There were only three guarantees on this earth prior to Monday night: death, taxes, and the Washington Wizards losing to the Spurs in San Antonio. One of those came to an end, 127-108.
Led by Kyle Kuzma, Bradley Beal, and Deni Avdija, the Wizards snapped an insane streak of 22 (!!) straight losses to the Spurs on the road, ending a run of misery that's haunted the franchise since 1999.
The Wizards just beat the Spurs in San Antonio for the first time since December 11th, 1999.
They were 0-22 entering tonight. pic.twitter.com/cvkzrL8vyg
— StatMuse (@statmuse) January 31, 2023
The last time the Wizards beat the Spurs, Tim Duncan had just won his first title as a sophomore. Juwan Howard and Mitch Richmond took the most shots for Washington that game. The Wiz were just two years removed from still being called the Bullets and two years away from Michael Jordan coming out of retirement to put on the Wizards uniform the team is wearing as a throwback this season.
Yes, it's against a Spurs team that is clearly in tank mode right now and used to be a lock for 50 wins every season not long before this year. But 22 years is an astoundingly long time in a league where upsets happen on the regular. The Wizards have had playoff-caliber teams during the Gilbert Arenas years and during the peak of John Wall. They even had arguably the greatest player of all time get a crack at trying to stop it early, yet to no avail.
The man who led the charge against the Spurs in the curse-ending contest wasn't even born the last time it happened. Deni Avdija, born in 2001, had himself a career night with 25 points and nine rebounds off the Wizards bench to help overpower inarguably the least talented Spurs roster in decades.
The Wizards have suddenly turned into the hottest team in the NBA, holding the longest active win streak at six and have a favorable schedule to extend that in the days to come. Finally getting the silver and black monkey off their backs will probably help their cause.
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