The Washington Wizards have not been immune to the rash of players entering the NBA’s health and safety protocols. They are happy that their superstar Bradley Beal received the vaccine so that he does not suffer the same fate as Kyrie Irving with the Brooklyn Nets as Washington D.C. is implementing a mandate similar to what New York City has.
With the constant shuffling of players, teams have had to take some chances with their lineups. The Wizards signed veteran Brad Wanamaker to a 10-day hardship deal last week and immediately inserted him into the starting lineup at the point guard position.
He played well, but it didn’t last long. He entered health and safety protocols as well following the game. As a result, the Wizards were left without a starting point guard, again. Instead of doing with 10-day signee Tremont Waters, they turned to their All-Star shooting guard, Bradley Beal.
Bradley Beal already has a lot on his plate, but he accepted more as the starting point guard. It was the first time he had ever started at point guard in his career, and you wouldn’t know it with how well he played.
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“With Brad going down it was like, man, it’s a tough break for him because he had a great game. It was only one game and he’s in COVID protocols, so it’s tough,” Beal said.
“I knew what tonight was going to be. It was I had to run the show and had to understand I was going to have to get guys shots. It was kind of that balance between figuring out when to be aggressive and when to get guys shots.”
Beal scored 27 points in the game with a career-high 17 assists in 43 minutes. He added two rebounds and four assists as well, taking to the point guard position about as well as the coaching staff could have hoped.
He had his team in a position to win the game, as Kyle Kuzma knocked down a 3-pointer to give them the lead with 3.3 seconds remaining. Alas, it was not meant to be, as DeMar DeRozan knocked down a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to knock off the Washington Wizards and give the Chicago Bulls a victory.
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Following the game, Beal shared some insight into the differences between playing the point guard position and his normal spot at shooting guard. They are vastly different roles, but he had no problem adjusting.
“When you’re playing the point, you’ve gotta run a team. You have to get guys into the offense, you have to get guys into position, you’ve gotta get guys shots, you’ve gotta talk, you’ve gotta be engaged, you’ve gotta encourage,” Beal said. “You’re the head of the snake at all times. It was fun, it was fun. I enjoyed it. There was definitely a lot I can learn from that. If it happens again, I’ll be ready.”
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Given how well things went, could we see more of Bradley Beal running the show for the Washington Wizards even after the team gets starting point guard Spencer Dinwiddie back into the fold? It could be something Wes Unseld Jr. tinkers with doing, as the Wizards came within that DeRozan 3-pointer of knocking off the No. 1 team in the Eastern Conference.
