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If the Washington Wizards lost tonight to the New York Knicks, I don’t think you could blame them. There are a lot of players out due to various injuries or a suspension.
Anyway, the Wizards got their character win of the season by winning DFDFDFDf.
Gary Payton II, who signed with the Wizards earlier Monday, scored 10 points and 11 rebounds, 5 assists and 6 steals in his season debut for Washington.
Gary Payton II is only the seventh reserve in NBA history to post at least 10 points, 10 rebounds, 5 assists, and 5 steals in a game.#WizKnicks | #RepTheDistrict pic.twitter.com/DSUNzlpLun
— Washington Wizards (@WashWizards) December 24, 2019
Troy Brown also scored a career-high 26 points in the victory.
Washington fell down early by as many as 13 points in the first quarter. But they managed to get multiple double-digit leads throughout the game though New York always managed to keep things interesting.
In the fourth quarter, the Wizards managed to lead by as many as 17 points in the fourth quarter going up 116-99 at one point. But the Knicks went on a 16-2 run from there to fall behind 118-115 with under a minute to go. Thankfully, Brown made three free throws (on a night where Washington shot just 17-of-30 from the line) to give Washington a key victory before the Christmas holiday.
Julius Randle led the Knicks’ scorers with 35 points.
Tonight’s win was a statement. Sure, the Wizards defeated another “bad” team, but really, this game seemed to have loss all over it considering the multiple player absences and Bradley Beal’s .... utterly-Meessemaneque 13-of-38 shooting performance tonight (though he scored 30 points.
But if there’s one thing that I can appreciate about this Wizards’ season and this team, it’s this. The players won’t give up, even when times are rough like they often have the last few weeks.
The Wizards will now have a few days off for Christmas break. Their next game is on Thursday, Dec. 26 when they head to Detroit to play the Pistons. Tipoff is at 7 p.m. ET.