It was an exciting night at Capital One Arena. Rocking their blue-and-bronze Classic Edition look for the first time in over a decade, the Wizards beat the Bulls 102-100 in dramatic fashion in their 2022-23 home opener.
Washington rolled with the same starting five as they did in the season opener: Monte Morris, Bradley Beal, Deni Avdija, Kyle Kuzma, and Kristaps Porzingis. Those five got off to a hot start offensively, scoring 15 points in the first four minutes.
At the end of the first quarter, the Wizards were delivering blows from everywhere on the court with seven different guys scoring at least one bucket.
In the second quarter, the Wizards’ frontcourt took over. Rui Hachimura, Kuzma, and Porzingis combined for 22 points on 8-for-11 shooting from the field, helping the Wizards win the quarter by 10 points, giving them a six-point lead heading into the halftime break.
The second half is when things heated up. Kuzma came out of the locker room with a flamethrower on his shooting hand, knocking down two threes on back-to-back possessions that got the crowd into the game right away. He finished the game with a team-high 26 points on 8-of-16 shooting from the field and 4-of-8 shooting from deep to go along with six rebounds, two assists, and only one turnover.
Fast forward a couple minutes and Beal had a massive block in transition that led to an Avdija corner three, ballooning the Wizards’ lead to 15 points.
The third-quarter fun wasn’t over after that Avdija three. With just under eight minutes remaining in the period, Beal brought the ball up and got doubled after Morris came to set a small-small screen. Morris slipped the screen and Beal dumped it off to him for the assist, moving Beal into the top three on the franchise all-time assists list, passing Rod Strickland.
The Wizards’ lead peaked at 17 in the third quarter. But basketball is a game of runs, and the Bulls had something left in their tank.
As the game was winding down in the final minutes, the Bulls crept back into contention. With 90 seconds left in the game, DeMar DeRozan tied it up.
After a nearly four quarters of letting the game come to him, Beal grabbed control in the final minute. He cut backdoor and converted on a layup with one minute left. After the Bulls tied it up again, he came off a screen from Anthony Gill and weaved his way into the midrange, kissing a floater off the glass. He finished with 19 points on 9-of-14 shooting from the field to go along with eight assists and two blocks.
“Time and time again we put the ball in [Beal’s] hands for a reason,” said Wizards coach Wes Unseld Jr. “He’s going to make the right play. He did it tonight. It’s something we have seen throughout the preseason. He’s made plays… He’s going to continue to make the right play and it’s going to help us.”
DeRozan and the Bulls had one final crack at the buzzer, but his pullup three rimmed out. Ball game.
