Washington Wizards: 4 games that will haunt the Wizards during their play-in push
By Ethan Smith
February 28, 2021: Washington Wizards lose to the Boston Celtics 111-110
Injuries should never really be an excuse in the NBA. Sure, teams would be better if they were able to stay healthy all season. But injuries are just a part of basketball. An occupational hazard of being in the NBA, if you will. But that didn’t make it any less frustrating when the Washington Wizards couldn’t capitalize on a Boston Celtics team that was without Jaylen Brown and Marcus Smart.
The key in this one: three-point shooting. It’s not as though the shorthanded Celtics shot the lights out. Quite the opposite, in fact; they went 10/30 from beyond the arc (33.3 percent). The Wizards, however, were even worse.
In the loss, the Wizards were putrid from beyond the arc and went 9/32 (28.6 percent). Remove Beal, who went 3/6, and Bertans, who went 5/9, and the rest of the team went just 1/17. Yuck.
To make matters worse, this was one of Bradley Beal‘s infamous 40-point losses. Unfortunately, his 46 points weren’t enough to secure the W. Although he eventually broke the streak, this was the seventh consecutive loss for the Wizards in a game in which Beal scored at least 40 points.
Throughout his career, Beal has 29 games with 40+ points. In those games, the Wizards are 7-22.