Warriors at Wizards
THE STORY: The end of the Golden State Warriors’ five-game road trip can’t come soon enough. The Warriors have been without guard Stephen Curry because to a foot injury in the last four games and have had trouble putting points on the board. Usually one of the highest-scoring teams in the NBA, the Warriors have been held to 80.3 over the past four. The low point came Sunday, when Golden State shot 36 percent in an 83-75 loss at Toronto. Luckily the Washington Wizards represent the last stop on the trip. The Wizards rank 29th in the NBA in scoring defense and have surrendered at least 98 points in each of their last eight games. Washington snapped a six-game slide with a 101-98 victory over Cleveland on Saturday but still owns the second-lowest win total in the league.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, CS Bay Area (Warriors), CS Washington (Wizards)
ABOUT THE WARRIORS (14-20): David Lee scored 22 points and Monta Ellis chipped in 20 but no one else managed more than seven Sunday. Golden State has dropped six of its last nine overall to fall far out of contention for the No. 8 spot in the Western Conference. Curry, who is averaging 15.7 points, dressed Sunday but did not get into the game. The former first-round pick has been held to 22 games by various foot and ankle injuries this season. Coach Mark Jackson made a change to his lineup for the Toronto game, replacing center Andris Biedrins in the starting lineup with Ekpe Udoh. Biedrins, who once looked like a future star when averaging a double-double in 2008-09, is down to a career-low 2.1 points and has gone scoreless in four straight.
ABOUT THE WIZARDS (8-28): Washington has played hard recently, coming up just short in losses to Sacramento, Milwaukee and Orlando sandwiched around the All-Star break. The Wizards finally broke through Saturday, grabbing a fourth-quarter lead and hanging on until the finish. The backcourt duo of John Wall and Jordan Crawford handled the bulk of the scoring against the Cavaliers. Wall is averaging 24.3 points over the last four games and has cut his turnovers down in the last two as well. Andray Blatche returned to the lineup for the first time since Jan. 28 on Saturday and chipped in nine rebounds.
BUZZER BEATERS:
1. Golden State took both meetings last season while averaging 110 points.
2. Ellis has put up 21.3 points in nine career games against the Wizards.
3. Washington guard Nick Young (knee) missed Saturday’s game and is listed as day-to-day.