The Wizards are a popular dark horse pick to emerge from the Eastern Conference and they showed why tonight, beating the Spurs 102-99 on a Bradley Beal three-pointer with just 0.3 seconds remaining. LaMarcus Aldridge does not look good on this possession, likely because of some sort of blown communication about switching.
For the Wizards to advance past the second round of the playoffs—where they sputtered out each of the past two seasons—they’re going to need Beal to develop into a legitimate second option behind John Wall, and something like a top-5 shooting guard. He’s shown flashes of that ability throughout his first three seasons, but has never put it together for a sustained stretch of time. But even beyond the game-winner tonight he was impressive, scoring 25 points on 11-22 shooting (with five rebounds, four assists, and three steals) while being guarded primarily by Kawhi Leonard the whole night.
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