Washington defied the odds, and won a game they quite frankly should win.
The Washington Wizards beat the Detroit Pistons, 118-104 in a road game on Saturday afternoon.
In a match between the two worst teams in the NBA, this game was pretty competitive. But the Pistons had the advantage in the first half with a 63-61 lead at halftime. Detroit could, and probably should have come out of the half with a double digit lead despite this half having eight lead changes.
However, they committed 10 turnovers, which turned into 14 Wizards points. Also for reference, in the first half, Bojan Bogdanovic led the Pistons with 16 of his 30 total points on 5-of-8 shooting and had a +24 rating in the first half. Yet the Wizards were behind by just TWO points!
On Washington’s end, Kyle Kuzma returned to his native state and scored 14 of his 30 points while Jordan Poole added 12 more of his 17 overall in the same metropolitan area where he went to college.
In the third quarter, Washington was able to get some momentum their way, leading 87-85. Kuzma continued to deliver, adding 8 more points, including this play here.
The defense, the dime, the dunk. pic.twitter.com/jLQAu3JbUP
— Washington Wizards (@WashWizards) January 27, 2024
Finally, in the fourth quarter, the Pistons went cold, shooting 28.6 percent in the period. The Wizards shot 47.8 percent which was enough to give them the upper hand in this game.
Ultimately, when Kevin Broom does his stats analysis tomorrow, he will point out that forcing turnovers ultimately helped the Wizards win this game, though it wasn’t the only reason. They forced the Pistons to commit 17 while they gave up the ball only 10 times themselves. The Wizards also scored 21 points off those turnovers.
Washington will continue their road trip on Monday when they face off against the San Antonio Spurs. Tip off is at 8 p.m. ET. See you then.