Bradley Beal injures hamstring, will have MRI evaluation

In the seventh game of the season was an all-too-familiar sight: Bradley Beal on the floor because of an injury.

Beal slid himself with his hands from the side of the lane to the baseline with 8:06 to play in the third quarter Wednesday night. He had an injury that the team labeled “hamstring tightness” and what Beal said worried him after slipping on the floor when he was being defended by Boston Celtics guard Marcus Smart.

“[I] feel OK,” Beal said afterward. “The floor was a little wet and I got pulled down a little bit. Lost my footing, felt my hamstring hyper-extend a little bit. Came to the back; it wasn’t as bad as I thought it was. Felt pretty bad when I was out there. I’ve never injured my hamstring before. Got to the back, went through an evaluation. Wasn’t that bad. Just play it day-by-day and [Thursday] get an MRI and see how I feel.”

Beal had played just seven minutes by halftime because Washington coach Scott Brooks was “back loading” Beal’s minutes in a rare blowout vcitory for the Wizards. A 34-8 lead by the end of the first quarter ended with a 118-93 win to move the team to 2-5. So, Brooks decided to give Beal a break in the first half as a measure to protect his minutes played. Beal is in his fourth season. He has been injured in each of the prior seasons and set a career low for games played last season.

Beal said he is optimistic that he will play Friday and Saturday when the Wizards host the Cleveland Cavaliers and travel to face the Chicago Bulls, respectively. The impact of the outcome of his MRI, in the short-term, was amplified when backcourt mate John Wall was ejected from the game for committing a Flagrant-2 foul on Smart. There is a chance Wall could be suspended by the league.