Wizards at Bucks
The Washington Wizards have crawled back into the middle of the Eastern Conference race on the strength of an exceptional run at home, but their play on the road remains an issue. The Wizards will try to end that trend when they visit the Milwaukee Bucks on Sunday in the fourth meeting between the teams in less than a month.
Washington, which extended its home winning streak to nine games with a 112-105 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday, suffered its worst loss of the season with a 123-96 setback at Milwaukee on Dec. 23 - one of its 12 losses in 15 road contests. The Wizards returned the favor three days later by defeating the Bucks at home, part of the squad's 10-5 run over the past month. Milwaukee had been trending up as well behind the outstanding play of Giannis Antetokounmpo, but his 25 points and five blocked shots were not enough in a 116-111 loss to visiting New York on Friday. Washington also won the first encounter Dec. 10 and has a chance Sunday to clinch the season series for the fifth consecutive time.
TV: 2 p.m. ET, CSN Mid-Atlantic (Washington), FSN Wisconsin (Milwaukee)
ABOUT THE WIZARDS (17-18): John Wall had 18 points and a season-high 18 assists in Friday's victory, and he was instrumental down the stretch while recording his 22nd double-double. "Coach always tells me, 'No matter how bad you're playing throughout the whole game, the last three minutes, four minutes of each quarter [are] always the key in the third and fourth quarter for us," Wall told the media. "I just tried to be aggressive and get shots." Guard Bradley Beal (team-high 22 points) and center Marcin Gortat (9-for-9 from the field) were the prime beneficiaries of Wall's playmaking as Washington shot 58.2 percent.
ABOUT THE BUCKS (18-17): Malcom Brogdon continues to fill in at point guard for the injured Matthew Dellavedova (hamstring) and may cause coach Jason Kidd to keep the rookie in the starting lineup when all are healthy. Brogdon has scored in double figures in all five of his starts since Dellavedova went down and he has 13 assists against only one turnover in more than 69 minutes of action the last two contests. Antetokounmpo is averaging 29.7 points, 11 rebounds and 6.7 assists against Washington this season.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Milwaukee entered Saturday third in the NBA in field-goal percentage (47.5) and Washington was fourth (47.1).
2. Bucks C Greg Monroe is averaging 17.3 points on 64.5 percent shooting in January after posting 10.7 on 53.7 in December.
3. Beal is shooting 33.3 percent from 3-point range on the road, compared to 44.9 percent at home.