B-Cool was a bright spot on Saturday.
The Washington Wizards followed a familiar script in their 135-116 loss Saturday to the Cleveland Cavaliers at Capital One Arena.
Just like in the Wizards’ loss to the Boston Celtics in their season opener, the home team held tough for most of the first half. After falling behind to the Cavs 48-35 with 3:34 left in the second quarter, the Wizards went on an 18-11 run to close the half. Washington trailed 59-53 at the break. Jordan Poole led Washington in scoring at halftime with 14 points and four three-pointers. Bilal Coulibaly was right behind him with 12 points.
However, a familiar second-half collapse plagued the Wizards in the third. After Kyle Kuzma opened the scoring with a dunk, the Cavaliers scored 12 unanswered points to take a 71-55 advantage — their largest lead of the game. The Wizards were unable to muster any semblance of a comeback, trailing by double-digits the rest of the way.
The biggest win for the Wizards on Saturday, however, was seeing improvement from Coulibaly. The sophomore Frenchman finished with a career-high 23 points on 9/16 shooting to go along with four triples and six rebounds.
Bilal is cookin’ tonight pic.twitter.com/TUTCp6taAz
— Washington Wizards (@WashWizards) October 26, 2024
Seven different Wizards players scored in double figures against Cleveland, including Alex Sarr (12 points) and Bub Carrington (10 points).
Washington’s next game is on Monday in their first road contest against the Atlanta Hawks.