John Wall had 31 points and 12 assists, Paul Pierce scored 17 points, and the Washington Wizards rallied from a 21-point, third-quarter deficit to beat the Sacramento Kings, 113-97, on Saturday night.
Rasual Butler and Bradley Beal each scored 14 points for the Wizards, who have won their last three games and five of their last seven.
DeMarcus Cousins had 30 points, including 21 in the first half, for the Kings before fouling out with 5:34 left.
Ramon Sessions’ 3-pointer gave Washington its first lead of the night at 89-88 with 10:11 left. Butler then scored his team’s next five points, and Wall’s 3-pointer eventually capped a 16-0 run.
The Kings, playing two games in as many nights, finished 2-6 on their eight-game road trip.
Both teams were without starting forwards. Rudy Gay sat for Sacramento because of a left patellar tendon strain and Washington’s Nene missed his second game because of personal reasons.
The Wizards trailed 64-46 at halftime and by 21 points early in the third, but stormed back.
Wall, who had 15 points in the quarter, and Pierce, who scored 12, sparked a 19-2 run that pulled them within 79-77 with 2:45 left in the quarter. Wall’s 3-pointer cut the Kings’ lead to 85-84 after three.
Cousins scored eight first-quarter points before picking up his second foul with 4:58 left in the period.
The Kings led 34-32 early in the second quarter when Derrick Williams hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key. That started an 18-2 run that was capped when Cousins was fouled while hitting a jumper before adding the free throw.
The Kings center closed out the first half with a one-handed alley-oop dunk off a lob from Ray McCallum.
Andre Miller, who was traded by the Wizards to Sacramento for Sessions on Feb. 19, scored four points and had seven assists in his return to Washington. Sessions, meanwhile, had three points and an assist against his former team.
The Wizards were also without forward Kris Humphries, who has a strained left groin, and guard Garrett Temple, who is nursing a strained right hamstring strain.
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