The Washington Wizards dropped an overtime thriller to the Detroit Pistons tonight, 137-135. CJ McCollum missed a floater at the buzzer to hand Washington its ninth straight loss.
McCollum went off for 42 points in what was surely a tryout for the 34-year-old’s next team. For the Pistons, Cade Cunningham continued his All-NBA First Team campaign by posting 48 points, 11 assists and 12 rebounds.
The Wizards have had arguably the toughest schedule in the NBA so far this season, as they have only played
playoff-hopeful teams (save for a drubbing against the lowly Charlotte Hornets). Their only win came against the Dallas Mavericks, and they’d dropped eight strait leading up to this game.
Heading into tonight’s game, rookie Tre Johnson was averaging a cool 12.1 points per game, seventh among all rookies, in 26 minutes per game. Alex Sarr, the Wizards’ most important player, is up to 19 points per game, but he is still not a good rebounder at 7.7 boards per game.
Of all of last season’s rookies, Kyshawn George has taken the biggest second-year leap, nearly doubling his scoring average from 8.7 to 16 points per game. He is also pulling down 6.2 boards per game, the second most on the team behind Sarr.
The 1-10 Wizards head to Houston next to face off against Kevin Durant and the Rockets.
