Washington Wizards Lose Game Thanks to Baffling Rule

Winning a single basketball game in the NBA can be an incredibly tough task for any team. That is why the NBA is one of the most-watched sports in America, there is always some excitement on any given night, even between the most disparate of teams. Washington has struggled this year to get up to their lofty standards and a big part of that has been the loss of superstar guard John Wall to injury. However, even when Washington does everything right and manages to pull out a win — they still lose. The Washington Wizards just lost to the Clippers despite hitting the game-winning basket. Doesn’t make sense, does it?

How the final play of the game between Washington and Los Angeles went down will likely be the talk of the week. Bradley Beal was in-bounded the ball with 1.1 seconds left to play. Beal immediately pulled up and hit what should have been the game-winning bucket. Right? Wrong. Instead, the bucket is waved off and the referees re-set the clock… after the fact. The clock was apparently off by one-tenth of a second and should have been clocked at 1.2 seconds, giving Washington an extra tenth of the second. SO despite executing on a shortened clock, and winning the game, the Refs made Washington reset. The Wizards wouldn’t hit the game-winner on their second try and Los Angeles would walk away with a victory.

After the basketball game, Bradley Beal and Wizards coach Scott Brooks were both interviewed regarding the play. Beal admitted to being completely confused and he said, “To me, it didn’t really make sense because you kind of take a basket away.” Beal quoted the referees who called the rule the ‘tough crap’ rule. Beal was obviously not ecstatic about this explanation but he was not able to say much more due to potential fines for criticizing the referees. For that reason, Brooks was optimistic in his interview. Brooks said of the rule, “I never complain about tough decisions and tough plays at the end of the game that referees have to make.”

The Washington Wizards won’t get their rightful win, you can tell that the impact of the cheapened loss is damaging team morale. Star player Bradley Beal called out his roster while also subtly throwing head coach Scott Brooks under the bus. Beal’s words may not be easy to hear but they may be required for an under performing team.