Without their leading scorer Collin Sexton, the Cleveland Cavaliers traveled to D.C. to battle the red-hot Washington Wizards on Sunday night. Coming into the game, the tenth-seeded Wizards had won seven straight.
Behind the play of Darius Garland and Jarrett Allen, Cleveland took a six-point lead into the fourth quarter. However, Bradley Beal scored nine of his game-high 33 points in the fourth as the Wizards defeated the Cavaliers 119-110 to win their eighth straight.
Garland had 29 points and nine assists, and Allen had a career-high 27 points to go along with a game-high 12 rebounds.
The game was tied at 108 with just under three minutes left, but Washington closed the game on a 9-2 run to cement the victory.
According to Cavaliers head coach J.B. Bickerstaff, the team got some good looks down the stretch, but they could not knock down the shots.
“I thought we had some good looks,” Bickerstaff said. “I thought we did a really good job on some of those of penetrating and getting inside the restricted area. We didn’t convert.”
Despite the loss, the 21-year-old Garland was a bright spot for the Cavaliers. In the last five games, he is averaging 25.0 points and 7.4 assists. Bickerstaff discussed what he saw out of the second-year point guard against Washington
“He was doing it all. He was a lead guard,” Bickerstaff said. “He was asked to score, he was asked to distribute and play both ends of the floor, and I thought he was excellent tonight. Anytime you make teams have to make an adjustment on you, that means you’re doing the job. And I thought that he was great tonight in taking that load and carrying that burden.”
The Cavaliers, who have lost seven of their last nine games, are six games behind the Wizards with 12 games left. At this point, it’s going to be an uphill battle for Cleveland to make the playoffs. However, seeing Garland play at this level has to be exciting for the Cavaliers.
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