Bradley Beal’s season-long streak of 17 straight games with at least 25 points came to a crashing halt Friday night when he was held to just seven in the Washington Wizards’ 122-95 drubbing at the hands of the host Miami Heat.
Kendrick Nunn had a game-high 25 points, Bam Adebayo added 21, and Jimmy Butler flirted with a triple-double in just 26 minutes for the Heat, who ran up a 71-43 halftime lead and coasted home.
Reserve big man Alex Len topped Washington with 18 points.
Beal didn’t make a shot the entire first half, going 0-for-12, and in the process equaled a 25-year NBA level of futility.
According to ESPN, Beal’s 0-for-12 effort tied Memphis’ O.J. Mayo in 2008 as the most field goal attempts in the first half of an NBA game without making one in the last 25 years.
Beal also missed his first shot of the third quarter before connecting on a 3-pointer. He was pulled from the blowout not that long thereafter, finishing 1-for-14 overall and 1-for-7 on 3-pointers. He played 27 minutes.
The seven points equaled Beal’s fewest since scoring four at Brooklyn in December of 2017.
Backcourt mate Russell Westbrook totaled just 13 points, three rebounds and three assists in his 25 minutes.
The Heat, which were beaten 103-100 at home by the Wizards on Wednesday night for the seventh setback in their last eight games, wasted little time exacting revenge on their NBA Southeast rival.
Tyler Herro bombed in a pair of 3-pointers and Adebayo converted a three-point play in a 19-9 burst that gave the Heat a 40-27 lead after one period.
Miami extended the margin to 28 before halftime, leaving only Beal’s final field goal total in question.
Nunn hit 11 of his 17 shots and Kelly Olynyk shot 5-for-7 on 3-pointers en route to 17 points for the Heat, who outshot the Wizards 49.4 percent to 37.1 percent overall and 43.2 percent to 24.2 percent on threes.
Herro also finished with 17 points, while Butler amassed eight rebounds and a game-high nine assists to go with his 14 points. Andre Iguodala collected a game-high 10 rebounds to complement six points.
Rui Hachimura added 12 points for the Wizards, who lost for the ninth time in their last 12 games.
–Field Level Media