Washington continues to maintain excellent form, while Danny Avdia struggles to maintain stability.
The Wizards recorded a very impressive victory this morning (Wednesday), 101:126 in Portland over the hot Damian Lillard, and they already count three wins in the last four games, equaling a gap of one game over Chicago in the 10th place in the East, with a record of 30:27.
At the same time, from Danny Avdia's narrow point of view, it was a rather frustrating evening.
Avdia saw Kyle Kuzma return after nearly two weeks, exploding with 33 points and 9 rebounds, leaving him with minute crumbs.
Avdia came off the bench for only 18 minutes, threw only four times from the field (his fewest since the beginning of January) and finished with two points (1 of 4 from the field, 0 of 2 from three), along with 3 rebounds, 3 assists and one turnover.
Precisely after a series of excellent games in which Avdia seemed to establish his status in the team and make a leap forward at the statistical level, in the last two games he dropped to a double-digit number of points, connecting in both of them only 4 of 14 from the field and 1 of 7 from three, when he does not reach at all to the penalty line.
Unsettling instability.
Avdia (Photo: GettyImages, Lachlan Cunningham)
The Wizards came into the game knowing that only offensive superiority would get them a win against the fiery Lillard, who averaged over 38 points in the previous ten games.
Luckily for them, that's exactly what happened.
Kyle Kuzma and Kristaps Porzingis took control of the offense early on, and despite another excellent game from Lillard, the Wizards went into halftime with a small one-point lead (with Avdia again complaining about the referees, after he claimed two fouls on him were missed).
A fantastic third quarter of 22:38 gave them a safe lead, and they managed to keep it until the end.
As mentioned, Kuzma excelled with 33 points along with 9 rebounds, Kristaps Porzingis had 28 points, 12 rebounds and 5 assists, and Bradley Beal settled for 19 points with solid percentages (7 of 15 from the field).
The Blazers were led by Damian Lillard with 39 points (14 of 30 from the field, 5 of 17 from three), along with 10 rebounds and 6 assists on 6 turnovers.
Kam Reddish added 18 and Anfernie Simmons had 17 in the last win over the Wizards, but the Blazers continue to not take advantage of Lillard's hot streak, suffering their third loss in five games.
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NBA
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Washington Wizards
Portland Blazers
Danny Avdia