SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Washington's gritty come-from-behind road win on Friday night against the Sacramento Kings said a lot about the Wizards.

Bradley Beal scored a game-high 38 points and hit the go-ahead 3-pointer in overtime as Washington outlasted Sacramento 130-122 -- a win that effectively moved the Wizards into the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference after Boston lost in Denver.

Washington (40-24) erased a 15-point fourth-quarter deficit, showing the mettle that has made it the winningest team (24-8) in the NBA since Jan. 1.

The Wizards entered the fourth quarter trailing 97-82 and took their first lead since the first quarter at 109-107 on a Beal layup with 2:58 to play. Beal scored 16 of his 38 points in the fourth quarter.

"A lot of heart. A lot of fight," Washington All-Star point guard John Wall said of the comeback. "Maybe earlier in the year we would've lost by 30 or 40 points. We probably would've quit and gave up.

"(Tonight) everybody just kept talking in the huddle, 'Let's just go. Make a push; make a push. Anything can happen.' ... We just started to be aggressive and shots started to fall for us."

Wall, who finished with 25 points and 12 assists, had a shot to win the game at the end of regulation, but his 17-foot wing jumper went in and out. The teams finished regulation tied 116-116.

It was an especially galling loss for Sacramento (25-40), which led by double digits for the majority of the second and third quarters and 105-95 lead with just under seven minutes left. The Wizards then went on a 10-0 run -- with eight points by Beal -- to pull even with 4:18 remaining.

The quick-strike offense helped hide a defensive effort that the Wizards were not pleased with.

"We were flat defensively once again," Wizards coach Scott Brooks said. "We had 17 minutes of good defense, and when you do that you're playing with fire. ... Brad was on fire. He played well. He made a lot of good shots."

The Kings have now lost seven straight, their longest skid of the season. They were led by Willie Cauley-Stein's 20 points and 13 rebounds.

"We fought like crazy and just gave up a little too much there at the end," Kings coach Dave Joerger said. "I thought it was a good experience for some of our younger guys."

The first half was highlighted by Sacramento rookie Buddy Hield taking advantage of his first start since being acquired by the Kings in the DeMarcus Cousins deal with New Orleans on Feb. 19.

Hield had 18 points in the half, including 13 in the first quarter. His second of three 3-pointers in the quarter gave the Kings a 13-10 advantage, and they didn't trail again until the fourth quarter.

The Kings were especially accurate from behind the arc during the first half, hitting on 8 of 12. Conversely, the Wizards were dreadful from distance. Washington was just 2 of 13 in the half, including a combined 0 of 6 from Wall and Bojan Bogdanovic.

That trend changed in the second half, especially in the fourth quarter and overtime when the Wizards connected on 5 of 7 treys.

Both teams wrap up back-to-backs on Saturday as Sacramento hosts Denver and Washington travels to Portland.

NOTES: Sacramento F Tyreke Evans missed the game to rest. Evans was coming off his best game (26 points in a loss at San Antonio) since being acquired by the Kings in the DeMarcus Cousins trade to New Orleans. ... Kings C Willie Cauley-Stein's double-double of 20 points and 13 rebounds was just his third of the season, and his first since a 29 and 10 effort in a home win over Denver on Feb. 23. ... Before Friday's victory, the Wizards were winless in their past seven trips to Sacramento. The losing streak dated to January 2009. ... After totaling 20 assists in each of their previous two games, the Kings reached 10 assists (on 14 made shots) by the end of the first quarter. They finished the night with 27 assists.