The Washington Wizards had lost two straight crushing losses coming into Denver Sunday night, but they were able to defeat the Nuggets, 117-115, in overtime. The Wizards record in overtime is now 3-1.
John Wall was incredible tonight, as he scored 19 points on 8-of-16 shooting and dished out 16 assists, one away from his career-high. Wall came up huge when it mattered, as he scored six of his points in the overtime period.
Kris Humphries had a season-high 21 points off the bench while hitting the glass, grabbing 14 rebounds. His play was so great he took away Marcin Gortat’s fourth quarter minutes that ended the game with seven points and 11 rebounds in 28 minutes of play.
Paul Pierce added 19 points, including 10-of-14 from the free-throw line. When the Wizards were struggling in the third quarter, Pierce was the only one keeping them in the game, as he stayed aggressive and made them play at the charity stripe. Bradley Beal and Nene added 14 points apiece. Both were in foul trouble all night and Beal fouled out at the end of the fourth quarter.
Nuggets point guard Ty Lawson missed their last game because he was arrested for suspicion of driving under the influence. He came out tonight like gang busters, as he scored 31 points and added 12 assists. He was great in the second half but couldn’t get his team over the top, including a missed shot at the end of overtime where he stole the Pierce inbounds pass but couldn’t make the shot with a couple seconds left in the game.
Wilson Chandler added 20 points and nine rebounds, and the “Manimal” Kenneth Faried scored nine points and grabbed 11 rebounds. Faried was a huge factor in the Nuggets loss, as he was fouled with 1.4 seconds left in the fourth quarter and missed both free throws keeping the game tied which led to overtime.
The Wizards shot the ball way better than the Nuggets from the field, as Washington hit 53.3 percent, while Denver shot only 40.6 percent. The reason why Denver kept it close was their ability to knock down 12 three pointers as opposed to Washington’s four. Washington also gave them plenty of extra possessions, as they turned the ball over 17 times leading to 17 Denver points. Fortunately, Washington out-rebounded the third best rebounding team in the league, 50-to-45.
Head coach Randy Wittman and the Wizards will take the win, but they have plenty of areas to fix if they want to get where they envision. Holding leads and closing games out is an area they need to clean up, while taking better care of the ball as they average over 14 turnovers a game.
The Wizards have a day off before they play the Los Angeles Lakers in the Staples Center at 10:30 PM EST. That will be the first game of another set of back-to-backs. The Nuggets will look to snap their six-game losing streak, as they go on the road to face the Los Angeles Clippers tomorrow night at 10:30 PM EST.