Washington Wizards shooting guard Bradley Beal missed nine games with a stress injury to his right leg, so what better way to re-acclimate to game speed than by playing against the sorry New York Knicks! Beal notched 21 points and 8 rebounds at Madison Square Garden Monday night, including the eventual game-winner, which came on a drive against poor Beno Udrih, who was left on an island thanks to some non-existent help defense on the part of his teammates. Of course, Udrih shouldn’t have been in the game in the first place, as coach Mike Woodson should have substituted a defensive squad to counter the Wizards’ offensive possession (the Wizards had just called timeout to advance the ball after Udrih had hit one of two free throws on the other end).
Woodson inexplicably — or, explicably, because this is the Knicks we’re talking about — left his offensive lineup in, which Washington took full advantage of. After Beal’s drive, and with 6.9 seconds remaining, the Knicks called timeout to advance the b…wait, nope, that’s not what happened at all. To his players’ bewilderment (and play-by-play man Mike Breen), Woodson didn’t call a timeout to set up a final play from front court, thus forcing Carmelo Anthony to awkwardly bring the ball up and launch an equally awkward off-balance three at the buzzer that banked harmlessly off the backboard.
The win put the Wizards at 10-13, while the Knicks dropped to ten games under .500 (7-17).
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