Bradley Beal and the Washington Wizards were well on their way to ending a three-game losing streak against Luke Kennard and the the LA Clippers at home on Tuesday night. The team got off to a hot start in the first quarter, leading 32-23. They then poured it on in the second quarter, where they took a 66-31 lead late in the first half.
It all went downhill from there.
The Clippers started chipping away in the third quarter. The lead was down to 19, then back up to 25. Then it was down to 10, and before the Wizards knew it, the Clippers were one possession away from a tie game.
A monumental collapse down the stretch thanks to a few violations and mistakes allowed the Clippers to not only tie the game just before the buzzer, but also take the lead on a Luke Kennard three-pointer.
Luke Kennard 4-point play for the win. Clippers come back from down 35 to win. Wow.pic.twitter.com/jhHH0IekxI
— Tomer Azarly (@TomerAzarly) January 26, 2022
Bradley Beal was speechless to start his postgame interview.
“It's embarrassing,” Beal said. “There's no other way to put it… I literally was sitting for the last 10-15 minutes. I have no words besides embarrassing and… I don't know.”
"It's embarrassing. There's no other way to put it… I literally was sitting for the last 10-15 minutes. I have no words besides embarrassing and… I don't know."
Bradley Beal after Wizards blow a 35-point lead vs. Clippers pic.twitter.com/hiEQFkfGUh
— Tomer Azarly (@TomerAzarly) January 26, 2022
The Clippers outscored the Wizards 80-49 in the second half after scoring 36 total points in the first half.
“I mean that was emphasized throughout the whole second half,” Bradley Beal responded when asked if there was extra emphasis placed on not celebrating too early. “The game isn't over. We haven't done shit. We aren't that good. Quit thinking that we're this elite team. We were up 35 points tonight and lost the damn game.”
Clippers head coach Tyronn Lue was equally surprised after the game.
“Our team keeps scrapping, me and my coaching staff, we just find ways to find combinations that's gonna scrap and get it done,” Lue said after holding off the Wizards. “I thought our stars came out in the first quarter — they had some good shots around the basket, some open shots, they couldn't make it and they just didn't have a lot of pop tonight. So, we just had to get 'em out. Kept Amir in there, kept Terance in there 'cause they're young and they can scrap and try to claw our way back into the game, and I thought starting that second unit in the second half, really propelled us to this win.”
Bradley Beal and the Wizards now get three days off Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday before they travel to Memphis to take on the Grizzlies Saturday evening. Luke Kennard and the Clippers have a quick turnaround where they'll place the Orlando Magic Wednesday night.
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