Wizards at Kings
The Washington Wizards have a lot of ground to make up in the playoff
race and not much time left to chase down the eighth-place Indiana
Pacers. Washington lost to the Golden State Warriors on Tuesday to fall
into 10th place in the Eastern Conference and stands three games behind
the Pacers with just eight games remaining.
The Wizards have split the first two games of a crucial five-game road trip that ends with games against the Phoenix Suns and Los Angeles Clippers. Washington point guard John Wall had 11 assists but just eight points on 4-of-14 shooting against Golden State to see his streak of nine straight double-doubles reach its end. The Kings figure to have All-Star center DeMarcus Cousins, forward Rudy Gay and point guard Rajon Rondo back in the lineup after the trio rested in Monday's 105-93 loss to the Portland Trail Blazers. "I think it will happen some more," Sacramento coach George Karl told reporters. "I don't think there's an exact schedule yet but I think you'll see us do it a little bit more, especially in back-to-back situations."
TV: 10 p.m. ET, CSN Mid-Atlantic (Washington), CSN California (Sacramento)
ABOUT THE WIZARDS (36-38): Power forward Markieff Morris (calf) was in the starting lineup against the Warriors and had 15 points and eight rebounds in 24 minutes of action. Morris suffered the injury against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday when he departed after 10 minutes and then missed Sunday's game versus the Los Angeles Lakers. Shooting guard Bradley Beal had 17 points against Golden State after scoring in single digits in two of the previous three contests.
ABOUT THE KINGS (29-45): First-round draft pick Willie Cauley-Stein has strung together three consecutive standout performances and had 13 points and a season-best 14 rebounds in the loss to the Trail Blazers. The double-double follows outings in which the 7-foot Cauley-Stein scored a season-high 26 points against Phoenix on Friday and 21 against Dallas on Sunday. "I'm a hard worker so it's only going to go up," Cauley-Stein told reporters. "The only way is up; there's no backwards for me. I'm just going to keep on working, keep on grinding, keep on learning from my teammates and hopefully we can keep building off this."
BUZZER BEATERS
1. The Wizards have lost in each of their last five visits to Sacramento.
2. Wall had reached double figures in points in 31 straight games prior to Tuesday's loss to the Warriors.
3. Sacramento SG Marco Belinelli (foot) has missed the past two games.