Deni Avdija, Kyle Kuzma lead Wizards to 110-104 victory over Nets
WASHINGTON — Deni Avdija had 21 points, 13 rebounds, and six assists, Kyle Kuzma scored 26 points and the Washington Wizards beat the Brooklyn Nets 110-104 on Friday night.
Tyus Jones added 12 points for the Wizards, who snapped a three-game losing streak. Outside of recent back-to-back victories over the Detroit Pistons, who have currently matched the worst losing streak in NBA history, Brooklyn has lost seven in a row.
Mike Muscala nailed a 3-pointer to start the fourth quarter for Washington to retake the lead at 87-86. Muscala finished with 11 points off the bench in a game that had 13 lead changes and eight ties. The Wizards could never get too comfortable, leading by no more than seven.
Spencer Dinwiddie had 17 points, eight rebounds, and six assists for the Nets, and Mikal Bridges scored 19 points. Nic Claxton had 11 points and 12 rebounds, and Cam Johnson finished with 16 points.
After a back-and-forth first quarter, with seven lead changes and three ties, the game was knotted at 25.
The Wizards would jump out to a few leads in the second quarter before Brooklyn went up 47-46 with 3:31 remaining. It was part of a 13-2 run before Avdija nailed a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give the Wizards a 54-53 lead going into the locker room.
Cam Thomas came off the bench to score 15 points for Brooklyn, while Day’Ron Sharpe added 10 points and nine rebounds.
Trailing by one, the Nets started the second half on an 8-0 run. Brooklyn had an 86-84 lead after Corey Kispert hit a 3-pointer with a second remaining in the third quarter. Kispert finished with 11 points.
Danilo Gallinari missed the game for the Wizards with back spasms.
“He’s still not quite right,” Washington coach Wes Unseld Jr. said before the game. “With back spasms, sometimes it takes a little bit to calm down. He just tweaked it on an errant pass – tried to reach it and tweaked it. We’ll give it another day and see how he responds.”
UP NEXT
Nets: Visit Oklahoma City on Sunday.
Wizards: Host Atlanta on Sunday.
