With ten players ruled out, Will Riley stepped up to lead the team in scoring once again as the Washington Wizards were dominated on the road by the Brooklyn Nets
The Washington Wizards entered Saturday's road game against Brooklyn with a long list of inactive after ten players were ruled out ahead on Saturday, including Bilal Coulibaly, Kyshawn George and Alex Sarr just prior to tipoff. That lack of depth and star power would end up looming large after Washington fell,
Will Riley set yet another career-high in the loss with 25 points behind four made threes and 9-of-17 shooting from the field.
Justin Champagnie finished just shy of a double-double with 21 points and nine rebounds, including a perfect 10-of-10 from the free throw line. Tristan Vukcevic also drew the start and finished with 14 points and a pair of rebounds in 20 minutes.
It started with some flashes after a three from Will Riley gave the team its first field goal, while Tristan Vukcevic flushed a thundering one hand dunk midway through the first quarter with the game still close. A hook shot from Champagnie with inside five minutes left in the opening quarter would trim Washington's deficit to six, but after head coach Brian Keefe turned to his bench with Champagnie and Vukcevic joining Bub Carrington on the bench, Brooklyn capitalized to blow open the game, ending the first quarter on a 23-3 run over the final 4:17.
A 7-0 run stretched Washington's deficit to 30 in the opening minutes of the second quarter then flirted with a 34 point lead in the closing minutes of the first half before heading into the locker room staring at an 80-47 deficit.
Washington open the second half outscoring Brooklyn, 21-5, through the first 5:16 before a Wizards turnover sandwiched between a pair of buckets led Brian Keefe to call a timeout. Washington was able to somewhat bounce back by keeping the deficit near 20 the rest of the way before a Jamir Watkins three with 13 seconds left took a 19-point deficit into the final quarter.
Washington was able to cut away at the Nets' lead in the fourth quarter highlighted by a four-point play by Will Riley at the midway point en route to another career night. Jamir Watkins also posted an emphatic poster with three minutes left, trimming the deficit to 123-106.
Now sitting 14-37 overall and 5-20 in road games this season, Washington will return to action on Sunday at home to host the Miami Heat for a 2 PM start. Whether Washington gets any of its young stars back remains unseen with the intention the rest of the season crystal clear for an organization looking ahead at the offseason.