Photo credit: nba.com/warriors

By Jerry Feitelberg

The Golden State Warriors played the Washington Wizards on Wednesday night in the Nation’s Capitol. The Wizards, playing without their star John Wall, had won 10 of the last 13 games in his absence. The Wizards’ Bradley Beal increased his scoring and the Wizards, taking a page out of the Warriors’ playbook, started moving the ball and finding the open man to make up for Wall’s loss. The Wizards beat the Milwaukee Bucks Tuesday night in Milwaukee, and the Warriors felt that the Wizards might tire late in the game. The Wizards did not fold as they stayed with the Warriors for most of the game, but the Warriors were too tough, and the Dubs won 109-101.

The Warriors started strong as they raced out to a 15-point lead, 36-21, after 12 minutes of action. Kevin Durant tallied 16 and Steph Curry added 10. The Wizards fell behind 42-26 before they went on a 10-0 run to close the gap to 42-36. The Wizards’ defense shut down the Warrior offense. The Warriors scored just six points in more than six minutes of play in the second quarter. The Wizards took the lead, 53-52, but buckets by Klay Thompson and Andre Iguodala put the Warriors back in front. The Wizards made a 3-point shot to tie the game at 56, but Curry sank two free throws to put the Warriors at the end of the first half, 58-86. Durant led the Warrior attack with 18, and Otto Porter also tallied 18 for the Wizards.

The Warriors had another terrific third quarter. As they have done so many times this year, they did their job on offense, and the defense shut down the Wizards. The Warriors started the quarter with a 16-4 run. They outscored Washington 27-14 and led 85-70 heading into the fourth quarter. The Wizards won the fourth quarter as they outscored the W’s by 7. It was too little, too late as Curry refused to wilt and won 109-101.

Game Notes and Stats: The Warriors’ defense shut down Wizards guard, Bradley Beal. Beal came into the game averaging 26.5 points per game in the games since John Wall was injured. The Warriors’ Klay Thompson did a fantastic job as Beal scored just eight points in the game. The Wizards were led by Otto Porter’s 29 points and 10 rebounds. Markieff Morris had 16, Tomas Satoransky 11, and Kelly Oubre recorded 17. The Warriors held the Wizards to 40% from the floor. However, the Wizards took 19 more shots than the Warriors. The Wizards outrebounded the Warriors, 50-39, and they recorded 25 assists.

The Warriors shot 52.1% from the floor. They made 10 3-point shots, Durant led the Warriors with 32. Curry had 25 including four 3-pointers. Thompson had 13. Draymond Green had a double-double with 11 points and 11 assists. Andre Iguodala pitched in with 14. The Warriors had 10 steals and eight blocked shots. Iguodala blocked three and JaVale McGee had two. The Warriors are now 48-14 while the Wizards drops to 36-26.

After the game, Bradley Beal commented on the Warriors’ defense:

“They took a lot of my shots away. They doubled. They switched,” Beal said. “Their main objective was to take the ball out of my hands.”

A lot of the credit went to Thompson.

“Klay did a really good job,” Warriors head coach Steve Kerr said. “We assign Klay with the most difficult job night after night.”

Up Next: The Warriors finish the three-game road trip in Atlanta on Friday night. It will be the first game of the season between the two teams. Game time is at 4:30 pm PT.