Wall's Wizards Rally, Send Lakers To 9th Straight Loss, 98-92
LOS ANGELES (AP) — John Wall had 21 points, 13 assists and nine rebounds, and the Washington Wizards rallied from a 19-point deficit to send the Los Angeles Lakers to their ninth straight loss, 98-92, on Tuesday night.
Bradley Beal scored 19 points for the Wizards, who won their fifth straight over the Lakers with a tenacious fourth quarter after falling far behind in the first half of their third stop on a four-game West Coast trip.
Wayne Ellington scored a career-high 28 points and rookie Jordan Clarkson had a career-high 18 for the Lakers, who are on their longest skid since April 1994.
The Lakers' inexperienced starting backcourt still played exceptionally well against the Wizards' star duo, with Ellington and Clarkson combining for 33 points in the first half.
The Lakers (12-34) hadn't dropped nine games in a row since losing 10 straight to close the 1993-94 season under coach Magic Johnson. They could set plenty of new lows for the rest of this season without Kobe Bryant, who will have what's likely to be season-ending surgery Wednesday on his torn right rotator cuff.
Paul Pierce sat out for the Wizards with a sore left big toe, but Wall played despite a sore Achilles tendon.
The Lakers' new backcourt has started just three games together. After Bryant was injured, coach Byron Scott replaced veteran point guards Ronnie Price and Jeremy Lin with Clarkson, the rookie second-round pick out of Missouri.
After a rough start in the last two losses, the duo clicked immediately against Wall and Beal. Ellington and Clarkson scored 11 points apiece in the first quarter, and Ellington made his first six shots while pacing the Lakers to a 49-30 lead in the second quarter.
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