MANILA – Washington Wizards recovered from a slow start to score a 116-107 victory over Los Angeles Lakers in the 2020-2021 National Basketball Association (NBA) Season on Wednesday night at the Capital One Arena in Washington.
Bradley Beal top-scored with 27 points and Russell Westbrook posted a triple-double of 18 points, 18 rebounds, and 14 assists as the Wizards hiked to a 28-34 win-loss record.
Alex Len had 18 points while Rui Hachimura and Ish Smith tallied 12 points for the Wizards as it remained in contention for the Eastern Conference playoffs with its 10th place ranking.
Down early in the second period, the Wizards turned to Robin Lopez to take a 39-33 advantage and stretched it to 61-55 at the half on conversions from Westbrook and Beal.
The Lakers clawed to within 67-69 in the third period but the Wizards pulled away with baskets from Raul Neto and Len as the lead reached 100-81 on an inside hit by Daniel Gafford.
Anthony Davis scored 26 points, Andre Drummond gave 17 points and 11 rebounds. The Lakers dropped to a 36-26 win-loss record.
Meanwhile, Philadelphia 76ers (41-21) cruised to a wire-to-wire 127-83 triumph over shorthanded Atlanta Hawks (34-29) to stay at second place in the East.
Seth Curry drained four triples to finish with 20 points, Tobias Harris and Joel Embiid chipped in 17 markers apiece, and Fukuan Korkmaz and Shake Milton contributed 12 markers each for the 76ers.
Boston Celtics (33-30), on the other hand, bounced back with a 120-111 win over Charlotte Hornets (30-32). Jaylen Brown tallied 38 points and Jayson Tatum added 35 points for the Celtics.
In other results, New York Knicks (35-28) prevailed over Chicago Bulls (26-36), 113-94; Miami Heat (33-30) edged San Antonio Spurs (31-30), 116-111; and Orlando Magic (19-43) defeated Cleveland Cavaliers (21-41), 109-104.
BOX SCORE:
WASHINGTON 116 – Beal 27, Westbrook 18, Len 18, Hachimura 12, Smith 12, Lopez 8, Gafford 8, Neto 5, Bertans 0, Bonga 0, Matthews 0, Winston 0.
LOS ANGELES 107 – Davis 26, Drummond 17, McLemore 16, Schroder 13, Harrell 12, Kuzma 11, Horton-Tucker 6, Caldwell-Pope 4, Morris 2, McKinnie 0, Cacok 0.
QUARTERSCORES:
31-35, 61-55, 90-77, 116-107./PN
