The Washington Wizards will try to end their nine-game losing streak when they play the Boston Celtics in an NBA Cup game on Friday night.
The losing streak began after the Wizards won two straight games to make their record 2-2. Eight of their nine losses have been by double digits.
Washington lost 124-104 to Detroit at home on Sunday and then had another tough loss, 134-106, to New York on Monday. In their last four games, the Wizards have allowed at least 120 points in each game.
After Monday’s loss, Washington coach Brian Keefe expressed his frustration with the team’s performance in the last two games.
“I’m the leader of this team,” Keefe said. “I’m the head coach of this team, so I’ll take the responsibility for the last two nights not playing up to the competitive disposition that we should be playing with, especially defensively.
That will be addressed as a group and we will get better. But that wasn’t what we need to be, what our standards were. And we have to own that. And we have to look at ourselves and we have to get better.”
Washington forward Corey Kispert said the team’s effort hasn’t been where it needs to be.
“It’s been a bad few showings for us, and we can deal with losing if we’re competitive, (if) we come ready to play,” Kispert said. “But (to not) be ready to play at all and (to not) compete, that’s absolutely unacceptable.”
Washington is 0-1 in NBA Cup play this season. Boston improved to 1-1 in NBA Cup play after a 120-117 win over Cleveland on Tuesday. That was Cleveland’s first loss after winning 15 straight games to start the season.
Boston got a strong performance from 38-year-old center Al Horford, who scored a season-high 20 points, had seven rebounds, and blocked three shots. He made four 3-pointers and played a key role late in the game when Cleveland tried to make a comeback.
“It was just about finishing the job,” Horford said. “I felt like we played really well in the first half. In the third, they cut into the lead, and in the fourth they got in there and it was a back-and-forth. It was like, man, we put ourselves in a position, we gotta finish this and see it through.”
Boston’s Jayson Tatum added 33 points, 12 rebounds, seven assists, and two steals in the win.
“Al is just a calming presence out there,” Tatum said. “He just does so many different things for us. Sometimes they show up in the stat sheet and sometimes they don’t, but just him being on the court with us helps our spacing, helps our defense. He’s such a good passer, willing passer. So we’re just a much better team when Al is out there and being aggressive.”
The Celtics are on a three-game winning streak and have won five of their last six games. They are 7-1 in road games this season. Washington, on the other hand, is 1-5 at home.
This will be the second meeting between the two teams this season. In their first matchup on October 24, Boston won 122-102 on the road. Jaylen Brown scored 27 points in that game, extending Boston’s winning streak against Washington to five games.
