Observations from Wizards win over Cavs to clinch play-in berth originally appeared on NBC Sports Washington
The Washington Wizards beat the Cleveland Cavaliers 120-105 on Friday night. Here are five takeaways from what went down...
Win and in
Somehow what few thought the Wizards would accomplish months ago seemed to drag out before they completed it. It took a few extra days, but the Wizards finally punched their ticket for the play-in tournament on Friday, polishing off a remarkable midseason comeback amid a trying year headlined by major injuries and a Covid-19 outbreak in January.
By beating the Cavs on Friday, the Wizards clinched a spot in the postseason for the first time in three years. Their seed and opponent have yet to be determined, but we do know the Wizards will be playing their game on Tuesday night.
The rest of the details will be figured out over the weekend, as the Wizards still have a final regular season game against the Hornets set for Sunday. For instance, the Wizards could be playing at home or away, or in a single elimination or double elimination game. The range of possibilities remains wide.
No Beal or Neto
The injuries are starting to pile up for the Wizards, as both Bradley Beal and Raul Neto missed this one with hamstring issues. Beal's was known, as the team announced the day before he would be out on Friday, his third straight missed game. The Neto news was unexpected, as head coach Scott Brooks revealed pregame he would be a gametime decision.
Beal and Neto are both starters and you can add them to the pile that also includes season-ending injuries for Thomas Bryant and Deni Avdija. Health has been a major determinant of success for the Wizards this season and particularly with Beal. Even with this win, they are now 2-10 without him, compared to 31-28 when he plays.
It helped that Russell Westbrook had a huge game. He had another triple-double with 21 points, 17 assists, 12 rebounds, three steals and zero turnovers. It was his seventh straight game with 15 or more assists.
Rui was aggressive
With Beal and Neto out, you could tell early on that Rui Hachimura sensed it was his responsibility to step up as a scorer. That was evident in the first quarter, as he was very assertive looking for his own shot. He took eight of the Wizards' 22 field goal attempts in the first quarter and had 10 by halftime.
Hachimura shot 7-for-15 against the Cavs and scored 14 points. Though he wasn't wildly efficient, it's encouraging to see him take initiative like he did on Friday night. He was intent on attacking the rim and was rewarded on a few tough finishes. In the first half, he dunked on Collin Sexton with a left-handed slam on the fastbreak.
Gafford played more
After Wednesday's loss, in which Daniel Gafford scored 16 points but only played 17 minutes and sat down the stretch of the fourth quarter, Brooks admitted he probably should have played Gafford more. He backed that up on Friday, as Gafford logged 21 minutes, his most in two weeks.
Gafford played well, too, with 12 points, five rebounds and three blocks. The matchups may have had something to do with it, as Gafford played a season-high 27 minutes against the Cavs back on April 25. Brooks seems to like how he plays against Jarrett Allen, in particular.
Varejao is still haunting the Wizards
By now you may have heard the surprising news that the Cavaliers signed 38-year-old veteran Anderson Varejao for the remainder of this season, bringing him back to the NBA for the first time since 2017. Just seeing him back in an NBA game is strange, given those factors, but it's uniquely weird to watch him play the Wizards.
Varejao used to give the Wizards fits, going all the way back to those infamous Wizards-Cavs playoff series in the mid-2000s. Like, Varejao was out there with LeBron James opposite Gilbert Arenas, Antawn Jamison, DeShawn Stevenson and the like. To think that 15 years later, a guy from that memorable rivalry would still be playing for their team is just wild.
