Washington, DC (SportsNetwork.com) - Nene filled the stat sheet with 18 points, five assists, five rebounds, three blocks and two steals to help the Washington Wizards take a 93-84 win over the Sacramento Kings at Verizon Center.
Marcin Gortat finished with 17 points and eight rebounds and Bradley Beal scored 16 for the Wizards, who had dropped two straight entering the contest.
John Wall scored 12 points and Kevin Seraphin added 10 in the win.
"I'm happy with the win, but won't accept the way we played. I don't think we played a good game. That's a game we should have won by 30 points," said Wizards forward Martell Webster.
With the victory, the Wizards improved to 25-25. It is the ninth time this season the Wizards have reached .500.
"We're back to .500. We're better than .500," Wizards coach Randy Wittman said.
Isaiah Thomas scored a game-high 30 points and handed out eight assists and DeMarcus Cousins scored 14 points and pulled down 12 boards for the Kings, who lost for the second straight time.
Thomas, who scored 12 points in the opening quarter, gave the Kings a 20-17 lead with 3:46 left in the first. A 9-2 run from the Wizards, capped with a Seraphin hook shot, made it 28-22. Derrick Williams made a pair of free throws late in the quarter to make it 28-24 entering the second.
Washington's lead swelled to 13 points, 39-26, with just under four minutes played in the second. Sacramento managed to make it a two possession game, 41-36, moments later, but the Wizards outscored the Kings 16-9 to take a 57-45 lead into the break.
Washington's edge reached 17 points several times in the third, the last coming with 6:14 left in the stanza, but a 14-8 run had the Kings within 75-64 entering the fourth.
A 9-2 burst to open the fourth brought Sacramento within four points, 77-73, after Ben McLemore's three-point player with 8:24 remaining.
The Wizards opened up a 14-5 burst from there, though, and the Kings never got closer than eight the rest of the way.
"I just want a consistent effort. We got back in the game because we played the right way. When you use so much energy to get back in the game, you can't close it out. I am very proud of how we played in the second half," said Kings coach Michael Malone.
Game Notes
Wall has at least one steal in 13 straight games ... Washington scored 26 points off 18 Sacramento turnovers ... The Kings won the battle of the boards by a 49-38 margin ... Cousins had six offensive rebounds ... McLemore finished with 12 points for the Kings.
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