“Josh Okogie, you can’t guard me without fouling”: Bradley Beal channeled his inner Michael Jordan for a 17-point 3rd quarter in the Wizards’ win last night

Bradley Beal says Josh Okogie began chirping at the wrong time against the Wizards star, leading him to go off in the 3rd quarter last night.

The Washington Wizards are on a roll right now, spearheaded by Bradley Beal and Russell Westbrook. While Beal is the league leader in scoring, Westbrook is doing his best to facilitate the rest of the Wizards.

The result is that they have emerged from an early-season funk – they’ve won 7 of their last 8 games. This has propelled them much closer to the cream of the East than they were at the start of February.

Beal and Westbrook aside, the Wizards have also been getting improved contributions from their other players. Davis Bertans has got his shooting percentages back up. Youngsters Deni Avdija and Rui Hachimura have also been pulling their weight.

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With these midseason corrections going on, the Wizards can expect to be in the fray for the play-in tournament. If they keep this form up, they will get to the .500 mark before long.

Bradley Beal reveals how Josh Okogie lit a fire under him

The Wizards weren’t away to pull away from the league’s worst team, Minnesota, till late last night. Part of the reason for it was Beal’s slow start to the game.

But then something happened, according to Beal, that changed his whole mindset. He narrated this to reporters in the post-game presser last night – how Josh Okogie riled him up:

“It definitely fueled a fire up under me…He started chirping & saying that he didn’t foul me, or doesn’t foul me, and that was just mind-boggling to me because I feel like the only way you can guard me is by fouling. So I kinda took it personally and turned it up from there.”

Bradley Beal on if Josh Okogie’s trash talk fueled his big 3rd Q: “It definitely fueled a fire up under me…He started chirping & saying that he didn’t foul me, or doesn’t foul me, and that was just mind-boggling to me bc I feel like the only way you can guard me is by fouling.” pic.twitter.com/zLEZYczIQS

— Fred Katz (@FredKatz) February 28, 2021

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Okogie ended the night with 5 fouls – like Beal said, he truly couldn’t guard him without fouling.

All in all, it was a good night for Wizards fans. This was a rare blowout win for a team that has been dealing with the loss of its starting center.