LOS ANGELES • Bradley Beal scored 33 points and Russell Westbrook added 32 on Monday, as the visiting Washington Wizards rallied for a 127-124 overtime victory over the Los Angeles Lakers for their first five-game winning National Basketball Association (NBA) streak in three years.
Beal scored six points in overtime after not making a field goal in the fourth quarter. He missed a long jumper as time expired in regulation to leave the score tied 115-all.
Westbrook, who added 14 rebounds and nine assists, made a shot inside and was fouled with 11.6 seconds remaining in overtime to put the Wizards up three points.
He missed the ensuing free throw to give the Lakers a chance to tie the score, but LeBron James and Kyle Kuzma missed three-point attempts on their final possession.
Rui Hachimura scored 15 points and Robin Lopez added 13 off the bench as the Wizards improved to 2-0 to open a four-game road trip against Western Conference teams.
At 11-17, Washington are the third-worst team in the East but having defeated the Boston Celtics, Houston Rockets, Denver Nuggets, Portland Trail Blazers and now the Lakers, Westbrook hopes they can continue to improve after an awful start to the season.
"It's been tough, but we've been sticking together," the All-Star said.
James finished with 31 points, 13 assists and nine rebounds, while Montrezl Harrell added 26 off the bench as the NBA champions (22-10) lost three straight games for the first time this season.
The Lakers were without Anthony Davis for the fourth consecutive game because of an Achilles injury - the All-Star will not return until late next month - while Dennis Schroder was absent for the third straight contest due to Covid-19 protocols. Schroder is set to return against the Blazers on Friday after four games out.
Kuzma, who had 14 points, blamed the team's skid on the duo's absence. He said: "You don't want to lose to an under-.500 team like that, but this is the NBA and anybody can win. We just have to figure it out."
REUTERS
