Grizzlies at Wizards
Bradley Beal had a string of seven straight games scoring 30 or more points come to an end on Friday, but he did manage to lead the Washington Wizards to a victory. Beal and the Wizards will try to make it two straight over playoff hopefuls from the Western Conference when they host the Memphis Grizzlies on Sunday.
Washington got the ball out of bounds with 1.8 seconds left on Friday and set Beal up across halfcourt before he sprinted off a screen into the lane to catch the pass and drain the game-winning layup with 0.2 seconds remaining. "Coach drew up a great play," Beal, who finished with 29 points, told reporters after the 119-118 victory over Dallas. "He wanted me to get a full head of steam downhill. The play was really for me to come up closer to the ball and attack downhill, but they kind of fumbled the switch and I cut back-door and Troy (Brown Jr.) made a great pass. ... I'm just happy my teammates trusted me, and coach trusted me to pull us out with this win." The Grizzlies won six of seven before falling 119-107 at Philadelphia on Friday, dropping their road record to 11-13. "We'll have a film session (Saturday), we've got two more games (before the All-Star break) and we'll just continue to make steps in a positive direction," Memphis coach Taylor Jenkins told reporters. "I think we have like 28 games or so after the All-Star break and that's when everyone, not just us, all teams are taking it to another level, and we've got to recognize that."
TIME: 6 p.m. ET. TV: FS Southeast, NBCS Washington
ABOUT THE GRIZZLIES (26-26): Memphis is still waiting on the pieces they added at the deadline to make their respective debuts and forward Jordan Bell and Gorgui Dieng could each be with the team Sunday while forward Justise Winslow (back) likely won't see the floor until after the break. The three join a young team that is making strides and intends to do big things this season. "We've got to make the playoffs and make a big run," Grizzlies center Jonas Valanciunas told reporters after Friday's setback. "We started not so well, then we picked it up, and we have to play at the same level like (when) we picked it up."
ABOUT THE WIZARDS (18-32): Washington made a pair of low-key moves in front of Thursday's trade deadline, bringing in veteran point guard Shabazz Napier and 2018 first-round pick Jerome Robinson. Napier made his team debut on Friday and scored 14 points while going 4-of-6 from 3-point range in 18 minutes off the bench while Robinson is expected to join the team Sunday. "He was great," Wizards forward Davis Bertans told the team's website of Napier. "It was even hard to notice that he just got here today. He got in the game and there are still some plays that he needs to learn, but other than that, it felt great to have him there. He was pushing the pace. I think he compliments the team."
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Bertans is averaging 19.5 points in the last two games and is 10-of-16 from 3-point range in that span.
2. Valanciunas collected 14 points and 10 rebounds on Friday for his fourth double-double in the last six games.
3. Memphis earned a 128-111 home win over Washington on Dec. 14.