Wizards at Jazz
The Washington Wizards are on the brink of elimination and look to stay alive when they visit the Utah Jazz on Friday. Washington persevered against Devin Booker's 50-point outing on Wednesday when it held off the host Phoenix Suns 124-121.
The Wizards need to win their final six games and also receive a lot of help to land an Eastern Conference playoff spot, so the odds against them are astronomical. The victory over Phoenix ended a five-game losing streak but Washington also has lost six straight meetings against the Jazz. Utah is a hot squad with three straight victories and eight in its last nine outings after posting a 115-100 victory over the visiting Los Angeles Lakers on Wednesday. The Jazz are tied for fifth in the Western Conference and still hope they can wrest away homecourt advantage in the first round of the playoffs from either the Portland Trail Blazers or Houston Rockets.
TV: 9 p.m. ET, NBCS Washington, AT&T SportsNet Rocky Mountain (Utah)
ABOUT THE WIZARDS (31-45): Center Thomas Bryant had 18 points and a career-best 19 rebounds against the Suns and he scored Washington's final six points, including the decisive three-point play with 2.8 seconds remaining. "My teammates believe in me," Bryant told reporters, particularly referring to the 3-pointer with 28.6 seconds left. "It's a real big thing. I give it all to my teammates, they believe in me to make that shot, time and time after I missed so many shots this month, this year. To have that confidence is great." Shooting guard Bradley Beal and forward Jabari Parker each scored 28 points for the Wizards with Beal knocking down five 3-pointers.
ABOUT THE JAZZ (45-30): Small forward Joe Ingles recorded a career-high 14 assists against the Lakers and narrowly missed his first career triple-double as he also contributed 11 points and nine rebounds. The last Utah player to record a triple-double in a regular-season game was Carlos Boozer in 2008 - against the former Seattle SuperSonics - and the crowd was urging Ingles to return to the game in the final minutes to collect one more rebound. "It's not me, it's not our team," Ingles told reporters afterward. "You guys know, I've never played for that reason, and I never will. If it happened during the game, great. We can all cheer. I don't even know what I'd do. Nothing, probably. Just move on."
BUZZER BEATERS
1. The Jazz have prevailed by an average of 18.1 points during their winning streak against the Wizards, including a 116-95 rout in Washington on Dec. 18.
2. Utah star SG Donovan Mitchell is averaging 10.5 points on 7-of-25 shooting over the past two games.
3. Washington reserve SG Jordan McRae scored a career-best 21 points on 8-of-10 shooting against Phoenix.