On the most glittering floor in the NBA, Danny Abdia hoped to continue tonight (Friday-Saturday) the improved ability from the last two games – but recorded a poor personal performance in Washington’s sixth straight loss, 100: 97 against the New York Knicks. In 25 minutes in front of quite a few Israelis in Madison Square Garden, Abdia scored 4 points (1 from 5 from the field, 0 from 2 from three, 2 from 4 from the penalty spot), 4 rebounds and a loss of a ball.
Just two days ago Abdia set a season-high 19 points, but this time, unlike his last game in “Mecca,” he failed to get into the rhythm. All of the Wizards put up a bad game and when they found themselves 15 minutes behind, Kyle Kozma woke up and led a 2:16 run with three straight threes, but missed the fourth that could have set up a reversal and eventually the Knicks overtook their opponent on the way to 11th place in the East. New York went up to a 40:30 balance when it is 5 games away from the play-offs, the team from the United States capital dropped to 40:29.
The big difference between the parties in the confrontation came under the baskets. New York won the rebound battle 38:60 (3:19 on offense) and scored 20 points on second chance, compared to only 4 for Washington. Julius Randall (17 rebounds) and R.J. Barrett scored 18 each, while Mitchell Robinson (12 rebounds), Owen Fournier and Emanuel Quickley added 15 each.
Also on the losing side the two leading scorers scored exactly 18 – Kozma and Kristaps Forzingis, with the Latvian giant making his third appearance at the Garden since leaving the Big Apple, receiving jarring boos every time he touched the ball. Corey Kispert added 14, Roy Hachimura 11 and in less than 24 hours Wes Ansald Jr.’s players will return to the Capital One Arena for a meeting against LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers.
The comeback bid fell short.
Kuzma: 18 PTS, 9 AST
Porzingis: 18 PTS, 11 REB#DCAboveAll | @Ticketmaster pic.twitter.com/cLXDxDnc7e— Washington Wizards (@WashWizards) March 19, 2022
the progress of the game:
Abdia went up to the floor 6:11 minutes before the end of the first quarter when the scoreboard showed 13:13, and immediately the Wizards recorded a 0: 9 run on the way to a 13:22 advantage. The forward stood on the penalty line towards the end of the quarter, scoring 1 of 2 and after 12 minutes the visitors led 22:28.
Randall scored several consecutive points that shrank to 41:40 in the middle of the second quarter, so Abdia jumped off the bench and missed his first two shots in the tackle. On the defensive side he committed two fouls, saw Barrett and Randall score in front of him, and at the break the Knicks led 47:54 over Washington scoring 2 points in the final 4:58 minutes of the first half. Already in the half Randall stood at 15 points and 10 rebounds.
Abdia recorded a first-half basket 5:07 minutes into the third quarter as he offset to 68:60 but New York continued to feel comfortable with complete control of the rebounds. The Israeli added a point from the line and at the end of 36 minutes the Knicks led 66:75. Hachimura started the last quarter excellently with “One” after a dunk and a three that shrank to 84:77 but Mitchell Robinson and Barrett stopped the momentum and set a new record advantage of 12 points.
Abdia went down to the bench, Barrett scored a big three that made it 81:96, then Washington went out for a 0:10 run that reopened the game, less than two minutes to go. Kozma sniped two more huge threes (3 threes in total in 72 seconds) that shrank to 98: 97 about 40 seconds to go, but missed the one that could have set a turnaround. Force overtime with the buzzer after his shot hit nothing.