Wizards stay hot on road with victory over Nuggets
DENVER -- John Wall had 30 points and 10 assists, Bradley Beal scored 23 and the Washington Wizards continued their dominant road play with a 123-113 victory over the Denver Nuggets on Wednesday night.
Otto Porter Jr. had 22 points Marcin Gortat had 11 points and 15 rebounds for the Wizards, who won nine of their last 12 road games.
Gary Harris recorded a career-high 26 points, Wilson Chandler scored 21 and Mason Plumlee had 19 points and 10 rebounds for the short-handed Nuggets, whose lead over Portland for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference shrunk to one game.
The Nuggets (29-35) played without Danilo Gallinari and Nikola Jokic, two of their top three scorers, as well as Kenneth Faried. Jokic missed his second consecutive game with an illness and Gallinari was suffering from vertigo.
The absence three starters was too much to overcome against the surging Wizards (39-24), who had all five starters in double figures.
The Wizards are 33-12 over their last 45 games and crept closer to Boston for the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference. The Celtics played a late game at Golden State on Wednesday.
Washington took control of the game with an 18-3 run in the second quarter that pushed a four-point lead to 63-44 with 1:58 left.
The Wizards led by 17 at half and by as much as 24 in the third quarter before Nuggets guard Jamal Murray scored 10 of his 17 points in the final 2:37 of the period to cut the deficit to 97-85.
Washington increased its lead to 16 early in the fourth but the Nuggets got within 114-106 left after Markieff Morris was issued a Flagrant 2 foul with 2:08 left for a kick to Plumlee's crotch.
NOTES: The Wizards are 16-5 when Wall has at least 20 points and 10 assists. ... Denver F Kenneth Faried missed his sixth straight game with lower back spasms. Faried has missed nine total games this season with lower back issues. ... The Wizards are 34-8 when shooting better than 45 percent from the field. They shot 56.8 percent Wednesday. ... Denver lost for the first time in 12 home games when shooting 50 percent or better.