Wizards Win In Blowout As Heat Continue To Slide

The Washington Wizards continued their resurgence this season even as shooting guard Bradley Beal rejoined the team after missing a number of games due to an injury. Beal scored 18 points in his return and helped the Wizards to an easy 106-87 win over East rivals Miami.

The Wizards snapped a two-game skid and have now won five of their last seven games. On the other hand, the short-handed Heat, which were missing the services of their starting backcourt in Dwyane Wade and Goran Dragic, has lost three straight games six of their last seven games.

Washington led 26-22 after the opening quarter and started the blowout by halftime, 51-37. The Heat never recovered from there as the Wizards cruised to the victory.

Off the bench, Beal made 7-of-13 shots to lead the team in scoring along with superstar point guard John Wall, who also had 18 points and added 10 assists. Six players scored in double figures for the Wizards as big men Nene Hilario and Marcin Gortat added 16 and 15 points, respectively. The latter also had 12 rebounds and 2 blocked shots.

The Heat were led by Chris Bosh (18 points) and Luol Deng (16 points) but they allowed the Wizards to shoot over 50 percent from the field (45-of-86 field goals) and turned the ball over 20 times. The Wizards also had 19 fastbreak points, a sign that the Heat weren’t playing much defense in this road game.

The Wizards, who are on a five-game home stand, finishes this stretch against the Utah Jazz and Boston Celtics on Saturday and Monday, respectively. The Heat are in a tough stretch playing their next four games on the road against the Toronto Raptors, Chicago Bulls, Brooklyn Nets and Milwaukee Bucks.