The Washington Wizards inch by the Pistons in a much needed win

In probably the most entertaining game of the season (I’ve heard that before) the Washington Wizards defeat the Detroit Pistons at the buzzer. This came off of a Daniel Gafford putback shot to beat the final buzzer.

The Wizards struggled all night long and it was a hard-fought battle for both teams. The Wiz were seemingly unable to contain the Jaden Ivey and James Wiseman duo while the Pistons allowed Bradley Beal and Kyle Kuzma to cook all night long.

To say it was an all offense outing for these teams would be a pretty accurate assessment of the first three quarters as neither team was able to find shooters.

The Washington Wizards went long stretches without holding a lead.

Whenever the aforementioned duo of Ivey and Wiseman was on the floor, the Wizards struggled to keep up. Even with Bradley Beal, Kyle Kuzma, and Kristaps Porzingis having good scoring games.

The Wizards would eventually get bailed out by a questionable final play from the Pistons where they gave Isaiah Livers an iso opportunity that ended in a Kuzma strip and steal. They never even gave the ball to Jaden Ivey, the player who gave the Wizards the most problems.

That blunder would set the Wizards up for a full clock shot with the game tied and the opportunity to win the game. They ran a Bradley Beal iso play where he was double teamed at the rim, forcing an airball with only a second left in the game.

This is where Daniel Gafford comes in as he gained excellent positioning from Wiseman leaving to help on Beal. He got a great boxout on Isaiah Livers and rose up for the rebound and tipped it back up toward the bucket. It sat on the rim for half a second before rolling on in after the buzzer, giving the Wizards the win.

This was a win that the Washington Wizards needed desperately as they had lost the previous two games and were only a game and a half separated from the 11 seed Chicago Bulls.