The Washington Wizards (11-17) defeated the Los Angeles Lakers (22-10) on Monday night (local time), 127-124 in overtime. It is their fifth consecutive win, this time against the defending NBA champions.
As you might have expected, the Wizards were outmatched most of the time in regulation this one, even with Anthony Davis sitting out and the team losing three of their last four games. The Lakers took a double digit second quarter lead and led by as many as 17 early in the third.
From there, the Wizards made a comeback and even led briefly for a tad in the fourth. Okay, let me rephrase. They came back.
They took the lead!
And the lead continued to grow to 102-94 at one point.
Even though the Lakers were able to come back and tie this game 115-all in regulation, Washington never let go of the gas, where Bradley Beal continued to make clutch baskets.
And Russell Westbrook had a clutch and-one basket to keep things in Washington’s favor in the end.
Beal scored 33 points and dished 6 assists while Westbrook added 32 points, 14 rebounds and 9 rebounds. Both shot at least 50 percent from the field as well. Among the supporting cast, Deni Avdija had 8 points and 8 rebounds, but he seemed to be getting key rebounds when needed. Rui Hachimura also played good defense against LeBron James.
James led L.A.’s scorers with 31 points and 13 assists.
The Wizards will continue their road trip against the Los Angeles Clippers tomorrow night at 10 p.m. ET. No sleep for the weary my friends. I got a preview to write so here’s your place to chat about the win.