The Wizards picked up a much-needed win on the first night of a back-to-back, with a 116-97 win over the Pelicans, who were without their All-Star Anthony Davis Friday night.

Otto Porter started the game off being very aggressive, scoring eight quick points that got the Wizards off to an early lead. Outside of Otto, both teams really struggled to get it going offensively, shooting below 40 percent for much of the first half.

Washington finally found their rhythm midway through the second quarter when Scott Brooks re-inserted Otto Porter into the game with the reserves. The Wizards quickly jumped out to a double-digit lead and took a comfortable lead into halftime.

Bradley Beal and Markieff Morris got in on the fun in the third quarter as the Wizards pulled away, leading by 27 at one point in the third. Thanks to their efforts, Scott Brooks was able to play the bench for the entire fourth quarter and get Washington extra rest ahead of a key game Saturday night in Miami against the Heat.

With the win, the Wizards broke the Pelicans’ ten-game winning streak, which was the third-longest active streak in the league coming into the game.

Takeaways

Otto was on FIIYAHH!!!

He had quite the game in the first half, including this shot after some beautiful ball movement late in the second quarter.

He finished the game with 19 points on 8-of-13 shooting in under 26 minutes of playing time. Not bad for someone who was questionable after hurting his hip on Tuesday. Hopefully he can continue the momentum into Saturday’s game in Miami.

Everybody is still eating

The Wizards finished the game with 34 assists. It’s the 13th time the Wizards have had at least 30 assists in a game this season, and the eighth time since Wall has been out. The Wizards are 8-0 in those contests. Ball movement continues to be a key determinant of how successful this team has been without Wall.

Pelicans really missed Anthony Davis

The Pelicans struggled all night on offense. Jrue Holiday, the team’s leading healthy scorer, could only muster 4 points on 2-of-8 shooting. Only one starter, Rajon Rondo, finished in double figures with 11 points. Much of the Pelicans’ scoring came in the fourth quarter when the game was well in hand.

Game Notes

• The Pelicans missed their first 12 attempts from 3-point range, before Darius Miller hit a 3 with 2:10 left in the 3rd quarter.
• This marked the first game since the All-Star break that Bradley Beal played under 35 minutes
• Ian Mahinmi picked up two early fouls in the first half and never returned to the game, finishing with under six minutes of playing time. It comes on the heels of playing just 4:23 on Tuesday against the Heat. We’ll see if the trend continues on Saturday.