Washington Wizards own the second half to upset Los Angeles Lakers 106-101: NBA Recap
On Wednesday night, the lowly Washington Wizards pulled off a sensational come back in the second half to seal a dramatic 106-101 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers at the Verizon Center.
With the win, the Wizards have opened a new epoch as they finally managed to beat Lakers for the first time since 2006 after a gap of nine games.
"When our backs are against the wall,” Nick Young said who played a pivotal role in this victory with 19 points coming off the bench, "you can't do nothing but go up."
Washington were paced by Trevor Booker who had a double-double with 18 points and 17 boards. Jordan Crawford, Kevin Seraphin and Roger Mason scored 14 apiece while JaVale McGee had 12 points and 12 boards in Wizards’ 9th victory of the season.
Kobe Bryant tallied a game high 30 points for Lakers, but used too many shots 9-of-31 to do that. Pau Gasol had 19 points and 15 rebounds while Andrew Bynum also scored19 points in the game. Bynum committed seven turnovers in the game,
The Lakers were leading with a double digit lead in the 1st half but gave it all away in the 2nd to Wizards. Wizards coach Randy Wittman was pleasantly surprised over this transition.
"We were doing them hard, and stayed in the game. That's all we did. Then, we started making some shots and the crowd got into it. All of a sudden, there were no more Laker fans, and the momentum. That's what, hopefully, can go a long way for us in terms of that mentality of staying in the game, playing as hard as you can."
Washington were closely following the visitors in the 1st frame and deep through the quarter Lakers were leading by 18-17. Te Lakers however blasted their way out of the stalemate with an 11-4 spurt and capped of the segment with a 29-21 advantage.
Having gathered the impetus earlier, the Lakers stretched their lead to 50-35 midway through the 2nd period. Wizards tried to inch back and closed the gap to 52-40, but the men from Los Angeles reeled off a 10-4 run and augmented their advantage to 62-44. When the first half ended, the Lakers were leading by 64-49.
The situation took a phenomenal shift in the 3rd quarter as Washington completely turned the game around with a 26-7 spurt and slashed off the double digit deficit down to 2 points, 83-81, and with this, the game entered into its last 12 minutes.
Early in the fourth Roger Mason connected on a pair from down town and provided Wizards a 87-83 lead but Lakers tied the scores at 89 each shortly afterwards. The game remained extremely closed in the ensuing passage, keeping the crowd on the edge of their seats.
With 2:52 to expire Los Angeles claimed their fragile 99-98 lead but that was shattered as Wizards pulled away with a game winning 8-2 run and banked a 106-101 victory.
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