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The Wizards grabbed a much-needed 106-101 win over the Suns on Monday night as Bradley Beal scored a career-high 42 points. Beal shot 14 of 22 from the field, 5 of 10 from three and 9 of 11 from the free throw line. He had 26 points in the second half, the most in any half in his career. His previous career high was 37 against the Memphis Grizzles back in February of 2014.
Beal got off to a hot start, connecting on 6 of his 8 shot attempts in the first half and which allowed Brooks to bring in his beloved second unit of Thornton-Burke-Oubre-Smith-Satoransky to start the second quarter and they were able to help maintain a fourth point lead heading into halftime.
The Phoenix Suns went on 6-0 run to open the third and Wizards quickly called timeout to regroup as they fell behind 50-54 after the break. Beal continued to pace the Wizards scoring 12 of his 42 points in the third, but the Wizards played from behind throughout the entire third quarter and turned the ball over six times.
When Beal took a breather late in the third, Marcus Thornton took over his three-point shooting duties and hit back-to-back threes to bring the Wizards within five at the end of the third quarter.
In the final period, Devon Booker did everything for the Phoenix Suns, including a run where he scored seven straight points to put the Suns up 101-99 late in the game. But John Wall answered back by scoring the next seven points for the Wizards, hitting an and-one, a jumper, and nailing two clutch free throws to help the Wizards pull out the victory, their third straight over Phoenix.
John Wall struggles offensively
In a head-to-head match-up against former Kentucky teammate Eric Bledsoe, John Wall struggled mightily from the field as he went 6 of 24 from the field for 18 points, and even air-balled his signature elbow jumper late in the fourth, before he took over late. Though he struggled scoring most of the game, Wall did hand out 15 assists and had 3 blocks.
Kelly Oubre steps up
Markieff Morris struggled against his old team, just two night after he suffered an ankle injury against the Heat. Things got worse when Otto Porter had to be taken out of the game with right hip inflammation. With both starting forward limited, Kelly Oubre came through with a solid performance, finishing with 5 points, 4 rebounds, and 3 assists and this highlight dunk:
More importantly, he helped make some key stops late when he was covering Devin Booker that helped turn the tide late in the game.