After a disgusting loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers dropped them below .500 for the 12th time this season, the Washington Wizards were upset and Coach Randy Wittman was wondering what more he needed to do to get his team prepared for an opponent that isn’t high up in the league standings.
The Sacramento Kings arrived at Verizon Center with the second-worst record in the Western Conference, which should have presented a problem for the Wizards. But while Washington has had its struggles at home against inferior opponents, those concerns only seem to apply to the Eastern Conference. The Wizards had little difficulty holding off another losing team from the West as they claimed a 93-84 victory to move back to .500 on the season.
More Wizards/NBA coverage
The Wizards are 18-9 against teams with records below .500, but six of those losses have been at home.
Despite 32 points from John Wall, the Wizards fall to the lowly Cavaliers, 115-113, and sink back below .500.
Spurs’ coach and their future Hall of Famer say Washington’s point guard has made the leap.
TNT analyst says Washington is behind only Indiana and Miami in the Eastern Conference.
Whether the Miami Heat star decides to test free agency this summer could come down to one player -- and his name isn’t Dwyane Wade.
A look at some of our favorite images of the week.
In their final home game before the all-star break, the Wizards wanted to at least come away with a winning record on a homestand that began with such promise after wins over Oklahoma City and Portland but hit a rough patch with losses to San Antonio and the Cavaliers.
With the win, the Wizards snapped a three-game losing streak to the Kings, who had won the previous two meetings at Verizon Center. Washington also drew even on the season and at home (13-13), with its final two games before the break coming on the road against Memphis and Houston.
John Wall’s college coach from Kentucky, John Calipari, was in attendance to watch his former pupil. But Wall didn’t have his usual dynamic performance and looked winded trying to keep up with speedy Kings guard Isaiah Thomas, who has historically given him problems. Content with taking a back seat, Wall didn’t have any assists in the first half and only handed out four in the second half while finishing with just 12 points. Wall also had a game-high five turnovers.
Nene scored a team-high 18 points, helping Wall get his first assist of the night when he cut to the basket and made an off-balanced layup while getting fouled. Nene and Bradley Beal led the Wizards with five assists apiece.
Beal had some poor shooting performances on the five-game homestand, but he found his stroke in the finale, connecting on 6 of 10 shots and finishing with 16 points. Beal will be a contestant in the three-point shootout during all-star week and spent some time after practice working on his form while shooting from a rack. The extra work was helpful against the Kings as Beal shot 4 of 5 from long distance.
Marcin Gortat contributed 17 points and eight rebounds and Kevin Seraphin came off the bench to score 10 points.
The Kings entered averaging 101.5 points per game, but the Wizards stepped up on the defensive end by limiting them to just 35.4 percent shooting from the floor. Washington also forced the Kings into committing 18 turnovers, which led to 26 points.
Thomas scored a game-high 30 points, but the Wizards did a solid job of keeping the Kings’ two other 20-point scorers in check. DeMarcus Cousins missed 13 of 16 shots, with Gortat and Nene teaming up to make his night miserable, and finished with 14 points and 12 rebounds.
Baltimore native Rudy Gay, whom the Kings acquired last month from Toronto, was back near his home town but also struggling with the flu and finished with five points on 2-for-11 shooting.
The Wizards went ahead 73-56 when Gortat got the ball on the left side of the basket, spun to his right and made a layup over Kings reserve Quincy Acy. Gortat added a free throw to complete the three-point play and Washington decided to take a brief nap from there.
The Kings went on a 14-2 run to get within 75-70 after Washington wasted a solid defensive effort by Garrett Temple. Temple waited for Thomas to come down the court and slapped his layup attempt off the glass. Kings rookie Ben McLemore got the carom and Temple blocked that shot as well. But after Martell Webster dove into the front row to save the loose ball, Gortat had the ball stolen by Thomas, setting up two free throws.
The Wizards’ bad luck after hustle plays continued when Wall jumped along the baseline to save the ball between his legs, only to watch it roll right to Acy, who fed Derrick Williams for a dunk to bring the Kings within 79-75. Beal helped push the lead back up to double digits when he nailed two three-pointers.
