Wizards 99, Hornets 89
WIZARDS 99, HORNETS 89: John Wall had 26 points and 12 assists and Roger Mason scored 14 of his 19 points in the final quarter to lead Washington to a rare road win.
Jordan Crawford added 17 points as the Wizards improved to 4-16 on the road just hours after trading second-leading scorer Nick Young and leading rebounder JaVale McGee prior to the trading deadline.
Chris Kaman scored 20 points and Gustavo Ayon had 16 points and nine rebounds for New Orleans, which has lost seven of eight games.
Washington traded Young to the L.A. Clippers and McGee to the Denver Nuggets in a three-team deal that landed center Nene from Denver and forward Brian Cook from Los Angeles.
Mason started a 17-2 run with back-to-back 3-pointers after New Orleans rallied from a 16-point, third-quarter deficit to take an 81-80 lead on Ayon’s dunk with 7:34 remaining.
Mason hit another 3-pointer during the surge and set up Wall for a dunk that capped the surge with the Wizards taking a 97-83 lead with 2:35 remaining.
Wall picked up some of the scoring slack by scoring 18 first-half points on 7-of-8 shooting as Washington took a 56-49 halftime lead.
The Wizards boosted the lead to 66-50 on Wall’s hoop four minutes into the third quarter before New Orleans got back into the game with a 19-4 spurt and cut Washington’s lead to one. The Hornets finally caught the Wizards at 75 on Gustavo Ayon’s basket 14 seconds into the final quarter.
GAME NOTEBOOK: The double-double was Wall’s ninth of the season. … Hornets guard Jarrett Jack had 11 points one night after becoming the first New Orleans player to score 30 in a game this season. … Washington also sent forward Ronny Turiaf to Denver as part of the three-way trade. … The Hornets didn’t make any deadline trades, though they were shopping Kaman.