MILWAUKEE — Bradley Beal hit the ground, landing directly on the injured right wrist that forced him to miss five games in late January and early Feburary. He grabbed his wrist as he stepped to the foul line and coolly drained both free throws, and shortly after added two jumpers to show that he not only was okay, but wasn’t going to leave the best game of his short career.
The Washington Wizards have been playing much improved basketball in the past six weeks, but that success has mostly been confined to the comforts of Verizon Center, where they have established home as an unfriendly place for visitors.
The road, however, has been a different story, with the Wizards arriving in Milwaukee on Monday night on a four-game losing streak. Three of those losses were without Beal, who proved to be the missing piece as he came off the bench and scored a season-high 28 points to lead the Wizards to a 102-90 victory over the Bucks. In his second game since returning, Beal connected on 10 of 17 shots, including 4 of 5 from three-point range, to produce the highest-scoring game for any Wizard this season.
Nene had his third consecutive double-double with 21 points and 13 rebounds, providing the finishing touches down the stretch by backing down Samuel Dalembert for a tough layup inside and then recording a steal to help the Wizards fend off a Bucks run.
The Wizards hadn’t won on the road since Jordan Crawford made a buzzer-beating three-pointer in Portland on Jan. 21. But Crawford is no longer in the regular rotation and the tide may be beginning to turn with the Wizards now on a season-high four-game winning streak. They still have the worst road record in the NBA at 4-21 but they have claimed three of those victories since John Wall returned from a stress injury in his left knee.
Wall finished with a double-double with 14 points and 10 assists but he limped off the court at the end of the game after stubbing his right big toe. Emeka Okafor also had a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds for the Wizards, who will head to Detroit on Tuesday for their final game before the all-star break.
Beal scored only three points on Friday vs. Brooklyn in his return from the wrist injury, but he appeared to be just fine with two more days to let it heal. He had his first 20-point effort since scoring 23 in Denver on Jan. 18, the same night he was injured in a hard fall late in the fourth quarter of the victory.
When the Wizards last played the Bucks on Nov. 9, Beal received his first career ejection when he knocked down Monta Ellis on a fast-break layup attempt and collected a flagrant foul-penalty two.
The scene escalated when Beal reached down to help up Ellis and Brandon Jennings ran up to Beal and shoved him to the ground. Jennings was also tossed from the game, which the Bucks won, 101-91.
The backdrop of the rematch featured teams headed in different directions, with the Wizards riding high on a three-game winning streak and the Bucks having dropped their previous three, including a home loss on Saturday to Detroit.
The road Wizards reared their ugly heads in the first quarter against Milwaukee, as the Bucks raced out to an early 10-point lead after Irsan Ilyasova stole the ball from Garrett Temple and fed Brandon Jennings for a layup. It was the second straight road game that the Wizards fell behind by double digits, with them having the same setback in San Antonio.
Ellis put his team ahead 30-20 with 2:36 left in the period, but the Wizards were able to rally back behind Beal, who scored seven points during a 9-2 run to end the period.
The Wizards took control in the second quarter, when they held the Bucks to just 15 points on 7-of-29 shooting. They were so committed on the defensive end that Wall and Beal both aggressively ran to contest Bucks forward Ersan Ilyasova’s desperation halfcourt court to end the half. Beal scored nine points in the period, knocking down a three-pointer and stealing an errant pass from Bucks reserve center Joel Przybilla and going up for a strong layup to put them ahead 49-44. They lead 55-47 at the break.
Ellis led the Bucks with 24 points and Ilyasova had 19.
