Written by Mike Prada at SB Nation.com
This isn’t how the semi-annual Biggest Game In The Sad Recent History Of Washington D.C. Sports is supposed to end.
It’s supposed to end with The Team That’ll Finally End Our Suffering firing blanks against their biggest rivals — again. It’s supposed to end with last-ditch miracles from Imported Cult Hero We’ve Come To Adore that of course slide off the fingertips a tenth of a second too late. It’s supposed to end with That Kind Of Misfortune Only Happens In D.C. Sports, followed quickly by They Looked Shell Shocked, Flickering Moment Of Hope We Know Will Fade, and eventually Yup It Faded.
It’s supposed to end with backbreakers from Rival Of Our Beloved Stud. It’s supposed to end with game-sealing plays from The One That Got Away or That Annoying Motherfucker Who Always Seems To Kill Us.
But this was a team that was never supposed to have the season it did. It’s only fitting that it was the one that flipped the usual script.
Game 6 actually ended on a botched play rescued by a ballsy shot. John Wall cut to the right corner, clearing space for Marcin Gortat to spring Bradley Beal with a screen going to the top of the key. Beal was supposed to come off that screen and have a good look going to his right. But Marcus Smart wedged himself between Beal and Gortat, throwing off the timing of the play.
“The last play was for me to get to the corner and for Brad to get open, but he didn’t get the opportunity to get open and I didn’t want to get a five-second violation,” Wall said. “So I came and just got the ball.”
As he turned 35 feet from the basket, he saw feisty Avery Bradley staring him in the face. Wall took one dribble and Bradley backpedalled twice, conceding the very shot that opponents have dared Wall to take his entire life.
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