success, thanks in large part to Beal’s sensational scoring, has the Wizards thinking playoffs all of a sudden. The Wizards, who are a .500 team at home this season, are now 9th in the Eastern Conference. They sit just three games behind the Orlando Magic for the 8th seed, and five games behind the Brooklyn Nets.