CJ McCollum delivered the heroics on New Year's Eve as the Washington Wizards beat the Milwaukee Bucks, 114-113, for the fifth win in nine games
The Washington Wizards ended 2025 with not only its fourth road win of the season, but fifth win over its last nine games and second against Milwaukee after escaping with a 114-113 win on New Year's Eve.
Alex Sarr and Bub Carrington led the way for Washington with a team-high 20 points while Tre Johnson added 14 points behind four made threes, part of the hot three-point shooting that fueled the road win.
The Bucks opened the game on a 14-5 run through the first four minutes behind nine points from Giannis Antetokounmpo to power them, though Tre Johnson opened the scoring for the Wizards with a three, his 50th of the season and sixth consecutive made three dating back to Monday. Johnson would end the first quarter leading the team in scoring as a team effort helped the Wizards chip into the deficit with nine players making at least one shot. Bub Carrington would find Will Riley for the final points of the first quarter, marking Carrington's 500th career assist to cut the Wizards deficit to 32-30 into the second quarter.
AJ Johnson would give the Wizards an early boost with eight points through the first 16 minutes, marking a new season high and his first points since Nov. 7 vs. Phoenix in a strong showing against his former team. Tre Johnson, meanwhile, would continue his hot scoring effort by setting a new franchise record for a rookie by making nine consecutive threes dating back to Monday.
An and-one opportunity from Bilal Coulibaly midway through the second quarter would give Washington its first lead of the game before another Tre Johnson triple pushed it to a four point lead inside seven minutes left with the offense hitting a flow state highlighted by an alley-top from Khris Middleton to Alex Sarr inside four minutes to push Washington ahead, 55-50.
Milwaukee would lean on its outside shooting to eventually tie the game before CJ McCollum's three with 8.1 seconds left gave Washington a 65-62 lead at halftime.
Washington's outside shooting continued to open the second half to extend the lead to as many as seven points while CJ McCollum eclipsed 16,000 career points to force a Bucks' timeout.
Milwaukee responded with an 8-0 run to retake the lead, forcing head coach Brian Keefe to call timeout, but Washington would show fight to battle back.
Washington opened the fourth quarter on a 13-3 run through the first two minutes behind threes made threes from Bub Carrington, forcing Milwaukee to call a timeout with the Wizards ahead 99-91 just two minutes in.
Carrington would add his fourth made three of the fourth quarter, setting a new season-high with six made threes in the game.
Myles Turner split a pair of free throws to give the Bucks a one-point lead before a highlight worthy rejection on CJ McCollum on the ensuing possession with exactly one minutes left. A poor late possession resulted in an errant Tre Johnson shot in the paint that airballed, giving Giannis a pair of free throw attempts after Middleton fouled immediately with the Bucks in the bonus.
After a Brian Keefe timeout, CJ McCollum would deliver the hero points, first splitting the Bucks defense for an easy layup at the rim before one final defensive stand against Giannis, who finished with a game-high 33 points, delivered one final play for McCollum before hitting a fadeaway jumper along the baseline for the game-winning bucket. The play was made possible by Alex Sarr's fourth block of the night, his third game with four or more blocks since Dec. 23.
Washington, now sitting 8-24 overall, will return to action on Friday, Jan. 2 vs. Brooklyn for a 7 PM tipoff. It marks the first of a three-game homestand to open the 2026 slate.