The Wizards aim to snap a six-game losing streak on Monday when they host the Brooklyn Nets in Washington, D.C.
Washington capped its longest winning streak of the season on Feb. 5 when it beat Brooklyn on the road, 119-102. Seven Wizards scored in double figures in that game.
Since then, Washington has dropped six in a row after Sunday’s 110-90 rout at Orlando. Malcolm Brogdon missed Sunday’s game with an ankle injury, and Khris Middleton — acquired in a trade that sent Kyle Kuzma to Milwaukee — was out with his own ankle injury.
“We won’t use inexperience as an excuse around here,” Washington coach Brian Keefe said. “Lessons to be learned; come out better in the third quarter.”
The Wizards’ current skid is their third longest of the season behind a pair of 16-game slumps that spanned from Nov. 2 through Dec. 5 and Jan. 3-30.
Sunday’s 90 points were the fewest Washington scored since putting up just 82 against Toronto in the 15th loss of the Wizards’ second 16-game slump on Jan. 29.
As for Brooklyn, it recovered from the loss to Washington to win four of its last five games, including a 105-103, buzzer-beating defeat of Philadelphia on the road on Saturday.
Nic Claxton’s put-back bucket at the horn secured the win, improving the Nets to 7-2 over their last nine games. They have moved to within a half-game of Chicago for 10th place in the Eastern Conference and the final play-in round berth for the playoffs.
“He’s been working really,” Brooklyn coach Jordi Fernandez said of Claxton. “It was a little bit of an up-and-down (season). Right now, consistently, he’s been getting better and better and better, being the anchor of the defense.”
Claxton’s 16 points on Saturday marked his fourth double-figure-point outing in Brooklyn’s last five games. He also has at least nine rebounds over the same stretch, improving his season averages to 10.2 points and 7.6 rebounds per game.
As for Claxton’s role anchoring the defense, as Fernandez described, Brooklyn ranks eighth in the NBA in points allowed per game at 110.8.
Washington, meanwhile, is surrendering an NBA-worst 121.4 points per game. The Nets will try to exploit the Wizards’ season-long defensive woes, but Brooklyn has had its own struggles generating consistent offense.
The Nets rank No. 29 in the NBA in points scored per game at 104.9. Brooklyn has cleared that mark just twice over the last nine games, but has limited six opponents to fewer than 100 points over that same stretch.
Washington’s leading scorer, Jordan Poole at 21 points per game, is the only Wizard averaging more than 13 points a contest this season in Washington with Kuzma gone. Bilal Coulibaly is producing just over 12 points per game.
Cam Thomas was putting up 24.7 points per game when he last played on Jan. 2. Cameron Johnson, averaging 19.1 points per game, went for 23 to lead the way in the win at Philadelphia.
–Field Level Media
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