Wizards vs. Nets final score: Washington rides defense to 102-88 win over Brooklyn

The Wizards snapped their two-game losing skid with a convincing 102-88 win over the Brooklyn Nets on Saturday night in which they turned to their oft-maligned defense to get the job done.

Washington allowed a season-low 88 points as they held Brooklyn to 37 percent shooting from the field and an 8-for-33 outing beyond the arc. It snapped a streak of eight-straight games in which Washington had given up at least 110 points.

Both teams were on the second half of back-to-backs and it showed in how both teams struggled to score in the first half. They shot a combined 8-of-32 on threes and only took eight free throws. John Wall and Bradley Beal were the only players who could get anything going offensively, as they combined for 26 points in the half to help Washington take a three-point lead into halftime.

In the second half, Tomas Satoransky — who got his first start of the season in place of Kelly Oubre Jr. — sparked an 11-0 run to start the second half. First, he found Thomas Bryant for an easy pick-and-roll dunk.

He threw down a dunk on the next possession, and the Wizards followed it up by forcing the Nets into a 24-second violation on the other end.

Brooklyn recovered to stay within striking distance for the rest of the third quarter, but then Markieff Morris had a feast in the fourth after the Nets went extra-small. He scored 15 points in the final frame to put the Nets away before it could get too close for comfort.

It certainly helped that Washington caught Brooklyn in a tight spot. They were still reeling after a double-overtime loss against the Grizzlies on Friday night in which five players logged over 38 minutes of action.

On the other hand, these have been the kind of games that Washington has failed to seize upon at other times this season as well as in previous years. It wasn’t always pretty, but they didn’t make things harder than they had to be by playing disinterested to start the game, or making silly mistakes to let Brooklyn hang around longer than they should have. Sometimes that’s all that matters.

Next up: The Wizards head back on the road to take on the Knicks at 7:30 pm on Monday night.