WALL DEALS CAREER-HIGH 19 ASSISTS, GORTAT GOES FOR SEASON-HIGH 27 POINTS
The Washington Wizards went into their game against the Sacramento Kings with only seven non-injured, active players, and the outlook looked bleak. However, those seven put on a stellar performance to defeat DeMarcus Cousins and the Kings 113-99 at Verizon Center.
With Bradley Beal and Otto Porter sidelined, along with Drew Gooden and Gary Neal, the burden was placed on veterans Marcin Gortat and John Wall. The two remaining everyday starters delivered, with Gortat scoring a season-high 27 points to go along with 16 rebounds, and Wall scoring 12 points and a new career-high 19 assists.
“He got out and ran all night long,” coach Randy Wittman said of Gortat. “He had four or five layups just by outrunning. That’s what he did consistently all night. He didn’t get a layup out of it every time, but he ran and it made Cousins run up and down the floor and made him work at the other end. He [Cousins] is a lot to deal with, but I thought March did a heck of a job with his movement and activity from his offensive standpoint.”
Garrett Temple, starting in place of Beal, added 23 points. The Wizards benefited from Wall’s distribution all night, hitting 14 of 24 3-point attempts. [Read more…]