Washington breezes past Warriors, 112-94
It’s a good thing Golden State head coach Don Nelson was satisfied with tying Lenny Wilkens for the NBA’s all-time record for coaching wins last weekend. The Wizards gave undermanned Golden State absolutely no chance of breaking that record Tuesday evening.
Instead, in a rare delight during a troubled season, Washington set a blistering offensive pace from the opening tip in a 112-94 breeze at a half-empty Verizon Center.
JaVale McGee came off the bench to set career bests in points (25) and rebounds (15), complementing a career high-matching 21 points and season-high matching 8 assists for Shaun Livingston, who made his first nine shots from the field. Nick Young added a season-high 29 points.
The victory gave Washington (24-53) three wins in four tries for the first time since immediately after the All-Star break in mid-February. It also nudged the Wizards slightly ahead of the seven-player Warriors (23-55) — breaking a tie for the third-worst record in the NBA — and kept Nelson stuck on 1,332 career wins.
“The fact that we were able to win in Toronto and tied Lenny Wilkens, was important why we did it there,” said Nelson before the game, his highlight of the day having been a team visit to the White House on Tuesday morning. “That’s enough for me.”
The Wizards opened with a 15-2 run and hit nine of their first 10 shots en route to a season-high 40 points in the first quarter. In one stretch of six field goals, four different Washington players — Young (fast break), Andray Blatche (baseline drive), Livingston (off a feed from Mike Miller), and McGee (reverse) — all had dunks. Blatche had 14 of his 21 points in the first eight minutes with an array of drives, fadeaways and free throws.
McGee’s putback with one minute remaining in the second quarter gave the Wizards their largest lead of the half, 68-40, in the process setting a Wizards season-high for points scored before halftime and clinching the second-year center’s fifth double-double of the year.
