Friday in Miami, the Heat defended home court, beating the Wizards in convincing fashion, 122-95. The Wizards starting lineup, including their star-studdled backcourt brought little to the table. Via the Washington Post:
Beal’s rare off night made the loss feel even more miserable as the Wizards fell to 5-14 and bungled their shot at notching back-to-back wins for just the second time this season. The guard, who leads the league in scoring and had the most all-star fan votes of any Eastern Conference guard by a healthy margin when the league released its first voting totals Thursday, had his lowest scoring game since he had seven points on Dec. 23, 2018.
He matched that tally Friday, scoring seven points while missing 13 of his 14 shots from the floor, including missing six of seven from beyond the arc. His deep ball in the third quarter was his lone field goal and the game marked the first one this year he failed to score at least 25 points, ending his record-breaking streak.
Without Beal to prop up the team and with Russell Westbrook offering a mediocre 13 points in his stead, Washington had next to no chance at matching Heat center Bam Adebayo and his supporting cast. Kendrick Nunn had a game-high 25 points, but it was Adebayo’s 21-point performance — including an astounding 11-for-11 from the free throw line in the first quarter — that got the Heat up and running with a new rotation Coach Erik Spoelstra debuted Friday, in part to contend with Westbrook.
A bright spot for the Wizards was recent new addition Alex Lex. Coming off the bench, the center shot 7 of 12 to lead the team in scoring with 18 points and five blocks in 24 minutes.
