Wizards 92, Bobcats 75
Andray Blatche led the way with 17 points and 10 rebounds as
the Washington Wizards won in coach Randy Wittman’s debut, 92-75, over
the visiting Charlotte Bobcats on Wednesday.
Nick Young added a game-high 20 points and John Wall scored 12 for the Wizards, who snapped a three-game slide.
Wittman was promoted from assistant to interim coach on Tuesday, when
the team, off to the worst start in the NBA fired Flip Saunders. The
early returns on the Wittman era are good, especially on the defensive
end.
Washington (3-15) is no longer at the bottom of the NBA pile, moving ahead of the Bobcats (3-16), who have dropped six straight.
The Wizards showed up right from the start on Wednesday, building up a
31-17 lead after the first quarter and holding Charlotte to 30 percent
shooting in the first half to take a 48-28 lead into the
break.
Defense was an afterthought under Saunders, as the team came into
Wednesday allowing an average of 99.3 points after surrendering 104.7 in
2010-11 and 101 in 2009-10.
Matt Carroll scored 17 points to lead the Bobcats, who were without D.J. Augustin and Gerald Henderson.