Jimmy Butler and Bradley Beal react in contrasting moods to Washington Wizards' 103-100 win over Miami Heat
The Washington Wizards continued their upward trajectory with a hard-fought win against the Miami Heat. Bradley Beal and co. overcame a 13-point deficit in the second half of the game to run away with a 103-100 victory. Scott Brooks' men no longer have the worst record in the Eastern Conference.
The problems continue to compound for the Miami Heat who just scored 33 points after the half-time break. Jimmy Butler had a near triple-double effort and Tyler Herro managed 20 points, but these performances weren't enough. Meanwhile, Beal led the charge for the Washington Wizards – like always – with his 32 points.
Jimmy Butler not happy with the Miami Heat's quality of basketball
The Miami Heat played with a full-strength squad after a long time and looked like they meant business early in the game. However, they let a double-digit lead slip late in the game to go 7-14 on the season. Jimmy Butler was expectedly unhappy after the game.
"We haven’t been playing good basketball. When you don’t play good basketball, you lose. That’s why we’re 7-14,” said Butler.
The Miami Heat just had 35 second-half points and just couldn't hold their own on both ends of the court against the Washington Wizards. Butler explained what went wrong for the team:
“I think we’re just not making shots. When we’re not making shots it kinda gives us an excuse to go down there and not play defense I think that’s what it is. Cause when we make shots we defend pretty well. I think we just gotta grow up in that sense.
Bradley Beal is proud of Washington Wizards' defense
The Washington Wizards had a tough ask heading into the break. They were down big and were without Russell Westbrook who's sitting out on the second night of back-to-backs. Yet, the Wizards amped up their defense and overcame the Miami Heat.
Bradley Beal was impressed with the effort put in by the Washington Wizards to defend the basket. He showered immense praise on his teammates.
"We're showing that we can win games, we're showing that we can defend, we're showing we can move the ball on offense. It's just consistency," Beal said.
Beal also became the first player to score 25+ points in 17 straight games to start the season, overtaking Michael Jordan in the process. He was happy that this record-breaking effort resulted in a win.
The Miami Heat and Washington Wizards will take on each other again on Friday.
Also read: Washington Wizards 103-100 Miami Heat: Twitter goes into a frenzy as Bradley Beal has a historic start to the season