Written by Candace Buckner at Washington Post.com
For the second straight game, the Washington Wizards turned significant segments over to the bench and lived to tell about it.
Against the Sacramento Kings on Monday night, Mike Scott hit the bull’s eye on almost every shot attempt. Kelly Oubre Jr. found younger and less experienced players to bully, and like a wily veteran, he doled out lessons to the young bucks. And when it was entrusted with the game, the Wizards’ five-man bench played at a fast and unrelenting tempo, guiding Washington to a 110-92 win over Sacramento in front of an announced crowd of 14,660 at Capital One Arena.
John Wall did not miss a shot until the 6:31 mark of the third quarter, and Marcin Gortat and Otto Porter Jr. played competently while matching up against Sacramento’s starters, but these contributions amounted to nice details in the Wizards’ third straight win and eighth in 13 games. The bench powered this one, resetting the action after the first unit’s poor defensive start and flipping a seven-point deficit into a lasting lead.
“Just being unselfish,” Scott explained, then ticked off the winning formula: “Keeping the tempo up, playing fast and playing unselfish on both ends and getting the easy buckets. Moving the ball, and it’s been working.”
Oubre and Scott entered the Monday matchup as the high scorers on the bench and continued that trend against the Kings. Scott hit his first four shots and eclipsed his 8.0 scoring average by halftime. He finished with 15 points on 6-for-8 shooting. Oubre played a balanced game with 12 points, eight rebounds and two steals.
Wall made 8 of 9 from the field for 21 points and finished with nine assists, while Gortat scored 18 and pulled down seven rebounds — “might have been his best game of the season,” Coach Scott Brooks said.
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