Kentavious Caldwell-Pope Has Hot Shooting Night But John Wall, Wizards Too Much For Lakers

Matthew Moreno
2 Min Read
Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports

With John Wall leading the way, the Washington Wizards snapped a four-game losing streak by defeating the Los Angeles Lakers, 128-110, in a game that wasn’t as close as the score may suggest.

The Lakers have fared well this season in the second game of back-to-backs but they were slow to get going against the Wizards and fell into an 18-point deficit that ultimately proved too steep to overcome.

JaVale McGee played through flu-like symptoms against the Charlotte Hornets but was ruled out for Sunday’s game. That compromised interior defense and rotations, which were a factor in Wall and the Wizards having their way.

After the Lakers took an early lead, the Wizards responded with a 14-0 run in the first quarter. Wall kept his foot on the gas, which was instrumental to the Wizards having an answer when the Lakers mounted runs late in the first quarter and again in the second.

Wall capped off his 28-point first half with a stepback jumper over Tyson Chandler to beat the buzzer. The Wizards’ 71 points tied for most the Lakers have allowed through the first two quarters of a game this season.

One of the few bright spots for the team was Ketnavious Caldwell-Pope, who made his first seven shots. That included finding the mark from deep, whereas the remainder of the team struggled. The Lakers missed their first eight 3-pointers before Caldwell-Pope connected.

Kyle Kuzma got into a bit of a scoring groove in the third quarter but it was to no avail as the Lakers couldn’t generate enough stops to ever mount a serious comeback.

LeBron James finished with 13 points to extend his streak to 903 games of scoring in double-figures.

Matthew Moreno is a journalist from Whittier, Calif., who is a credentialed reporter and is currently the Managing Editor of DodgerBlue.com and LakersNation.com. In addition to covering Los Angeles Dodgers and Los Angels Lakers games, Matthew has a strong passion for keeping up to date with the sneakerhead culture. It began with Michael Jordan and Air Jordan shoes, and has carried over to Kobe Bryant's signature line with Nike. Matthew previously was the lead editor and digital strategist at Dodgers Nation, and the co-editor and lead writer at Reign of Troy, where he covered USC Trojans Football. Matthew graduated from California State Long Beach University with a major in journalism and minor in communications. Contact: matt@mediumlargela.com
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