It wasn’t pretty for the New Orleans Pelicans (15-16) when they traveled to the nation’s capital on Tuesday night. The Washington Wizards (17-14) came out of the starting gates fast and never looked back as they came away with a 116-106 victory.
The Pelicans got behind the eight-ball early after a pair of early turnovers from Anthony Davis and Rajon Rondo and that gave the Wizards a chance to get out to a 10-4 with 8:26 left in the first quarter. Things went from bad to worse as the quarter progressed and Washington took a 36-19 lead at the end of the first quarter.
The second quarter wasn’t much better for New Orleans as the Wizards extended their lead to 25 points with 6:17 left in the first half. However, the Pelicans fought back late and managed to make it 61-55 headed into the break.
It seemed like the Pelicans were turning the corner when they tied it within the opening two minutes of the third quarter, but were unable to take the lead. It was all Wizards the rest of the way and that led to a double-digit victory on their home court.
The Pelicans will return to action on Friday when the take on the Orlando Magic (11-20) with tipoff set for 6 pm.
-Clint Domingue