The Washington Wizards are as much of a rebuilding team as you can get, but they might have something finally working for them. Especially when Jordan Poole is making heat checks.
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The Wizards guard stunned the Denver Nuggets on Saturday with a deep, pull-up 3-pointer to break a 123-123 tie with 1.8 seconds left. A final heave from Nikola Jokić missed, giving Washington its sixth win in its past 10 games.
By Wizards standards, that’s a hot streak.
The NBA’s site measured Poole’s shot as a 35-footer.
More encouraging for the Wizards was a career game by 2024 No. 2 overall pick Alex Sarr, who posted 34 points on 12-of-28 shooting, plus six rebounds and five assists. Before Saturday, his career high was 22 points. Poole finished with 19 points on 7-of-11 shooting.
Jokić finished with 40 points, 13 rebounds and nine assists, which would have helped him in the NBA MVP race had Shai Gilgeous-Alexander not posted 48 points in a win over the Detroit Pistons the same day.
Make no mistake, the Wizards are still 15-51 and dead last in the Eastern Conference, but the win does make them a half-game better than the Utah Jazz for the worst record in the league. Before Feb. 24, they were 9-47 and on pace for one of the worst seasons in NBA history.
Now, you can squint and kinda see some progress for a team that needs it. In Washington, that’s good news.
