Nick Young shines, as Wizards hold on for 136-133 win over the Kings
Nick Young scored a career-high 43 points, as the Washington Wizards squeaked a 136-133 win over the visiting Sacramento Kings at Verizon Centre.
Washington coach Flip Saunders told reporters after the game, "Fifteen years, I've never seen anything like that in my life. Frustration, entertaining, you name it. The positive was we hung in there. We made some plays late,
and so the consolation prize is that we won."
John Wall contributed 22 points, nine assists, and six rebounds in the home victory. Kirk Hinrich came off the bench to have a productive game for Washington, as he scored all of his 14 points in the fourth quarter.
The Wizards also had a big night from Andray Blatche, who scored 16 points and pulled down 13 rebounds in the Wizards 10th win of the season. Blatche suffered a sprained right shoulder in the fourth quarter and left the court.
Rashard Lewis paced the Wizards with 16 points and 10 rebounds.
Francisco Garcia and Beno Udrih scored a team-high 26 points apiece for the Kings, who are 2-12 on the road. Carl Landry posted a season-high 23 points in Sacramento’s the 11th straight defeat on the road. DeMarcus
Cousins and Omri Casspi ended with 15 and 10 points respectively. In addition, they grabbed eight rebounds each to lead the team.
Game Story
Washington raced out to a big score on Tuesday night, withstood a late-game funk, and pulled out a tough win as they improved to 10-26 on the season. All 10 of their wins have come at home.
Execution, energy, effort — it was all there for Washington. The Wizards did that and in the process, revealed the potential of what Young, Wall, and Hinrich can bring to the table. The Wizards were able to impose their
will and blow the game wide open in the first quarter, in which they extended their lead to as many as 19 points (38-19) heading into the second.
Omri Casspi, the first Israeli to play in the NBA, had many fans waving the Israeli flag as the Wizards celebrated Jewish Heritage Night.
The second quarter was all about Udrih and Garcia, who displayed a different play stepping up on offence. The Kings went on a 9-2 run, to take a 56-54 lead at half time. The Wizards played the third quarter fantastically
to take momentum away from the Kings, scoring an unbeatable 40 points. Young scored 16 straight points in the last 3:49 of the third quarter.
In the fourth quarter, Sacramento got right back into the game at the right time, to take the game into overtime. Young missed one of two free throws. However, Pooh Jeter of Sacramento drove past Wall for an easy lay-up with
3.6 seconds remaining to send the game into overtime.
Al Thornton had a few decent minutes in overtime, and responded with two free throws to give the Wizards a three-point lead with 3 seconds left. The Wizards nearly snatched defeat from the jaws of victory, blowing a six-point
lead with just 13 seconds to go.
"It was quite exciting - if you like offence," Sacramento coach Paul Westphal said. "Neither team could stop the other one. There were wild spurts both ways - wild swings, and a lot of shot-making."
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