On Saturday night, Damian Lillard hit one of the wildest buzzer beaters you’ll ever see to lift the Portland Trail Blazers over the Chicago Bulls. One day later, the Washington Wizards and Brooklyn Nets somehow managed to combine for an even more outrageous finish.
Down by 18 at one point, the Wizards came storming back to secure a 149-146 win. And while the entire fourth quarter, during which the two teams combined for 86 points, was exciting, the last few seconds is where things got really crazy.
We’ll pick things up with 12.3 seconds left, when Kyrie Irving hit two free throws to give the Nets a 146-141 lead. At this point the game seemed over, but Bradley Beal came down and drained a deep 3-pointer from the top of the key to make it a two-point game and give the Wizards a chance.
The Wizards seized that chance after Joe Harris panicked and threw the inbounds pass straight to Garrison Matthews. He then found Russell Westbrook who buried a 3-ball of his own. Six points in eight seconds, and all of a sudden the Wizards were back in front at 147-146.
Only, things weren’t over just yet. The Nets had the ball and a chance to win with 4.3 seconds left, and understandably they tried to go to Kevin Durant. For a split second it looked like he might have gotten free for a layup, but Westbrook flew in to deflect the inbounds pass.
Then the Nets had to take it out on the baseline with 2.9 seconds remaining and more madness ensued. Kyrie Irving started moving as he tried to find an angle for a pass, while the Wizards’ broadcast team screamed out for the refs to call a travel. No whistle blew, and Irving found a cutting Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot, who created some space only for his potential game-winning layup to roll around and out.
Once you’re done taking in all of that, take a look at some of the absurd numbers from this high-scoring affair:
- The 149 points scored by the Wizards were the most in a game this season
- There were four 30-point scorers: Westbrook (41), Beal (37), Durant (37), Harris (30)
- The two teams combined to shoot 106 of 196 (54 percent) from the field
- This was the Wizards’ second win over the Nets this season, which accounts for half of their total wins (4)
It’s safe to say we won’t see another game quite like this all season long.
Courtesy: CBS Sports
