After letting a 25-point lead dwindle to three, the Washington Wizards held on to beat the Portland Trail Blazers, 105-97, on Monday night, behind John Wall’s 21 points, 11 assists, nine rebounds, two blocks — and one head-first dive into the fifth row of the stands.
Wall was truly everywhere, running the Wizards’ high-speed offense to the tune of a 25-4 edge in fast-break points.
Two nights after becoming the first NBA team to trail by 18 at halftime before eventually winning by 16, in a home victory against Sacramento, the Wizards were the ones who nearly blew a large advantage.
But they held on for their fourth consecutive victory, a streak that began right after a 4-13 stretch.
The Wizards, who slid from the No. 2 spot in the Eastern Conference to No. 5 entering Monday, got 23 points and seven assists from Bradley Beal, 16 points from both Paul Pierce and Marcin Gortat, and 12 points and seven rebounds from Nene, who returned after a two-game absence.
LaMarcus Aldridge had 24 points and 12 rebounds, and Nicolas Batum added 12 points and a season-high 15 boards for Portland, which had won three games in a row and eight of its last nine.
On a key late sequence, with the outcome still in doubt, Wall blocked a shot at one end — Portland pleaded for a goaltending call — then sprinted the other way and kicked the ball over to Pierce, whose 3-pointer made it 99-90 with two minutes left.
Pierce pounded his chest. Wall raised his arms then pointed at himself. Portland coach Terry Stotts, meanwhile, was called for a technical, and Beal made the free throw.
In the closing minute, as Washington protected its lead, Wall hurtled into the stands in pursuit of a loose ball on defense.
Earlier, when Wall dribbled around Batum to complete a fast break with a layup for a 60-40 lead the hosts took into halftime, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2010 draft mugged for the crowd, which rose to roar its approval.
That gave Washington a 20-point lead that equaled Portland’s largest halftime deficit of the season.
Relying on the sort of tight defense that coach Randy Wittman preaches is necessary, the Wizards held Portland to 35 percent shooting in the first half.
The Wizards pushed their lead to 25 points about four minutes into the second half thanks to more speedy work in transition.
Gortat blocked Damian Lillard’s shot on a drive. Pierce collected the loose ball and launched an outlet pass that traveled more than half the court to a streaking Nene, who completed the play with a reverse slam to make it 71-46.
Portland kept chipping away, closing the third quarter with a 20-6 run, and Steve Blake’s 3-pointer in the final minute got the margin down to 81-74 entering the fourth.
The Blazers got as close as 83-80 on C.J. McCollum’s 17-foot jumper with a little under nine minutes remaining.
But Beal hit a 3-pointer, and Gortat converted an alley-oop from Wall to get the lead back up to eight.
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