John Wall had 14 points and 14 assists to help the Washington Wizards beat the Memphis Grizzlies 100-91 on Wednesday night.
This was Wall’s fourth consecutive double-double and the Wizards have won three games. Memphis also saw its two-game winning streak end.
Wall handed out a career-high 19 assists in Washington’s last game, a 113-99 victory over Sacramento on Monday. He did more of the same in this contest, a big reason that six of the nine Washington players finished in double figures.
Marcin Gortat had his own double-double with 12 points and 12 rebounds. Garrett Temple (20 points), Ramon Sessions (16), Jared Dudley (11) and Kelly Oubre Jr. (10) all pitched in. Temple now has scored at least 20 in three straight games.
Injuries limited Washington coach Randy Wittman to those nine players but the team worked well together, especially on offense.
Memphis scored the game’s first six points, but Washington took the lead less than two minutes later and never lost it. The Wizards stretched the margin to 25-18 after one and then broke it open by scoring the first 11 points of the second quarter.
The Grizzlies cut the lead to 61-53 early in the third quarter before Washington reeled off 11 in a row. Memphis tried to rally again in the fourth quarter but the Wizards hung on.
Mike Conley led Memphis with 21 points, and Jeff Green added 19 points and 12 rebounds. Poor outside shooting hurt the Grizzlies, as they missed 14 of 17 three-pointers.
The Grizzlies’ Mario Chalmers was tossed after getting two technicals with 10:11 left in the second quarter. He had no points in five minutes played.
Grizzlies coach David Joerger noticed the improved parity of the Eastern Conference, where the top 10 teams are separated by just 4½ games. “They are improved. I think there’s a lot of parity, there’s a lot of good teams,” he said.
For the Wizards, Washington signed guard/forward Jarell Eddie and waived center Ryan Hollins on Wednesday. Eddie was averaging 14.1 points in 11 games with Austin of the D-League this season. Hollins was signed on Nov. 30 and played in five Washington games, averaging 1.6 points.
The Wizards had five players out with injuries, starting with Bradley Beal and Otto Porter. Gary Neal missed Monday’s win but he made it back for this game, scoring five points.
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