WASHINGTON– Kyle Kuzma scored 31 points and the Washington Wizards ended a five-game losing streak with a 109-102 victory over the Sacramento Kings on Thursday night.
Kuzma, who made 13 of 22 shots and grabbed six rebounds, missed the team’s previous two games with shoulder soreness. Deni Avdija added 17 points and Corey Kispert scored 15, sending Sacramento to its first loss in Washington’s last five meetings.
“Any victory is a big victory,” Kuzma said. “It’s really the NBA because any team can be beaten on any given night. You’ll always get a win. It’s all about playing together, playing hard and playing smart. I have the feel like this is one of the smartest games we’ve played all year, from start to finish.
Jordan Poole scored 14 points for the Wizards, while Richaun Holmes added six points and 16 rebounds against his former team.
De’Aaron Fox had 25 points and Malik Monk scored 20 to lead the Kings, who fell to 16-8 in back-to-back games. Domantas Sabonis had 14 points and 14 rebounds for his 52nd straight double-double, but the Kings struggled from 3-point range, hitting just 11 of 39 from beyond the arc.
“It’s a tough loss, especially where we are right now in our race for a playoff spot,” Kings coach Mike Brown said. “But you have to give a lot of credit to the Wizards, to their coaching staff. Basically, they brought it to us. Kuzma was a handful. We didn’t have any answers for him tonight. We tried to double him at times and he still found a way to make big shots.
It took the Kings a while to get going, but they went on an 18-0 run in the final five minutes of the second quarter to erase the Wizards’ 54-36 lead.
Fox missed 12 of its first 16 attempts in the first half, but still shared the team lead with Monk, with 10 points each.
“We only gave up 109 points, which is not a bad defensive play,” Fox said. “We turned them over 20 times. I think defensively we gave ourselves chances to win and for me, obviously, I have to be able to make some of those easier shots.
Kuzma’s strike midway through the second half gave Washington its largest lead, 52-33. He made a record 18 at the break.
The Wizards came out of halftime on fire again with a 13-2 run, highlighted by Kuzma, to extend the lead to 69-56.
Sacramento went on a 24-8 run between the third and the start of the fourth, as Fox and Monk got hot. Fox’s 14-footer gave the Kings an 88-87 lead with 8:38 left. But the Wizards took over, led by Avdija and Kispert, for their 12th win of the season and third victory in their last 10 games against the Kings.
“One of the things I liked was we had some really good stretches in the game and some tough stretches, but we were very resilient,” Wizards interim coach Brian Keefe said. “They made some big runs and they’re a good team. But our guys answered the call. It was really our defense that closed out the game.
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