Kristaps Porzingis | Photo: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports
Tonight in the National Basketball Association (NBA) Kristaps Porzingis and the Washington Wizards by a score 118:127 lost to the champion Golden State Warriors, suffering their fifth loss in the last six matches.
Porzingis played his most productive game of 2023. The Latvian spent 34 minutes and 32 seconds on the field, during which he scored 32 (1st p. 11/12; 2nd p. 6/8; 3rd p. 3/7) points, five rebounds, three assists, one steals, two blocked shots, one foul, three personal fouls, and a negative +/- of -17.
KP hoopin’ early 🔥
📊 15 PTS in 10 minutes so far. pic.twitter.com/scWOghyy72
— Washington Wizards (@WashWizards) January 16, 2023
Porzingis gave a big effort already in the first half, in which he scored 25 points – representing the Washington team, this is his second best score. The opponents were kept in the game in the first half by Jordan Poole’s excellent performance (26 points, five “threes”) and Stephen Curry’s activity (made 9/10 free throws), which allowed the guests to lead 69:64 after the first 24 minutes.
After the break, the Liepaja player “shut up” a little, making only two long shots in the third quarter, one of which was accurate. “Wizards” performance did not suffer from it. Similar to the beginning of the game, this time also the home team gained a small advantage, which the “Warriors” destroyed by the end of the quarter. Before the decisive 12 minutes, the score was tied – 93:93.
“Wizards” started the last part of the match with Rui Hachimura’s long shot and Kyle Kuzma’s two three-pointers, and after Daniel Gafford’s accurate free throws, they were able to pull away a little (106:98). However, after Gafford’s “penalties”, Washington’s offense stalled for almost three minutes, which quickly allowed the champions to close within one point, prompting “Wizards” captain Wes Anseld to call for a timeout. The team meeting did not produce results – Kari gave his word. The star defender scored ten points in the last six minutes and also created opportunities for his partners several times. Pool added a point to the game with a long shot, which made it 123-114 with 89 seconds left in the game.
Information is being updated…
