Wizards vs. Hornets final score: Washington has embarrassing three-point night in 97–87 loss

For his first assist of the game, Bradley Beal picked off a cross-court pass and threaded the needle to find Kentavious Caldwell-Pope for an uncontested layup. After missing the last two games on the bereavement list, Beal couldn’t do it all in a 97–87 loss.

For his second assist of the night, Beal spun between two defenders and handed the ball off to Daniel Gafford (20 points, nine rebounds) under the hoop.

Assist number three set up a contested deep ball for Kyle Kuzma. Beal then found Gafford, who put up 10 points in the first, for helper number four. The all-star guard’s first points came at 5:30 when he rolled in a two.

The Wizards (10–4) shot 54% from the field and closed the quarter on a 12–4 run to take a five-point advantage into the break.

An overall sloppy start to the second saw a dearth of scoring for more than two minutes, as both teams combined to go 0-for-9 from the floor. The Hornets finally broke the slump at 9:46. Charlotte (9–7) hung around but did not attempt a free throw in the first half.

Despite going over three and a half minutes without a basket in the second and shooting 3-for-19 from three through 20 minutes, Washington went into the half up six.

The Hornets finally got to the line at 6:48 of the third. A Beal three midway through the third snapped an 0-for-13 stretch the Wizards had been on from behind the arc.

A 21–2 Charlotte effectively sunk the Wizards. Montrezl Harrell’s dunk was the only basket during that span, and the home team take a 10-point lead into the fourth.

After starting the night 3-9 from three, Washington was 1-for-27 until Beal, who finished with a team- and game-high 24 points made one early in the fourth.

Terry Rozier led the way for Charlotte with 19 points. Miles Bridges put up 17 points and 10 rebounds, Kelly Oubre had 14 and a trio of scorers — Mason Plumlee, who also had 13 boards, LaMelo Ball, 14 assists and Jalen McDaniels — each had 11.

Here’s how the Wizards shot from behind the arc.

Kyle Kuzma: 1-for-8

Spencer Dinwiddie: 0-for-4

Kentavious Caldwell-Pope: 0-for-5

Deni Avdija: 1-for-7

Corey Kispert: 0-for-2

Aaron Holiday: 1-for-3 (the one came in garbage time)