Wizards rout Hornets
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Charlotte, NC (SportsNetwork.com) - Marcin Gortat scored 20 points on 9-of-11 shooting and also pulled down seven rebounds in the Washington Wizards' 95-69 rout of the Charlotte Hornets on Monday.
John Wall added 15 points, nine assists and three steals for the Wizards, who snapped a nine-game road losing streak. Bradley Beal and Kevin Seraphin tallied 14 and 12 points, respectively.
"We just needed a win, we needed to play like this and win," Wizards coach Randy Wittman said. "We knew that Charlotte was going to be one of the harder teams. They had won five in a row, and averaging almost 105 points in those wins.
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"We knew those guys were firing on all cylinders, and we knew we had to come with our best stuff tonight."
Mo Williams ended with 19 points on just 6-of-18 shooting for the Hornets, who had a five-game winning streak snapped. Al Jefferson and Lance Stephenson had 14 and 12 points, respectively.
"They were just more ready than we were," Jefferson said. "They had a game plan, and probably had a little bad taste in their mouth, and they showed it."
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Charlotte forward Cody Zeller played less than seven minutes before leaving with a right shoulder sprain.
Trailing 9-8, Washington used a 12-0 run to take the lead for good. The Wizards then ended the first quarter on a 6-0 spurt to make it a 36-21 game.
The Hornets scored the final seven points of the second stanza to get within 56-46 at the half.
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But the Wizards put the game out of reach in the third. Ahead 64-54, Washington went on an 11-2 run to make it 75-56 with 2:32 left. It was 77-60 heading to the fourth.
Charlotte, which scored just nine points in the final frame, shot 22.9 percent from the field in the second half.
Game Notes
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The Hornets shot just 32.5 percent for the game and committed 16 turnovers ... Washington guard Garrett Temple left the game with a right hamstring strain ... The Wizards outrebounded the Hornets by a 49-37 margin.