Beal says opponents have to ‘make a choice’ in guarding him or Porzingis originally appeared on NBC Sports Washington
Everything seemed to click for the Washington Wizards on Wednesday night in Philadelphia. The visitors walked away 121-111 victors on a night when they overcame a huge 3-point shooting deficit, saw a young trio dominate in different roles off the bench, and put the game away in the paint.
Granted, perennial MVP candidate Joel Embiid was out for the second consecutive game for the 76ers. But one storyline seemed to overtake the rest coming out of the contest: the sheer tenacity of the Bradley Beal-Kristaps Porzingis duo.
Beal put up 29 points in 36 stellar minutes, adding five assists and two rebounds on 65% shooting from the field.
Porzingis, meanwhile, posted 30 points (his second straight game putting up at least 30), nine rebounds and three blocks while knocking in all 11 of his free throws. Scoring 30 points on 13 field goal attempts is next-level efficiency.
It’s create a pick-your-poision situation for opponents when they’re both clicking.
“[Porzingis has an] ability to be able to stretch the floor, shoot the ball at a tremendously high clip,” Beal said of his running mate postgame.
“Teams gotta make a choice, man. If a big is gonna switch out on me, I can go by the big, I can get whatever shot I want. And if a small is gonna be on him, he can literally stand over you and shoot the ball, so like Doc [Rivers] said, man, we’re gonna be a duo to reckon with.”
Beal points out that opponents have to choose whether to guard him or Porzingis. Philadelphia blitzed Beal in their first meeting on Monday, holding him to just 39% shooting and making it tough for him to dish the ball. This time around, Beal took advantage of that dynamic and worked in concert with his center, taking advantage of the absence of Embiid down low.
Porzingis simply used his 7-foot-3 height to, as Beal noted, literally just shoot over the top of his defender. It worked. The pair combined for 59 points.
“We’re just steadily just getting our momentum going, we’re getting our legs up under us,” Beal said of the duo. “Getting our camaraderie better and he has two good games back-to-back, we just gotta keep it going.”