Brooklyn, NY (SportsNetwork.com) - John Wall led a balanced Washington offense with 21 points as the Wizards came through with a 113-107 victory over the Brooklyn Nets at Barclays Center.
Wall was one of seven Wizards in double figures in Washington's second straight win on the heels of a four-game slide. Nene returned from an Achilles injury to record 17 points off the bench, with Trevor Ariza and Bradley Beal each contributing 15 points and Trevor Booker registering a double-double of 10 points and 10 rebounds.
The Nets couldn't build off Monday's 36-point win over Philadelphia despite Paul Pierce's 27 points on 10-of-12 shooting and Brook Lopez's 22 points on a 7-of-11 success rate. Joe Johnson finished with 20 points in defeat.
"It's easy to sit here and talk to you guys about what kind of night I had, but bottom line, I don't care. We lost the game," Pierce said.
Washington never trailed after grabbing a 41-40 edge on two Kevin Seraphin free throws midway through the second quarter, which started an 11-3 run that Wall capped with a 3-pointer that staked the Wizards to a 50-43 lead.
An Ariza three in the final minute of the half stretched Washington's advantage to double digits, though Brooklyn was able to close within 59-53 at the break on a Lopez hook that followed a pair of Pierce free throws.
Wall netted the final four points of a 7-0 spurt that put the Wizards up 79-67 with four minutes left in the third quarter, and Washington still led by a dozen after Nene's jumper just over two minutes into the fourth made it a 91-79 game.
The Nets then made a late bid, with Johnson and Pierce leading an 11-2 flurry that ended with the latter's driving layup that trimmed the deficit to 93-90 with 6:20 left. Brooklyn was down by just one with 1:57 to play after Deron Williams canned a short jumper to make it 101-100.
Washington responded with seven straight points, though. Marcin Gortat put back a Wall miss and Beal followed with a 3-pointer before Nene all but sealed the victory by hitting a pair from the line, putting the Wizards up 107-100 with 56.9 seconds to go.
The Wizards went 7-of-8 from the charity stripe in the final minute and finished the contest 25-of-30 from the line.
"I thought it was one of our better overall games," Wizards head coach Randy Wittman said.
Game Notes
Williams tied a season high with 13 assists in addition to scoring 15 points ... Lopez returned from a two-game absence caused by a sprained ankle ... Nene had missed Washington's previous four outings ... The Wizards went 12-of-20 from 3-point range, with Beal and Wall each going 3-of-4 from long range ... Washington's Trevor Booker pulled down a game-high 13 rebounds.
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