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Bradley Beal and the Wizards returned to the site of his recent All-Star appearance in their first game back from the break, but the stakes Friday night in Charlotte were much higher. Washington wanted to start a string of wins with three games and two additional teams in the way of a playoff spot entering play on the night, but it couldn’t crack the code on the Hornets’ home floor. Beal starred with a massive 46-point performance (seven assists, six rebounds), but the Wizards couldn’t hold Charlotte off, falling 123-110.
The loss moved the Wizards to just 7-24 on the road for the season and 2-9 on the first game of a back-to-back. Tomas Satoransky returned for Washington on Friday after missing a pair of games before the All-Star break, but foul trouble throughout the game limited him to just 26 minutes on the night. Still, Satoransky added 15 points and four assists.
Washington came out of the gate firing with Beal as its leader, jumping out to an 11-point lead after the first quarter. Beal scored 14 points in the first frame on 7-of-9 shooting (he shot 64% on the night, including a perfect 10-for-10 from the free throw line), while Jeff Green added nine of his 16 points and helped the Wizards shoot nearly 70% from the field through the first frame.
From there, Kemba Walker and the Hornets flipped the script. A 9-0 run sparked the Charlotte offense in the second quarter and immediately shrunk the Wizards’ double-digit lead, By the halftime break, the Hornets had outscored the Wizards 38-22 in the second en route to a five-point lead going into the third. In the half, Nicolas Batum scored 17 of his 20 points while Walker added 13 of his 27 points (11 assists).
“I don’t know but we got out of it quick," said head coach Scott Brooks of the hot start. "I think the biggest thing is we turned the ball over three times in a row. Gave them basically live ball turnovers to layups, then missed some shots. The turnovers and offensive rebounds that first, we were up ten or 11. We’ve got to figure it out because on the road we can’t have a bad stretch of play, and we did tonight in that second quarter.”
Four other Hornets reached double-digits Friday, with Jeremy Lamb (16 points) and rookie Miles Bridges (14) leading the rest of the pack. That duo helped Charlotte extend its lead to as many as 15 points in the third and take a nine-point advantage into the final frame. An 18-7 Wizards run that stretched into the early part of the fourth quarter narrowed their deficit to five, but a strong finish from Walker (11 points in the final frame) and the Hornets sealed the victory for the home team.
Rebounding and defending the 3-point line has been an emphasis all season, and the Wizards struggled in both areas Friday. Charlotte won the rebounding battle by 10 with a true team effort (four players recorded six rebounds or more) and hit from deep in critical moments, shooting nearly 40% from 3-point range. Conversely, Washington struggled to get it going from long range, shooting just 25.6% from beyond the arc.
“We have got to be a lot better on both ends of the floor, said Bradley Beal. "And I’ve got to be better in leading us and doing whatever it takes to get wins. That’s all that matters at this point. 40 points don’t matter, we’ve got to win ball games and we’re not doing it.”
Next, the Wizards will be in what has been a favorable position so far this season: the second game of a back-to-back. To date, they’re 8-2 in such games, with another opportunity on the way Saturday night at home against the Pacers. Tip-off against Indiana is set for 7:00 P.M. ET