The Washington Wizards scored a second straight victory on Thursday in a 109-99 win over the Milwaukee Bucks at Capital One Arena.
The Wiz Kids did their thing with John Wall in attendance for his celebration night. But it wasn’t always pretty.
The first quarter was a brickfest for both teams. The Bucks missed seven of their first eight shots as the Wizards held them to 2 points for nearly the first 5 minutes of the contest. Milwaukee battled back to take a lead late in the period, but a four-point play from Bub Carrington and three free throws from Will Riley in the closing seconds helped Washington secure a 25-23 lead to close the first.
Tre Johnson suffered an injury in the opening minute of the second quarter. The sharpshooting rookie drained a contested baseline jumper plus the foul, but Ryan Rollins’ dangerous closeout led to Johnson rolling his ankle. Rollins was assessed a flagrant 1.
Johnson tried to battle through the injury. He played a few more minutes and even sank a floater before being ruled out for the rest of the game.
The Wizards took control of the contest before halftime, outscoring the Bucks 32-20 in the second to take a 14-point lead at the half. Kyshawn George had 13 points, while Justin Champagnie hustled his way to 10 points at the break.
Bilal Coulibaly punctuated the third period with a pair of powerful poster-worthy jams. The lead hovered at around a dozen throughout the quarter, with the Wizards entering the fourth up 82-72.
A few familiar faces made things interesting down the stretch. Former Wizards Kyle Kuzma and Ryan Rollins combined for 18 points in the final period, trimming the lead to 2 with 90 seconds left. Washington’s defense held firm to close the game, outscoring the visitors 8-0 the rest of the way.
The victory was the Wizards’ third this season over the Bucks, meaning 25 percent of the team’s wins so far this season have come against Milwaukee.
George led the way with 23 points, five rebounds, five assists, and a pair of steals. Sarr posted a 16-point, 17-rebound double-double with two blocks. Carrington had 13 points and six assists off the bench.
The Wizards get right back into the action Friday on the second night of a back-to-back against the Los Angeles Lakers.
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