The Wizards face a long road ahead, with point guard John Wall expected to miss six to eight weeks as he recovers from a knee procedure.
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As the saying goes, the longest journey begins with the first step, and the Wall-less Wizards took a huge step Wednesday by beating the Thunder, 102-96, in Washington.
Otto Porter Jr. led the Wizards with 25 points, while Bradley Beal added 21 and handed out nine assists. Everyone will have to pitch in to make up for the 19.4 points and 9.3 assists per game Wall brings to the offense.
The Wizards (28-22) are now 2-0 since Wall was sidelined (they beat the Hawks Sunday). They need every win they can get with Wall out. They're currently in fifth place in the East, but they're only up a couple of games on the eighth-place 76ers. So this win, against a tough visiting team, was big. Coach Scott Brooks liked what he saw.
“We fought, we battled, we clawed. We didn’t complain; we just played," Brooks said.
Before the game, Brooks had said he didn't think the Wizards would acquire a guard before the Feb. 9 trade deadline.
“This is a minor setback. (Wall) will be back," Brooks said. "We’re not gonna change things up just because of this."
Wednesday, the crew the Wizards had on hand was enough to get the job done.