Beal Leads Wizards Past Clippers, NBA Roundup

By ESPN

Bradley Beal fell a point short of his career high Sunday.

He'll have to settle for making a fan out of Chris Paul.

Beal scored 41 points -- including 18 during the third quarter -- in the Washington Wizards' 117-110 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers. In the process, he left the nine-time All-Star Paul thoroughly impressed.

"Brad looks like a totally different person," said Paul, who scored 13 points and had 12 assists for the Clippers. "This is the Bradley Beal he should be all the time. Tonight he was aggressive. In order for this team to be as good as they probably want to be, he got to be like that."

Markieff Morris had 12 of his 23 points in the fourth quarter, and John Wall added 18 points and 11 assists for the Wizards.

After going down by seven, Washington closed the game on a 22-8 run to seal their third straight win and fifth out of six.

The Wizards shot 80 percent (12 of 15) from the floor in the fourth, and on the other end held Blake Griffin scoreless after he had scored 26 in his first three periods.

"We wanted to make him shoot jump shots," Wizards coach Scott Brooks said. "The ones he was making, in the second half he still made a few, but we still just wanted to stay with that strategy, and it paid off."

DeAndre Jordan added 13 points and 17 rebounds Los Angeles, which played the final 1:08 without ejected coach Doc Rivers.

"This little stretch we've been winning games, but our defense still hasn't been great," Paul said. "You want to win and learn at the same time, and it finally caught up with us."

Beal hit 6 of 10 3-pointers and shot 13 of 23 from the floor during a night when he repeatedly took the initiative to drive the lane.

And after his outburst in the third quarter helped Washington recover from an 11-point deficit, Beal's 3-pointer from the right off Wall's transition feed made it 102-102 with 5:01 left.

Some 90 seconds later, Morris' alley-oop slam of Wall's lob gave Washington a 106-104 lead, its first after halftime.

Then Morris' leaning jumper after Jordan missed a pair of free throws made the lead six. Rivers received two technicals in the aftermath, and Beal hit both foul shots to make it 116-108 with 1:08 to play.

"He was able to get to the paint, get to the rim and get to the free throw line," Wall said of Beal. "We found him a couple time in transition for some 3s. He was being aggressive on his own. And that kind of helped us get back into the game."

Sunday, December 18 Scoreboard

Washington 117, Los Angeles Clippers 110

Dallas 99, Sacramento 79

Utah 82, Memphis 73

Philadelphia 108, Brooklyn 107

Toronto 109, Orlando 79

Boston 105, Miami 95

San Antonio 113, New Orleans 100

Monday, December 19 Schedule (All Times Central)

Washington at Indiana, 6 p.m.

Detroit at Chicacgo, 7 p.m.

Atlanta at Oklahoma City, 7 p.m.

Phoenix at Minnesota, 7 p.m.

Dallas at Denver, 8 p.m.