Nets will have to extinguish hot-shooting Beal

The Nets got off to a less than ideal start to the second half of the season. First they blew a 20-point lead in a loss in Philly, then rebounded in Charlotte before they blew a 19-point lead in a loss to the No. 8 seeded Magic on Monday. The Nets will have to extinguish a man on fire when they march down to Washington to face Bradley Beal — the hottest scorer in the NBA right now.

Beal is coming off of backto-back 50-point games for the Wizards: first in a 53-point barrage against the Bulls, then with a 55-point outing against the Bucks. He has shot better than 50% from the field in both of those games — but the Wizards were unable to come away with wins in either instance and are currently riding a three-game losing streak.

Beal is averaging 30.1 points per game. He trails only James Harden in the scoring category this season and is slightly ahead of Trae Young, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Damian Lillard and Luka Doncic.

“He’s a great player, obviously. He plays with a chip on his shoulder every single game,” Caris LeVert said after practice on Tuesday. “Obviously, they’re really hungry to get a win. Obviously, how well he’s playing hasn’t really resulted in that fashion. So we just gotta go in there and play as hard as we can, and lock in to the principles and the game plan and everything like that and I think we’ll be in good shape.”

The Nets played the Wizards once this season in Washington, and Beal exploded for 34 points. The Nets lost that game (and Kyrie Irving for the rest of the season). Head coach Kenny Atkinson is not looking forward to the challenge.

“We haven’t found a way to slow him down, so it’s not like we have some magic formula,” Atkinson said after practice on

Tuesday. “He’s playing great. And sure they’ve lost a couple in a row but I think you have to give them a lot of credit I don’t think anybody thought Washington would be in the playoff chase and here they are. They’re in the conversation.

“Great job by Scott [Brooks] and his staff, but big credit to Bradley. He’s playing great, and he plays both ends, too.”

The Nets cannot afford to lose to the Wizards again, and there’s a chance they can at least contain Beal.