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Wizards get wire-to-wire win over Pacers

Mar 29, 2014 - 3:15 AM Washington, DC (SportsNetwork.com) - The Washington Wizards caught the Indiana Pacers fresh off an emotional win and took it to them for 48 minutes.

The road has not been kind of late to the Eastern Conference-leading Pacers.

John Wall scored 20 points, Marcin Gortat had 17 points and 12 rebounds and the Wizards led wire-to-wire in a 91-78 victory over the Pacers on Friday night at Verizon Center.

Al Harrington added 12 points and Trevor Ariza and Martell Webster scored 11 each for the Wizards. The conference's current No. 6 seed stopped a two-game losing streak with their second win in six games.

"We just knew how big a game this was for us and we haven't been playing well the last six or seven games," said Wall. "Hopefully we understand the way we can win games and finish off teams is play defense, and that's what we did tonight."

Paul George had 19 points but the Pacers shot just 35.4 percent two days after clinching the Central Division for the second year in a row with an 84-83 win over the Miami Heat.

The Pacers, who were 2-for-13 on 3-pointers, have lost three of four overall and four in a row on the road.

"I don't know if we were ready to play or not," said Indiana forward Luis Scola. "The thing is, they beat us pretty well and we needed this game as much as we needed the last game.

"We have such a great opportunity right now and we're letting it slip because of these types of games. It's been happening way too often."

Ariza scored all of his 11 points in the third quarter, including seven during a 13-2 run that extended a seven-point lead to 18 heading into the fourth.

Webster went 3-for-6 on 3-pointers, opening the final quarter with one to push the lead to 21.

Later, a 10-2 Pacers burst got them within 10, but Wall scored five points in a 7-0 spurt for the Wizards, giving them a 17-point lead with three minutes left.

Earlier, Wall had 10 points and four assists in the first quarter and the Wizards led 24-21 going into the second.

Harrington's off-balance 3-pointer from the right corner capped a 10-0 run to make it 36-23 and Washington went up by 16 on Bradley Beal's three. The Pacers countered with a 12-0 run led by George's six points and pulled within 44-37 at halftime.

Game Notes

Washington shot 39.1 percent ... The Pacers remain on the road to play Cleveland on Sunday ... The Wizards are home again to play Atlanta on Saturday.