Michael Gonzales
A late-January, Monday-night recreation between the Washington Wizards and San Antonio Spurs isn’t precisely a marquee matchup. Still, there was extra on the road on this contest than most individuals most likely realized. With their 127-106 win, the Wizards ended one of many NBA’s strangest shedding streaks.
Before this recreation, the Wizards hadn’t received in San Antonio since Dec. 11, 1999, once they picked up a 99-89 victory due to 31 factors, 4 rebounds, and 5 assists from Mitch Richmond, who out-dueled a younger Tim Duncan (23 factors and 13 rebounds).
Even contemplating that Eastern Conference groups play every Western Conference workforce on the street simply as soon as per season, that was nonetheless a 22-game shedding streak that lasted 8,451 days. Four gamers on the Wizards’ roster and 7 gamers on the Spurs’ roster on this recreation had not even been born but the final time the Wizards had been victorious in San Antonio.
While ending their San Antonio woes was a cool historic word, the extra vital story for the Wizards is that they’ve now received six video games in a row, the longest energetic profitable streak within the league. As a outcome, they’re as much as ninth place within the Eastern Conference at 24-26 and are simply 3.5 video games again of a top-six spot. At the very least, they need to be within the combine for a play-in spot the remainder of the best way.
Deni Avdija stepped up with a career-high 25 factors off the bench to cleared the path within the scoring division on this recreation, whereas Bradley Beal and Kristaps Porzingis mixed for 38 factors, 16 rebounds, and 14 assists in sturdy all-around performances. Next up for the Wizards are the lowly Detroit Pistons, who’ve the worst document within the East. If they’ll win that recreation, they’re going to earn their first seven-game profitable streak since 2017 and tie for the third-longest streak in franchise historical past.
