With time running out, the Washington Wizards are on the outside looking in for a spot in the Eastern Conference play-in tournament. They cannot afford to lose to San Antonio on Friday when the Spurs come to the nation’s capital for their annual visit.
With nine regular-season games remaining, the Wizards (32-41) entered Thursday in 12th place, 2 1/2 games behind Chicago for the final play-in spot. San Antonio (19-54) has already been ruled out of the playoffs.
Washington has lost seven of its last eight games and four in a row at the worst possible time. The Wizards’ most recent outing was a home loss to Denver, which leads the West, on Wednesday by a score of 118 to 104. This was the second game of a road-home back-to-back.
Deni Avdija added 16 points, eight rebounds, and six assists, while Kristaps Porzingis led Washington with 25 points in the loss. The Wizards trailed by 23 points early in the fourth quarter, but they got within 10 before Denver went on a 9-2 run that pretty much settled the game.
A season-worst 15.4% of Washington’s shots came from beyond the arc, going just 4-for-26. Due to injuries, Bradley Beal (sore left knee) and Kyle Kuzma (sore right ankle) did not play.
The Spurs travel to Washington, D.C., for the third game in a four-game road trip that began with two crushing defeats in New Orleans on Tuesday (119-84) and Milwaukee (leading the East) on Wednesday (130-94).
San Antonio has lost four of its last five games, including Wednesday’s defeat. In a game in which San Antonio trailed by 15 points at the half and by double digits for the entirety of the second half, Devin Vassell led the Spurs with 16 points. Keita Bates-Diop added 14 points, Jeremy Sochan scored 13, Zach Collins and Sandro Mamukelashvili each scored 12 points and grabbed seven rebounds, and the Spurs lost.
The Spurs were without driving scorer Keldon Johnson (neck sprain) for the subsequent straight game as well as Tre Jones, Doug McDermott, Devonte’ Graham and Romeo Langford because of wounds. The selection of which of these players will play on Friday will be made at game time.
