Washington has won 15 of its last 19 games and is on a 16-4 against-the-spread tear. This run has allowed the Wizards to surge into the No. 9 spot in the Eastern Conference standings.
Scott Brooks’s team overcame a 12-point, fourth-quarter deficit Saturday night at Indiana, rallying to win 133-132 in overtime. Russell Westbrook’s two free throws with one second remaining in OT were the difference.
Westbrook also forced the extra session late in regulation with a tying finger-roll in traffic. The UCLA product finished with 33 points, 19 rebounds and 15 assists, tying the great Oscar Robertson’s all-time NBA record with his 181st career triple-double.
Bradley Beal drained 19-of-31 field-goal attempts and finished with a game-high 50 points. Rui Hachimura returned from a two-game absence (illness) to contribute 13 points, six rebounds and one blocked shot.
With a second win in a week over Indiana, Washington is one-half game in front of the Pacers and now owns the head-to-head tiebreaker with them. With Charlotte losing at home last night, the Wizards are only one game behind the Hornets. They are three games ahead of Chicago, which is currently 11th in the East, with four games remaining.
That’s all the good news for Washington. However, there’s some bad news. It isn’t a catastrophic development, but it’s bad nonethless.
Despite dropping 50 points on Indiana, Beal sustained a hamstring injury and will miss at least the next two games.
Now as long as Beal is 100-percent healthy a week from now, the Wizards will be fine if they finish No. 10 in the East. They’ve proven in the past month that they’re in much better current form than Indiana, Charlotte and Boston.
In 59 games this year, Beal is second in the NBA in scoring with a 31.4 points-per-game average. The University of Florida product is also averaging 4.7 rebounds, 4.4 assists and 1.2 steals per game. Beal has hit a career-best 48.9 percent of his FGAs.
Without Beal, Washington is an eight-point road underdog tonight at Atlanta on ESPN at 7:00 p.m. Eastern. The Hawks have won seven straight home games both SU and ATS, and they’re an incredible 15-2 both SU and ATS in their last 17 home contests.
Even better for Atlanta, it might get De’Andre Hunter back tonight. Hunter, the second-year swingman out of the University of Virginia, was averaging better than 17 PPG when he initially injured his knee in a Jan. 31 win at Washington.
Hunter returned for a two-game stretch in late March, but he hasn’t played since March 24. He practiced with the team on Saturday and is expected to be game-time decision tonight. Hunter is considered the Hawks’ premier perimeter defender.
Atlanta’s Tony Snell is ‘questionable’ tonight with an Achilles issue. Snell has buried 56.1 percent of his 3-pointers this season. He has made 47 consecutive free throws and hasn’t missed an attempt from the charity stripe since March 12 of 2019.
Shams Charania of Stadium and The Athletic is reporting that Los Angeles star LeBron James will likely return tomorrow vs. the Knicks or Wednesday vs. Houston. James (25.0 PPG, 7.9 RPG, 7.8 APG) has only played in two games since spraining his ankle in a 99-94 home loss to Atlanta on March 20.
James came back in a April 30 home loss to Sacramento, only to leave the team’s next game — another home loss vs. Toronto — on May 2 with soreness in the same ankle.
With four games remaining, (at Indiana and at New Orleans on back-to-back nights after the two home games vs. the Knicks and Rockets) L.A. is in seventh place in the West, trailing Portland by one game. The Trail Blazers hold the head-to-head tiebreaker with the Lakers, though.
Portland hosts Houston tonight, then finishes up at Utah, at Phoenix and at home vs. Denver. Carmelo Anthony is ‘out’ for the Trail Blazers tonight.
**B.E.’s Bonus Nuggets**
–In danger of falling into a three-way tie for fourth place with Atlanta and Miami when they trailed by nine midway through the second quarter Sunday afternoon against the Clippers at Staples Center, the New York Knicks rallied to take a two-point lead by halftime thanks to the stellar play of Derrick Rose. They captured a 106-100 win as 7.5-point road underdogs to avoid a three-game losing streak. New York owns the tiebreaker over Atlanta, but Miami has the tiebreaker vs. the Knicks. The Hawks own the tiebreaker vs. the Heat. The Knicks finish with this four-game stretch: at the Lakers, vs. San Antonio, vs. Charlotte and vs. Boston.
–New York’s Alec Burks (12.2 PPG) and Immanuel Quickley (11.7 PPG) have missed the first three games of this road trip and are ‘questionable’ at L.A. tomorrow night.
–The ‘over’ has cashed in five consecutive games for the Wizards and eight of their last 10.
–Already without its top two players in Zion Williamson and Brandon Ingram, New Orleans starting center Steven Adams (toe) is listed as ‘doubtful’ tonight at Memphis. Nevertheless, the Pelicans are 7-1 ATS in their last eight games. Also, the ‘under’ has cashed in four consecutive games and is 8-1 in their last nine contests. Stan Van Gundy’s team is 1.5 games back of the Spurs for the 10th and final spot of the play-in tournament, but New Orleans appears more interested in being in the lottery.
–Cleveland’s Darius Garland and Kevin Love are ‘out’ of tonight’s home game vs. Indiana. Malcolm Brogdon is ‘questionable’ for the Pacers.
–All 15 games this Sunday will be played in the afternoon, per Charania: