By Morris Phillips

Now that George Karl has done his initial tweaks and pokes, Boogie has returned to health, the rest of the Kings have been put on notice, and Vlade’s settled into his office and found a place to smoke, the Sacramento Kings appear ready to win.

Accordingly, the winning commenced on Sunday afternoon as the Kings turned in an impressive performance, blowing out the playoff-bound but road-weary Wizards, 109-86.

The NBA’s most restless franchise can’t seem to stand still with all the roster moves and upheaval, but they appear close to calming down as the season draws to a close. On Sunday, the Kings used their 17^th different starting lineup, but the changes worked: Sacramento won their second straight and did it defensively, holding Washington to 86 points after holding Charlotte to 91 on Friday.

“I wasn’t expecting an easy win, but we got one.” Karl said.  “I think it’s the best game we probably played since I’ve been here.”

The Kings started fast, shooting 67 percent in the first quarter to lead 34-29. All five Kings’ s starters would go on to make more than half their field goal attempts, but Gay, working against Paul Pierce, would strike first, totaling 13 of his team-best 26 points before halftime. Karl continued his experiment of playing Gay at the power forward spot, in hopes of getting the veteran in more favorable matchups against slower defenders, or bigger defenders hesitant to chase Gay around the perimeter.   In this case, Pierce committed three fouls prior to halftime guarding Gay and was limited to 17 minutes of court time.  Gay has obviously liked the subtle change, averaging 25 points per game over his last 10 appearances.

Derrick Williams has also seen a slight bump in his floor time under Karl and on Sunday that led to a pair of emphatic dunks, one off a perfectly timed—if not placed—alley oop pass from Gay.  Williams may not be a natural fit to play off guard, but the move does send a signal to frequent starter Ben McLemore that his floor time will have to be earned.

The Kansas product did seem to operate with an urgency as well, scoring all 17 points after halftime.

While the Kings appeared engaged, the Wizards did not, with Kevin Seraphin committing a flagrant foul on Omri Casspi as he drove to the hoop, and then getting called for the dreaded defensive 3-second violation right before the half.   Washington would allow the Kings to shoot 50 percent from the field for the game including eight made threes.

‘We need to come out with more defensive focus or we don’t have a chance.  That’s pretty much it,” Coach Randy Wittman said of the Wizards’ disinterested effort.

The Wizards were looking to guarantee a non-losing season with their 41^st win as well as closing the gap on the Bulls in the East for an opportunity to secure home-field advantage in the first round of the playoffs.  But along with the defensive issues, the Wizards missed 14 of 17 shot attempts from distance and trailed by 20 points after three quarters.

The Kings improved to 24-45 on the season and did so with Cousins back in his familiar starting role after an absence due to injury.  The versatile center played just 23 minutes due to foul trouble but still put good numbers (20 points, seven rebounds and five assists).    His long bounce pass to a streaking McLemore led to a layup in transition and the Kings first double-digit lead early in the third quarter.

Bradley Beal led the Wizards with 19 points along with four assists.

The Kings face the Philadelphia 76ers on Tuesday in Sacramento to conclude a three-game home stand, prior to playing seven of their next 10 on the road.