The Washington Wizards, on a rare winning streak, will look to complete a 3-0 road trip when they face the Brooklyn Nets on Wednesday in New York.
Washington (8-41) heads into the game with the worst record in the NBA, coming off a 134-96 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers on Jan. 30, marking their 16th consecutive defeat for the second time this season.
However, the Wizards managed to break their losing streak with a 105-103 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Saturday. They followed it up with a 124-114 victory over the Charlotte Hornets on Monday, securing just their second winning streak of the 2024-25 season.
Washington hasn’t won three games in a row since last March.
“You want to be a consistent player, a consistent team? It’s about the work, it’s about the process,” Wizards coach Brian Keefe said after Monday’s win. “Our guys are terrific with that. It’s something I don’t even think about because it’s just who they are now, and a lot of guys are like that.”
He added, “Keep it going.”
Corey Kispert scored a season-high 25 points on Monday, while Bilal Coulibaly added 26 points, his best performance since scoring 27 on Dec. 13. Washington is 2-1 when Coulibaly scores 26 or more points, and three of the Wizards’ eight wins have come when he scored at least 20 points.
Washington is 2-2 in Kispert’s four games of 20 or more points.
The Brooklyn Nets (17-33) come into Wednesday’s matchup with a three-game winning streak, their longest of the season. The latest two wins came against the Houston Rockets, who are in third place in the Western Conference.
After defeating the Rockets 110-98 in Texas on Saturday, the Nets won 99-97 at home on Tuesday with a dramatic final 10 seconds.
Brooklyn was down by four points before Keon Johnson hit a 3-pointer with 8.1 seconds left. Tosan Evbuomwan stole the inbounds pass, and D’Angelo Russell nailed the game-winning 3-pointer with 3.4 seconds remaining. The Rockets’ Jalen Green missed a last-second 3-point attempt.
Johnson scored 22 points, leading an injury-depleted Brooklyn team. The Nets were without Noah Clowney (ankle), Cam Thomas (hamstring), and Cameron Johnson (ankle). Bojan Bogdanovic, who hasn’t played this season, is getting closer to returning after offseason foot surgery.
Offense has been a struggle for Brooklyn this season. The Nets rank second to last in the league in scoring, averaging just 105.4 points per game.
However, the Nets have been solid on defense, allowing 112.1 points per game, which is 12th in the NBA. During their current three-game win streak, Brooklyn has held opponents under 100 points in each game, starting with a 104-83 win at Charlotte on Jan. 29.
Johnson has been a major contributor on both ends of the floor, especially in the past month. His 22-point performance on Tuesday was his fifth game with 20 or more points since Jan. 10, raising his season average from 8.0 to 9.7 points per game.
He also had two steals on Tuesday, marking his fifth multiple-steal game since Jan. 10.
“(I am) someone who is going to come in and constantly defend to their fullest, night in and night out, but on the offensive end, (be) someone you can trust with the ball in their hands,” Johnson said. “Each night I feel like I’m getting more and more comfortable with the different roles I’m given.”
