Don't look now, folks, but the Washington Wizards might just make this year's play-in tournament between the 7th-10th seeds. With Monday's 119-107 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Wizards are now owners of a five game win streak, and are tied with the Chicago Bulls for the Eastern Conference's 10th seed with 14 games left in the regular season.
Rule of thumb: never count out a Russell Westbrook-led team.
Speaking of Westbrook, he and co-star Bradley Beal led the Wizards to the victory, with “Brodie” posting a triple-double (13 points, 17 assists, 11 rebounds) and Beal leading all scorers with 30 points. As for the Thunder, they continue to limp towards the finish line. With star and leader Shai Gilgeous-Alexander presumably out for the remainder of the season, the rest of their games will be aimed towards developing their young talent. Which brings us to the man of the hour, Darius Bazley. Never heard of him? Well, he's the gentleman who dropped 26 on the Wizards and held Westbrook (reasonably) in check:
Darius Bazley on guarding Russell Westbrook: "I don't think I did too bad, but we still lost. So I feel like I could've done something more."
Baze actually held Russ to his lowest point total and lowest FG% since the Wiz played the Knicks' #1 defense 14 games ago.
— Brandon Rahbar (@BrandonRahbar) April 20, 2021
The lowest FG% since the Wizards faced the best defense in the league? Not bad for Bazley. He took the news like a veteran too. Most young players would have been excited at playing as well as he did against a former team legend, but Bazley took it on the chin. He knows what this Thunder team can do with the proper development, and it's good to see a young player with his competitive fire. Well, if you're not going to hype yourself up, Darius, let's leave it to your head coach:
Mark Daigneault on Darius Bazley: "He was awesome. He was big time. We get in at 3 o'clock in the morning last night. He played big minutes last night and we matched his minutes with Russell."
Baze scored a career high 26 and went 11-13 from the foul line.
— Brandon Rahbar (@BrandonRahbar) April 20, 2021
Between Bazley, Lou Dort, and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the Thunder really do have an intriguing trio of two-way playmakers on the perimeter. Throw in the skinny but talented big Alkesej Pokusevski (Poku if you want to fit in), and the Thunder have an interesting roster going into next season. Eventually their development will back up the talk, as all four have shown flashes of brilliance. For now, they will do what they can. Bazley's ability to limit Westbrook is just the latest positive sign for the Thunder.
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