NBA Game Summary - Brooklyn at Washington
Washington, DC (SportsNetwork.com) - John Wall scored 17 points and dished out seven assists, and the Washington Wizards snapped a season-high five-game skid with a 114-77 rout of the Brooklyn Nets.
Rasual Butler scored 15, and Kevin Seraphin added 13 with eight rebounds for the Wizards, who posted their first win since Jan. 27 at the Lakers. Washington, which had lost its previous three home contests, posted its first win at Verizon Center since Jan. 19 against Philadelphia.
The Wizards also received 12 points from Otto Porter, 11 from Marcin Gortat and 10 from Nene. Kris Humphries chipped in with nine points and 11 rebounds.
"We played the right way. We got back to playing defense first," Wall said. "A lot of guys just touched the ball. We didn't care who was scoring."
The Nets, who had won their last three games, were led by Brook Lopez's 19 points and eight rebounds. Jarrett Jack scored 11, but the Nets shot just 33.8 percent from the field.
"We just didn't hit shots we normally make," Lopez said.
Lopez scored 11 in the opening quarter, but the Wizards used a balanced offensive attack to take command. Gortat had nine points, two more than both Porter and Wall in the period.
Gortat's layup finished off a game-opening 12-2 burst for the Wizards, who were ahead by as many as 14 in the period before settling for a 28-19 advantage after 12 minutes.
Humphries went 4-for-4 from the field in the second quarter and had nine points in a dominating 30-19 stanza for the Wizards. They shot 60 percent in the quarter, while limiting the Nets to 6-of-25.
Included in the quarter was a stretch of nine straight Washington points, which brought the score to 44-24 following a Humphries jam with 7:07 remaining. The margin was 58-38 at halftime.
Porter's 3-pointer widened the gap to 80-50 midway through the third quarter. Garrett Temple's 3-ball in the waning seconds of the period had the Wizards up 89-61, and the hosts used their bench players over the final 12 minutes.