John Wall’s Wizards managed to make a double-digit edge hold up against the Lakers this time, with the All-Star point guard scoring 23 points and Bradley Beal 22 as Washington beat Los Angeles and cold-shooting Lonzo Ball 111-95 on Thursday night.
Ball had 10 points, eight rebounds and eight assists. But the No. 2 overall draft pick out of UCLA came in making just 29.5 percent of his field-goal attempts for the Lakers and he was worse against the Wizards, going 3 for 12 - 25 percent.
Washington’s Otto Porter Jr. finished with 20 points and 11 rebounds, while Markieff Morris scored 16 points on 6-of-7 shooting, including a pair of 3s to open the third quarter.
Coming off a home loss in which they never held a lead against the NBA-worst Dallas Mavericks, the Wizards went up by as many as 21 against the Lakers, at 91-70 on Porter’s turnaround fadeaway jumper with about 75 seconds remaining in the third quarter.
The Lakers pulled to 93-84 on Julius Randle’s two-handed slam with about 8 minutes left in the game. But a 3 by Beal soon built the hosts’ advantage back up to 15 and the outcome was never in doubt the rest of the way.
That’s not always been the case for Washington this season, when its defense has seemed to be optional at times. But Washington held the Lakers to 36 percent Thursday.
When these teams played each other in Los Angeles last month in the fourth game of the season for each, the Wizards led by 10 points entering the fourth quarter before the Lakers wound up winning 102-99 in overtime.
There was plenty of Wall vs. Ball hype leading into that one - initially fueled, not surprisingly, by Ball’s father, LaVar - although their matchup never become the game’s focus.
Seven Lakers scored at least 10 points apiece, including Brandon Ingram, Kyle Kuzma, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Jordan Clarkson, Julius Randle and Brook Lopez. The Lakers came in averaging an NBA-high 56 points in the paint and 16 of their first 20 points came that way Thursday. L.A. finished with 48.
Wall had eight rebounds, four assists, three blocks and two steals.
Wizards centers Marcin Gortat and Ian Mahinmi combined for 10 points and 11 personal fouls in 44 minutes.
The Lakers play at the Milwaukee Bucks on Saturday night for the third stop in a four-game trip. Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo is the NBA’s leading scorer at 31.9 ppg.
The Wizards host the Atlanta Hawks on Saturday night. The Hawks’ 2-9 record is the worst in the Eastern Conference.
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