Wizards bring 5-game skid into Milwaukee
The Washington Wizards look to snap their longest losing streak of the season as they take to the road on Tuesday night for a meeting at the Milwaukee Bucks.
Washington finds itself in the midst of a five-game losing streak after falling 115-95 to the Grizzlies on Saturday night. The streak capped off a bitter month, as the Wizards went 5-9 in January to slide below .500 on the season.
Now they face the start to February without leading scorer Bradley Beal, who will miss the next two games with a sprained left wrist.
Kyle Kuzma paced Washington with 30 points and eight rebounds on 11-of-17 shooting. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope chipped in 15 points, and Spencer Dinwiddie added 10.
«We couldn’t stop Ja (Morant). I think he really set the pace for them,» Kuzma said. «What we did with our coverage, he just exploited it left and right. That dude’s a special player.»
The Wizards got out to an extraordinarily slow start, scoring just 41 points in the first half. Despite dishing out 12 assists, Beal really struggled as well, tallying just nine points on 2-of-11 shooting. Beal injured his wrist during the third quarter.
«We just didn’t make shots,» Kuzma said. «On the night, I think we only had about 12 turnovers, and that’s not bad but we just didn’t make shots, missed a few at the rim and I think that was just the biggest part to starting off slow.»
Beal’s production has been slightly down since returning from COVID-19 protocol on Jan. 17, as he is averaging 18.7 points on 42.4 percent shooting over his last six games. The three-time All-Star is averaging 23.2 points on the season and had scored at least 20 points in each of his nine games prior to entering protocol.
Milwaukee will look to bounce back after getting blown out by the Nuggets on Sunday night. The 136-100 loss was the Bucks’ worst loss since their 137-95 loss to the Heat in the second game of the season.
Giannis Antetokounmpo finished with a game-high 29 points on 9-of-19 shooting to go along with nine rebounds. Jrue Holiday contributed 14 points and eight assists, and Bobby Portis and Grayson Allen each had 11 points.
The Bucks lost the battle on the glass for the second time in the last four games, a trend that has been influenced by the lack of depth down low.
«We have no bigs. It’s just me and Bobby. We both start, then we go small,» Antetokounmpo said. «Obviously it’s hard for us to rebound the ball, set screens, box out, run the floor, space the floor. But at the end of the day, we got to do our job. We got to do whatever coach tells us to do.»
That lack of depth has been exacerbated by the ongoing absence of Brook Lopez as he continues to recover from back surgery. George Hill is also listed as day-to-day due to neck soreness.
Despite its most recent loss, Milwaukee has been playing well at home lately, winning four of its last five games.
Tuesday’s contest marks Game 2 of the three-game season series between Washington and the Bucks. The Wizards earned a 101-94 win on Nov. 7 in D.C.
–Field Level Media
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