CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Marcin Gortat scored 20 points as the Washington Wizards rolled to a 95-69 victory over the Charlotte Hornets on Monday night.
John Wall added 15 points and nine assists, Bradley Beal had 14 points and Kevin Seraphin scored 12 points for the Wizards, who snapped a nine-game road losing streak.
Mo Williams scored 19 points for the Hornets, who shot just 32.5 percent and committed 16 turnovers to tie their lowest-scoring game this season and end a five-game winning streak.
Al Jefferson added 14 points and Lance Stephenson 12 for Charlotte, which led twice in the first 2½ minutes, the last at 9-8 on Williams’ three-point play with 9:21 left.
But Washington took command with a flurry of shots, hitting seven consecutive field goals and 12 of 13 over the next 6½ minutes to pull ahead, 26-15, on Nene’s dunk with 5:25 left.
The Wizards would go on to take a 36-21 lead by the end of the first quarter, and push that margin to 19 points early in the second quarter, going up 42-23 on Seraphin’s jumper with 9:26 left.
However, Charlotte would make two runs over the final nine minutes.
The first, an 8-0 run, cut the Wizards’ margin to 42-31 with 7:09 left. After Washington built its lead back to 56-39 with 1:50 remaining, the Hornets made seven of eight free throws over the final 91 seconds to pull within 56-46 at the halftime break.
Charlotte would cut the Wizards’ lead to eight on Jefferson’s layup in the opening seconds of the third quarter. But Washington would go on a 13-6 run to push its lead back to double digits, going up 69-54 on Paul Pierce’s 3-pointer with 5:32 left.
The Hornets would pull no closer than 15 points the rest of the game in suffering their fourth-worst loss this season.
Beal returned to the lineup after sitting out Saturday’s game at Milwaukee with a mild stress reaction in his right leg. However, forward Kris Humphries sat out his sixth consecutive game with a strained left groin muscle.
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