After a pair of wins in which Bradley Beal propelled the Wizards’ offense, averaging 42.5 points, The Panda continued scoring at a high level in losses to the Los Angeles Clippers and Brooklyn Nets.
Beal scored 25 and 28 points respectively in the two matchups, continuing to showcase his scoring ability and his All-Star-caliber play. Brad’s points per game average has climbed to 24.0 after the five-game road trip, which would be a career high for the sixth-year shooting guard.
Ultimately, Brad wants his team to win games and reach the playoffs for a second consecutive year and four of the last five seasons, but he’s tired of coming up short in the final minutes of close games.
The Wizards fell to the Clippers on Saturday 113-112 after leading by four with 1:01 to play. No. 3 converted a three-point play with eight seconds remaining to retake a two-point lead, but Lou Williams sunk the Wizards with a triple in the final seconds.
“It’s a little bit beyond frustrating at this point,” Beal said. “You run out of games eventually, and you continue to drop in seedings. These games matter.”
In Brooklyn Tuesday night, Brad made a driving layup with 51 seconds to play to give the Wiz a one-point lead, but that was Washington’s last bucket of the night and the Nets came out on top.
“We just gotta stop putting ourselves in those types of situations,” Beal said after the loss to Brooklyn, “and I gotta do a better job closing out games.”
The NBA season is long, and it’s still only December. Despite the 2-3 record on the road trip, the Wizards have plenty of reasons to be hopeful for the rest of the season.
They still sit in sixth place in the Eastern Conference standings, The Panda has been playing like an All-Star, the bench has improved of late and John Wall is expected to return to action Wednesday night against the Memphis Grizzlies.
“We’re still confident, we’re still together. There’s no selfishness going on, there’s no pointing the finger at anybody.” Beal said. “It’s just a frustration thing. We’re tired of losing. The only thing you can do about it is go out and win.”
With Wall back in the lineup soon, defenses won’t be able to key-in on only Brad. Opponents will have to be concerned with defending Wall, as well as Otto Porter Jr., Kelly Oubre Jr. and Markieff Morris, who seems to be settling in after missing the first seven games following a sports hernia surgery in the offseason.
Brad is unhappy with the last couple of results on the road, but he believes in his teammates and their ability as a team heading into the new year.
“We know we’re a good team, we just gotta go out and do it and get wins,” No. 3 said.
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