Wall has season-high 29; Wizards top Hornets 96-87

[March 16, 2013]  WASHINGTON (AP) -- John Wall put on a rare shooting show Friday night, scoring a season-high 29 points and matching his career high with three 3-pointers as the Washington Wizards ran their home winning streak to four with a 96-87 victory over the New Orleans Hornets.

Wall went 12 for 15 from the field, including 3 for 3 from 3-point range, displaying an outside touch that's been mostly absent since he was chosen No. 1 overall in the 2010 draft. He entered Friday's game just 3 for 20 from 3-point range for the season, and he was a mere 3 for 42 last season.

Wall's performance, which included nine assists, brought some electricity to what looked to be a humdrum game between teams all but certainly headed for the NBA lottery. Eric Gordon scored 20 points for the Hornets, who have lost five straight on the road and five of six overall.

The only previous time Wall had made three 3-pointers in a game was a 3-for-7 performance against the Philadelphia 76ers on Nov. 23, 2010, during a rookie season when he took -- and missed -- the 3 more often, going 34 for 115.

But he was certainly feeling it against the Hornets, making a 19-foot jumper on Washington's first possession. The official play-by-play also showed him hitting from 15, 24, 26 and 23 in the first half alone. The player known more of his speed and ball-handling suddenly looked ready for a game of Around the World, especially when he casually sank a leg-kick fadeaway from just inside the arc late in the third quarter.

He nodded his head repeatedly and emphatically after his next one, a 15-foot swish. He scored the Wizards' final six points of the period, with a coast-to-coast, scoop-shot layup and a pair of free throws putting Washington ahead 74-64, the first double-digit lead by either team in the game.

Wall had been playing well all week. He had then-season highs of 27 points and 14 assists in a 95-90 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers on Tuesday and put up 23 and 10 in a 106-93 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks on Wednesday.

Martell Webster added 18 points for the Wizards.

Greivis Vasquez scored 18 points, and Anthony Davis added 16 for the Hornets, who got no closer than eight in the fourth quarter. Davis was limited by foul trouble, picking up three before halftime and a fourth in the first minute of the second half.

NOTES: The Wizards hadn't beaten the Hornets at home since March 2, 2008. ... Washington rookie G Bradley Beal (sprained left ankle) missed his sixth straight game, and G A.J. Price (right groin) missed his second in a row. ... Hornets F Ryan Anderson returned after sitting out one game with an illness. He scored 13 points.

[Associated Press; By JOSEPH WHITE]

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