Nets rout Wizards to end four-game losing streak
Washington Wizards’ Markieff Morris, right, competes for the ball with Brooklyn Nets’ Rondae Hollis-Jefferson during the first half of an NBA basketball game. AP
NEW YORK — One of the NBA’s best backcourts sure didn’t play that way.
And with John Wall and Bradley Beal shut down, the Brooklyn Nets led the Washington Wizards by as many as 40 points in a 119-84 victory on Friday (Saturday Manila time).
Wall scored 10 points and Beal had only four as the pair combined to miss 20 of its 26 shots.
“You’re not going to expect that type of performance from them,” Nets guard Spencer Dinwiddie said. “They are who they are for a reason. They’re great players, All-Stars obviously. Just good preparation and we obviously got lucky a little bit, too.”
Rondae Hollis-Jefferson had 21 points and 11 rebounds for the Nets. Caris LeVert scored 17 points, while DeMarre Carroll, Dinwiddie and Nik Stauskas added 15 apiece to help Brooklyn snap its four-game losing streak.
Kelly Oubre Jr. had 13 points for the Wizards.
“It was terrible,” Beal said. “We couldn’t make shots, get around or defend anybody. It was bad. It was really bad. It’s really one of those games you want to forget about and move on to the next one.”
The Nets never trailed in the game, taking an early 10-point lead before settling for a 26-23 advantage after the first quarter.
A layup by Hollis-Jefferson with 2:36 left in the second quarter gave the Nets an 11-point lead, and they went into halftime ahead 53-43.
Hollis-Jefferson finished the first half with 15 points and eight rebounds.
“You want to come out, you want to compete. You want to be fierce. You want to be someone that the guys look to as far as energy and competitive spirit,” Hollis-Jefferson said. “I feel this is the start of something new.”
Dinwiddie, who did not score in the first half, scored 11 straight to give the Nets a 64-47 lead with 9:24 left in the third quarter. That was followed by a three-point play by Carroll as Brooklyn went up by 20.
Later in the quarter, Jarrett Allen put together a six-point streak to put the Nets up by 30 points and they went on to an 88-61 lead heading into the final quarter.
Dinwiddie scored all of his points in that decisive third quarter.
The lead continued to grow, this time with Stauskas taking the lead role. He made three consecutive 3-pointers, added a free throw and hit a driving layup with 3:32 remaining to give the Nets a 116-76 bulge.
“We got our butts kicked, myself included,” said Wizards coach Scott Brooks. “We just seemed a step slow all the way. We’ve got to show more resolve and we didn’t do that tonight.”
Allen finished with 10 points.
Wall only played 16 minutes. He missed nine games (Nov. 25-Dec. 12) with a sore left knee and Washington went 4-5 during that span.
“I was going to play him just eight minutes in the first half and get him most of his minutes in the second, but we didn’t keep the game close,” Brooks said.
Overall, Washington shot 36.6 percent, while Brooklyn connected on half its shots.
