Wizards blow out Kings to finish off long West Coast road trip
Wizards blow out Kings to end road trip originally appeared on NBC Sports Washington
The Washington Wizards beat the Sacramento Kings 125-111 on Friday night. Here are five takeaways from what went down…
Positive momentum
The timing and nature of some wins can make them feel much better than others. The Wizards’ victory over the Kings on Friday night was that type of win. They blew Sacramento out, did it to end a grueling west coast road trip and it happened right in the middle of the holidays.
Now, the Wizards can return home and kick their feet up with three days off before their next game. While they still have plenty of work to do, now 13-21 on the season, they have two wins in three games to build off of.
That represents a glimmer of hope after about a month of despair. It follows a stretch in which they lost 10 straight games and 13 of 14.
Kyle Kuzma (32 points, 9 rebounds) and Bradley Beal (24 points, 4 assists) led the way for the Wizards in this one. Washington outscored the Kings 40-23 in the second quarter and led by as many as 30 points.
The Wizards play next on Tuesday at home against the Sixers, then again the following night against the Suns in a back-to-back.
Hachimura showed out
Rui Hachimura had a solid, but relatively quiet first game back in the Wizards’ loss to the Jazz on Thursday. He was much better one night later, as he came out molten hot against the Kings, hitting his first six shots from the field. Hachimura had 14 points by halftime and finished the game with 21 along with five rebounds and four assists.
Hachimura shot 9-for-15 overall and 3-for-7 from three. He had absolute confidence letting shots fly from long range, highlighted by one in the first half where he stepped into a three from the wing and drained it right in a defender’s face. Hachimura also had one of the more creative passes of his career, a hook shot-type heave over two defenders to Taj Gibson for an easy two.
The Wizards were 9-7 when Hachimura injured his right ankle and…
