SALT LAKE CITY — Guard John Wall scored 24 points and collected nine rebounds and forward Paul Pierce added 18 to lead the Washington Wizards to an 88-84 victory over the Utah Jazz on Wednesday night.
The Wizards (40-28) overcame 22 turnovers to win their fifth straight game. Utah finished with a 22-8 advantage in points off of turnovers, but it was not enough to overcome a tough defensive effort from Washington.
Forward Gordon Hayward scored 26 points to lead Utah. Forward Derrick Favors added 16 points and nine rebounds while guard Trey Burke chipped in 14 off the bench for the Jazz (30-37) which saw a six-game winning streak snapped.
Poor shooting in both halves hindered Utah. Two nights after setting franchise records for made 3-pointers in a first quarter and a first half and tying another franchise record for made 3-pointers in a game, the Jazz struggled from the perimeter.
Utah went just 1-of-11 (9.1 percent) from 3-point range before halftime and were just 4-of-22 (18.2 percent) from outside over four quarters.
Hayward drilled Utah’s only 3-pointer of the first half and slashed to the basket for a layup to bookend an 11-3 run that gave the Jazz a 13-7 lead early in the first quarter. The Wizards quickly rallied and tied the game at 17-17 on back-to-back 3-pointers from forwards Paul Pierce and Drew Gooden and went ahead 20-18 on a jumper from Gooden.
Washington scored the final six points of the first quarter — punctuated by a buzzer-beating jumper from Wall — to take a 26-21 lead over the Jazz. The Wizards’ lead vanished when Utah opened the second quarter on a 10-2 run. Guard Joe Ingles capped the spurt with a backdoor layup to give the Jazz a 31-28 lead.
Utah could not hang onto the lead. Beal made a pair of baskets sandwiched around a dunk from Kevin Seraphin to push the Wizards back in front. Washington took its biggest lead of the quarter when Pierce’s layup made it 36-32 with 4:31 remaining before halftime.
The Jazz twice cut their deficit to a point — including once on a spectacular dunk from Gobert. Utah did not overtake the Wizards again until the third quarter.
A 10-2 run fueled by a pair of baskets from Hayward helped Utah regain the lead. The Jazz led by as much as five in the quarter, going up 50-45 on back-to-back layups from Favors and Gobert.
Washington charged back in front on the strength of an 18-4 run. Wall and Pierce powered the run with several huge baskets. Pierce drained a trio of 3-pointers from the perimeter. His final one gave the Wizards a 63-54 lead with 2:55 left in the third quarter.
The Jazz rallied back to within three, when Favors scored to make it 78-75 late in the fourth quarter. Wall drained back-to-back jumpers to push Washington’s lead back to 84-78 with 3:05 left.
Utah cut it to two twice in the final seconds. Gobert forced Pierce to commit a turnover on an inbound pass and Hayward hit two free throws with 15.0 seconds left. Pierce hit two free throws but Hayward responded with an alley oop dunk.
The Wizards turned it over again on an inbounds pass to Wall with 11 seconds left, giving Utah the ball with a chance to hit the winning shot. Hayward fired off a 3-pointer that bounced off the rim and Wall hit two free throws to ice the victory.
NOTES: Jazz C Rudy Gobert averaged 10.4 points, 15.1 rebounds and 2.8 blocks in his previous 13 games. … Washington began the night 19-1 this season when shooting 50 percent or better from the floor. … Wizards C Marcin Gortat was averaging 15.3 points and 9.7 rebounds during March, before Wednesday. … Utah ranks first in the NBA in scoring defense since the All-Star break. The Jazz allowed an average of 82.8 points per game in their past 13 games before Wednesday, and they lost only twice in that span.