Following back-to-back buckets from Steph Curry, the Golden State Warriors held a three-point lead with 19 seconds remaining against the Washington Wizards. All signs pointed towards the Warriors, sealing their second straight victory. However, a pair of improbable mistakes and a heroic jumper changed everything.
Trailing by three, Bradley Beal drilled a triple after a Washington offensive rebound with six seconds remaining. While pulling up from deep, Andrew Wiggins surprisingly fouled the Washington sharpshooter, sending Beal to the free-throw line with a chance to steal the lead with a four-point play.
Despite Wiggins’ colossal mistake, the Warriors had a final chance to tie or win the game on the last possession. After the inbounds pass, Draymond Green found Damion Lee cutting to the basket. Yet, instead of shooting the ball at the rim, Lee decided to pass, resulting in an ugly turnover to end the game, 110-107.
The Warriors won’t have much time to dwell on their nightmare loss to the Wizards, with the Houston Rockets slated to arrive at Chase Center on Saturday for the second leg of a home back-to-back.
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30 for 30
Curry led the Warriors with a game-high 32 points on 11-of-25 shooting from the floor with six boards, five assists and two steals in 35 minutes against the Wizards.
Curry’s effort against the Wizards was his fifth consecutive performance of tallying at least 32 or more points. During his recent five-game stretch, the seven-time All-Star is averaging 35.6 points on 50.9% shooting from the floor and 40.7% from beyond the arc.
Along with another 32 point night, Curry passed Hall of Famer Magic Johnson on the NBA’s all-time scoring list for 81st place overall.
Washington’s Bigs
While most of the attention was in the backcourt with Beal, Westbrook and Curry, the Wizards frontcourt dominated on Friday night at Chase Center. The Warriors had no answers for Washington’s tandem of Alex Len and Robin Lopez.
Len and Lopez combined for 35 points and 13 rebounds against the Warriors. Lopez led the Wizards off the bench with 20 points on 9-of-14 shooting from the floor with eight boards and two assists.
James Wiseman
While James Wiseman struggled on defense, the rookie center helped Golden State on the offensive end of the floor. The second overall pick from the 2020 draft tallied 18 points on an efficient 9-of-11 shooting from the floor with six boards and an assist in 23 minutes.
After struggling during Golden State’s recent three-game road swing, Wiseman has bounced back with back-to-back double-figure scoring efforts.
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