Much like the Washington Wizards’ season, Bradley Beal’s nose has been bloodied and damaged.
Beal was struck in the nose by an inadvertent elbow from Boston Celtics guard Marcus Smart on Monday night. Smart was driving to the basket when Beal settled beneath him. Smart’s left elbow crashed down on Beal’s face, causing the Wizards’ shooting guard to cup his hands below his leaking nostrils to catch the blood. Beal walked off the court with 8:22 to play in the second quarter and did not return in a 116-91 blowout loss.
In addition to the broken nose, Beal was diagnosed with a concussion. He did not travel with the team for Tuesday night’s game against the Toronto Raptors and is listed as day-to-day. Beal will now begin the league-mandated “Return-to-Participation Exertion Protocol” and will be cleared to play once he has remained symptom-free during each step of the process.
Beal will likely have to wear a protective mask when he returns to the floor. How long that will take is unclear. LeBron James broke his nose on February 20, 2014 and returned seven days later after missing one game, but did not have the concussion complication that Beal does.
The NBA’s concussion protocol has no specific timeframe. Instead, a player’s return is dependent on him being symptom-free during each increasing level of exertion, from riding a stationary bike to jogging to agility work to non-contact team drills. If a player is not free of symptoms after a step, he stops until he is and begins again at the previous step of the protocol.
The final return-to-participation decision is made by the Wizards’ team physician. However, the team physician must discuss the decision with Dr. Jeffrey Kutcher, the director of the NBA’s concussion program, prior to the player being cleared for full participation.
Beal has played in just 22 of the Wizards’ 42 games this season. He missed 16 consecutive games from mid-December to mid-January because of the beginnings of a stress reaction in his lower right leg — an injury problem that has derailed him in each of his four seasons.
The Wizards lead the league in games missed by players this season. Forward Otto Porter (hip) returned on Monday after missing four consecutive games and forward Drew Gooden (calf) also returned after missing three games. The calf injury caused Gooden to miss almost a month earlier in the season. Only John Wall and Ramon Sessions have played in every game for Washington thus far.
The roster inconsistency, as well as bad defense, led Washington to a 20-22 record entering Tuesday night’s game against the surging Raptors. Toronto had won eight consecutive games and was just 2.5 games behind the Cleveland Cavaliers for the top spot in the Eastern Conference.
“We gotta look at ourselves in the mirror, me included, and decide who we are,” coach Randy Wittman said after the loss. “Because, right now, we want to be something, but are we willing to put out there, whether it’s in practice, or in a game, what it takes to be who we want to be? Right now, we’re not. That’s why we have the inconsistencies and the ups and downs.”
They will have to try to regroup without Beal — again.
• Todd Dybas can be reached at tdybas@washingtontimes.com.
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