Wizards pull off 38-point second-half swing in comeback win over Kings
Here’s a pretty solid summation of how the first half of Saturday night’s matchup between the Washington Wizards and Sacramento Kings went:
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DeMarcus Cousins was going bananas, pouring in 21 points on 8-for-11 shooting. Derrick Williams — yep, the former No. 2 overall pick — had chipped in 12 points off the bench. Sophomore guard Ray McCallum (eight points, four rebounds, four assists) was flying around, greybeard Andre Miller (seven assists in 10 1/2 minutes) was dealing, and George Karl’s Kings had scorched Randy Wittman’s Wizards to the tune of 64 first-half points on 59.5 percent shooting to take an 18-point lead into intermission.
The Kings’ advantage swelled to 21 early in the third quarter. Given the opponent — a dismal Sacramento squad that’s had the league’s worst defense since the All-Star break and was on the second night of a road back-to-back after losing to the similarly dismal Philadelphia 76ers on Friday night — you had to start wondering whether Thursday’s Wizards win over the hibernating Memphis Grizzlies was less the end of Washington’s monthlong swoon and just a brief burst of sunshine in the midst of a long grey winter.
And then, the Wizards woke up.
Veteran forward Paul Pierce started the party, shaking Kings defender Omri Casspi to knife into the lane for a layup and hitting a 3-pointer off a Bradley Beal feed a minute later to get the lead down to 14. With the Wizards finally showing a pulse for the first time all night, All-Star point guard John Wall began to do what he does best — take control of a game with his speed and playmaking.
The Wizards clamped down and got loose, outscoring the Kings 36-16 over the final 11 minutes of the third quarter. Pierce kicked in 12 points on perfect 5-for-5 shooting, while Wall accounted for a whopping 28 points — 15 of his own, 13 as a result of his six dimes — to draw Washington within one point at 85-84 heading into the fourth.
“Hey P, remember when we were down 20 tonight? Man that feels like a long time ago.” #WizKings pic.twitter.com/SstMnxmC3X
— Washington Wizards (@WashWizards) March 15, 2015
A Ramon Sessions 3-pointer on Wall’s 10th assist of the night put the Wizards in front, 89-88, completing the 21-point comeback and essentially taking all the starch out of Sacramento.
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Playing without the injured Rudy Gay, who’s working his way back from a left patellar tendon strain, the Kings utterly imploded, missing their next 10 shots, plus two missed free throws, and committed a pair of turnovers over the next six minutes. Sacramento lost its only puncher’s chance at getting back in the game when Cousins fouled out after charging through Rasual Butler on his way to the rim with the Kings trailing by 11 and 5:34 left in the fourth.
Boogie, um, didn’t agree with the call:
Cousins’ objections aside, Sessions’ triple started a 23-4 run that completely changed the complexion of the game, putting the Wizards up by 17 and turning what had once looked like it would be a dispiriting blowout defeat into an easy, breezy 113-97 win.
That’s the kind of in-game sea change that you don’t see every day … or, apparently, even every half-century:
#Wizards are the first team to trail by 18 at half and win by 16 since Chicago Stags beat #Celtics on 2/22/48; that was 67 years ago!
— David Devall (@McNubian) March 15, 2015
Wall led six Wizards in double-figures, tying his season-high with 31 points on 9-for-15 shooting, including a 4-for-5 mark from 3-point land and 9-for-10 from the charity stripe, to go with 12 assists and two rebounds in 38 1/2 minutes of work. Pierce finished with 17 points and three rebounds in 23 minutes, while Beal added 14 points, seven assists and six rebounds for the Wizards, who have now won three straight and five of their last seven to improve to 38-28 on the season. They now sit just 1 1/2 games behind the third-place Toronto Raptors and fourth-place Chicago Bulls in the Eastern Conference playoff chase.
Cousins scored a team-high 30 points on 9-for-17 shooting to go with six rebounds and five assists in 30 minutes before fouling out. McCallum and Williams each chipped in 15 points for the Kings, who have lost six of their last seven and 11 of their last 15 to fall to 22-43, the third-worst mark in the West.
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Dan Devine is an editor for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
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