John Wall leads Washington Wizards to win over Cleveland Cavaliers

“There’s going to be some games where you don’t score”.

The Clippers improved to 44-30, moving within one-half game of the Jazz (44-29) for fourth place in the Western Conference and clinching a playoff berth for the sixth season in a row.

It turned out okay for the home team: Washington’s bench kept things competitive, Wall found some energy to burn, and that turned out to be enough to manufacture a win over a team utterly lacking players of genuine outcome. “That last game means nothing”.

Washington’s faster-than-fast star scored 37 points, Bradley Beal added 27 and the Wizards again showed they’ll be a handful in the playoffs by beating James and the Cleveland Cavaliers 127-115 on Saturday night. The Cavaliers clawed back to within three late in the third quarter, but couldn’t get over the hump the rest of the way.

After an absolutely scorching first quarter on Saturday night at The Q, it was expected that at some point the Wizards would have to cool down. They trimmed a 71-61 halftime deficit to 92-89 with 1:28 left in the third.

With 7:38 left in the fourth, Kyle Korver’s triple got Cleveland within striking distance again – 109-105.

The Cavs’ lead atop the Eastern Conference is just half a game after their ninth loss in their past 16 outings. Players, broadcasters, and fans alike came away feeling that they had just witnessed one of the best regular season games in history, as it felt like a heavyweight fight with the Wizards and Cavs trading blows throughout. If they went over he’d get to the rim. A sexy playoff seed doesn’t mean much if you have to kill your best players to get it.

In Houston, James Harden scored 38 points and tied his career record with 17 assists as the Rockets rallied for a 117-107 win over the New Orleans Pelicans. Atlanta’s Tim Hardaway Jr., an unexceptional generic wing dude, looked like a straight-up superstar simply by virtue of having a lot more bounce in his legs than the guys defending him did in theirs. The catalyst bringing all of the Wizards’ newfound symmetry between the bench and the starters is Brandon Jennings. The personnel isn’t that much different from the team that won the title a year ago, but it’s unclear if the team is going to flip the switch before the postseason. Wall ended up scoring a personal best 18 points in the first quarter. I think there are absolutely ways that we’re able to get better and back to our style of basketball, and we’ll get there. “That’s a prime example when the game could go either way. the voice of our leaders have to step up in the huddle”. “With John playing the 34-36 minutes, Brandon can come in there and keep the pace going, and I think that helps us”.

Cleveland responded through a three-pointer from J.R. Smith, a basket from Love and a dunk from James to push the lead back to seven – and the Hornets never got closer than five from there. That shouldn’t be acceptable, especially since they went into the game knowing that Washington would be fired up after the 140-35 Cavs win in overtime on February 6.

He has been salty about the matchup since the last loss.

James played 41 minutes against the Wizards, on top of the 40 he logged in Friday’s win.

Wall, who played Friday after shaking off a migraine headache, didn’t miss in the first quarter, when the Wizards barely misfired.