John Wall reaches career high in assists as Wizards defeat Knicks

Bradley Beal has spent enough time with John Wall to know the Wizards point guard can control a game in a variety of ways.

Wall was held to six points on 3-of-13 shooting on Friday night, but had a career-high 18 assists in just three quarters as the Wizards defeated the New York Knicks, 101-87.

“There’s just so much that he can do,” Beal said. “I mean, he can score the ball, then tonight he had a thousand assists. You never know which John you’re going to get. You may have a John who gets 30 rebounds tomorrow.”

Wall scored 91 points in the first three games of Washington’s five-game homestand, and had 33 assists in the final two.

“Everybody on my team was just trying to tell me to get 20 [assists],” Wall said. “One of my goals is to get 20 [in a game]. I keep falling short.”

Wall was asked if the Wizards are at their best offensively when he looks to pass first.

“Yeah, I always try to be a pass-first guy, except in certain situations I have to be aggressive and start scoring for the team,” Wall said. “But that’s my mindset going in, to try and get everybody into a rhythm pretty early.”

Marcin Gortat led Washington with 19 points, Beal added 18 points, and Otto Porter, starting his second consecutive game, scored 17.

Reserve Ricky Ledo scored a career-high 21 points for the Knicks, who have dropped their last nine games.

“It’s frustrating, and mentally it’s a grind,” New York’s Lou Amundson said.

Leading 59-49 early in the second half, the Wizards went on a 13-5 run capped by a steal by Porter and fast-break dunk with 4:43 left in the third. New York got no closer than within 10 points, with just 1:33 left in the game.

With a game at Memphis on Saturday, the Wizards rested Paul Pierce — for the second consecutive game — and Nene.

Wall started a pair of highlight-reel plays early in a 19-0 first-quarter run. First, he drove the lane and dished behind his back to Gortat for the layup. Two trips later, Wall lofted an alley-oop pass that Porter slammed home.

Washington led 30-8 after Drew Gooden and Porter combined for three consecutive 3-pointers.

“Our pressure defensively was really good in the first quarter. That enabled us to really jump on them,” Wizards coach Randy Wittman said.

New York shot 4-for-19 in the quarter and was outrebounded, 18-5.

Ledo scored 11 points in the second quarter, Quincy Acy added 10 points and New York’s reserves brought them back. A 12-3 run to end the quarter cut Washington’s lead to 54-46 at halftime.

“It’s tough because we felt like we came back and gained momentum going into halftime,” Ledo said.

The Wizards have won their last seven games against the Knicks and finished 3-2 on their five-game homestand. They have just one home game remaining: April 12 vs. Atlanta.

Wittman was in no mood to downplay a win over the Knicks.

“I’m very pleased with what we did tonight,” he said. “We came out again aggressive. There is a lot this team is playing for, as was [Philadelphia on Wednesday]. These guys are playing for their lives, contracts. They are going to play hard.”