Malik Beasley on Thursday scored 25 points and Jordan Clarkson added 23 to power the Utah Jazz past the reeling Washington Wizards 120-112.
“I was attacking the hole and not settling for threes,” Beasley said.
“I think there are some times where I get complacent so I got to keep attacking downhill,” he said.
Photo: Chris Nicoll-USA Today
Beasley made six shots from inside the arc.
He usually gets most of his points from beyond it.
Lauri Markkanen had 21 points and Collin Sexton returned from missing seven games with a hamstring injury to finish with 18 while playing just 17 minutes due to a medical minutes restriction.
“We knew the kind of energy he would bring and he’s going to fire up everybody else up as well,” Markkanen said of Sexton’s return.
Bradley Beal scored 30 points and Kyle Kuzma had 21, but the Wizards lost for the 14th time in their past 16 games.
Beal scored Washington’s first 12 points of the fourth quarter, but the Wizards could not stop the Jazz.
The Wizards fell to 2-8 when Beal, who did not have a three-pointer, is their leading scorer.
“They were geared to get into Brad and make him play inside the line, tried to pressure his dribble,” Washington coach Wes Unseld Jr said.
The Jazz scored 13 consecutive points bridging the third and fourth quarters, highlighted by a buzzer-beating three-pointer by Sexton and capped by Nickeil Walker-Alexander’s three-pointer off an offensive rebound.
“It was all about pushing the ball and getting stops. When we are running, we are at our best. When we have numbers, anybody can knock the shot down,” Sexton said.
The surge resulted in the first double-digit lead by either team after 23 lead changes and 11 ties. The span was bolstered by tight defense and increased effort after three quarters of little resistance by the Jazz.
“The guys buckled down and really committed to that end,” Utah coach Will Hardy said.
The Wizards had lost 10 straight games before winning in Phoenix, Arizona, on Tuesday.
Their defensive deficiencies returned as they allowed the Jazz to make 16 of 35 three-pointers, many of which were wide open due to slow rotations and weak closeouts.
Second-leading scorer Kristaps Porzingis missed his second game with an illness, but the Wizards still shot 56 percent from the field.
“Even when we were healthy, we were .500,” Kuzma said, not making excuses for the Wizards’ poor health.
Corey Kispert made a half-court shot at the last second to put the Wizards up 66-60. Due to a clock malfunction — the time kept running — the teams had to replay 0.4 seconds of the second quarter after halftime.
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