Cavaliers at Wizards
The Washington Wizards finally have recorded back-to-back wins and look to keep the success going when they host the Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday. Washington lost nine of its first 11 games before looking much sharper in triumphs over Miami and Orlando.
The Wizards have made the playoffs in four of the last five seasons but weren't looking so stellar while losing four of their first 10 games by 19 or more points. The defense is still a work in progress as Washington allowed Orlando to go 15-for-30 from 3-point range during Monday's 117-109 win in the opener of its five-game homestand. Cleveland halted a five-game slide with a convincing 113-89 victory over Charlotte on Tuesday as center Tristan Thompson continued his strong play with 11 points and matched his career best of 21 rebounds. "He has been a workhorse," Cavaliers coach Larry Drew said during his postgame press conference. "He has been an anchor for us. He's rebounding the ball all over the place and he's being more vocal than he has in the past."
TV: 7 p.m. ET, FS Ohio (Cleveland), NBCS Washington
ABOUT THE CAVALIERS (2-11): Injury-depleted Cleveland got season-best scoring outputs from bench players Jordan Clarkson (24 points) and David Nwaba (18 on 7-of-9 shooting) while hammering a Charlotte team against which it lost by 32 points on Nov. 3. Thompson is averaging 15.5 points and 16 rebounds during a four-game run of double-doubles as he picks up the slack for a team that's missing forwards Kevin Love (foot), Cedi Osman (back) and Sam Dekker (ankle), swingman Kyle Korver (foot) and point guard George Hill (shoulder). "If we play the right way and compete for 48 minutes, the wins will come," Thompson told reporters. "We got over the hump and got that 'W' and we have a pretty big challenge in front of us in D.C."
ABOUT THE WIZARDS (4-9): Star point guard John Wall recorded 25 points and 10 assists on Monday for his third double-double in four games after failing to record one in the first nine contests. Coach Scott Brooks was pleased to see Wall do his damage in 33 minutes against Orlando after averaging 41.3 minutes over the previous three games. "To be quite honest, I've been playing John a little bit too much," Brooks told reporters. "Not that his body can't handle it. ... But I've got to be wise. I definitely wanted to keep his minutes at a respectable number (on Monday)."
BUZZER BEATERS
1. The Cavaliers have won each of their last four visits to Washington.
2. Cleveland rookie PG Collin Sexton is averaging 17 points over his last three games, going 5-for-7 from 3-point range during that stretch.
3. Washington SG Bradley Beal scored 21 points against Orlando to mark his 10th game with 20 or more points this season.