What We Learned From Bradley Beal’s Return

After missing 16 games, Bradley Beal returned and played 23 minutes in a Washington Wizards win, and should help tremendously going forward.

I’d be preaching to the choir if I were to reiterate how much injuries have affected the Washington Wizards this year. So, I’ll simply skip that and jump right into what Wizards fans had been waiting for nearly half of the season; Bradley Beal’s triumphant return.

After missing 16 games with a stress reaction in his lower right leg, Beal played 23 minutes, on par with his 24-minute restriction, in Washington’s win against the Milwaukee Bucks on Wednesday night, snapping a three-game home losing streak.

He wasn’t exactly spectacular, going 3-for-8 from the field and ultimately having a negative plus/minus for the game (minus-8), but there were absolutely some positive takeaways.

Perhaps the most important of positives to come from Beal’s first game back was how comfortable he looked out on the floor. He started off by knocking down a mid-range jumper without any hesitation, and then a few plays later finished a two-handed dunk in transition off of a full-court pass from John Wall.

That’s a great sign for Washington going forward as Beal gets back into the groove of things, as he still doesn’t feel 100 percent. According to the Washing Post’s Washington Wizards reporter Jorge Castillo, Beal will likely sit one of the two back-backs coming up:

It’s definitely a smart move for Beal to be as cautious as he can be as he’s had issues with his leg in the past. Beal may be looking at a minutes restriction for the rest of his NBA career, simply meaning he’ll be unable to play the 39+ minutes he was logging before this most recent injury.

The Wizards looked the best I’ve seen them look in a long time in that first half against the Bucks. The defense was extremely active and forcing turnovers and converting them into points on the other end, and the ball was moving offensively leading to open shots and lay-ups, part of which can be credited to Beal.

Beal was able to open up the floor quite a bit, despite missing five straight shots after making his first three. Him simply being on the floor causes defenses to always be aware of where he’s at, which makes it that much easier for Wall create offense.

Remember when LaMarcus Aldridge first suited up for the Spurs, and took weeks to get acclimated to the style? He wasn’t great to start the season, but the rest of the starters were still able to be successful.  Aldridge took so much attention of the opposing defense, despite him not being much of a threat within the Spurs system, simply because he’s LaMarcus Aldridge, and you give attention to him no matter what team he’s playing for.

That’s how important it is for Beal to be back into the Wizards’ line-up. He’s a lethal offensive threat and even though he isn’t 100 percent, teams still have to worry about him. There isn’t much he can’t do offensively.

Ultimately, if you were to look past the Wizards third-quarter breakdown in which they were out-scored 31-15 by the Bucks, there were many positives to take away from the game.

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Besides the fact that the Bucks scored 62 points in the paint, the defense was good and forced 27 turnovers that led to 36 points. The poor interior defense can be attributed to the absence of both Marcin Gortat and Kris Humphries, so it’s not like the Wizards were having defensive breakdowns throughout the game. They simply lacked the size and length to keep up with Milwaukee’s athletic bigs.

Nene also surprisingly had a solid night, after seeming completely disinterested in the game of basketball lately, and his teammates were supportive as well:

Ramon Sessions also had another solid night, and I was definitely happy to see him continue to get minutes as I am a firm believer that he can be a major piece for the Wizards off the bench going forward.

Sadly, yet another Wizard suffered an injury though. Otto Porter left the game in the third quarter after falling awkwardly on his hip and did not return. As unsettling as that may seem, I don’t see him missing much more time, if any.

I expect Beal to continue to demand respect from opposing defenses and open up the floor for the Wizards. It will help tremendously until, and I say “until” assuming that at some point the team will be fully healthy, the Wizards have everyone back. Team’s around the league will need to be aware of when that happens, according to Beal:

The Wizards are in relatively good shape here and I expect a solid stretch from them in the next month or so as they make a playoff push. They sit a mere 1.5 games out of the eight spot in the Eastern Conference.