Turnovers and defensive blunders cost the Washington Wizards (11-32) big Monday night at the Verizon Center as the Sacramento Kings (17-29) ended the team’s quest for six straight wins at home with a 96-94  loss determined in the game’s final seconds.

Emeka Okafor tallied a season-high 23 points and added 15 rebounds for his tenth double-double, while John Wall, Martell Webster and Kevin Seraphin each posted double-digit points.

But, there was just no slowing Isaiah Thomas – even when it looked like the Wizards had a shot at turning out on top in the final seconds of the game, as they have in recent contests.

The fourth quarter started off as one of the Wizards’ ugliest stretches this season. Nearly eight minutes into the fourth, the Wizards had managed to score just five points – and a handful of their passes for open shots were downright atrocious. Washington’s defense looked sluggish and worse yet, it seemed at times that nearly every player in Wizards uniform who touched the ball turned it over. In fact, the Wizards committed 12 of their 20 turnovers in the second half alone. [Read more...]