The Washington Wizards will be looking to end a nine-game losing streak when they take on the visiting Boston Celtics in an NBA Cup game Friday night.
Washington’s losing streak began after the Wizards won two in a row to even their record at 2-2. Eight of the nine losses have come by double digits.
Washington dropped a 124-104 home decision to Detroit on Sunday, and then had its losing streak reach nine games with Monday’s 134-106 setback at New York. The Wizards have allowed at least 120 points in each of their last four games.
Following Monday’s loss, Washington coach Brian Keefe made it clear he was frustrated with the team’s effort in the last two games.
“I’m the leader of this team,” Keefe said. “I’m the head coach of this team, so I’ll take the responsibility for the last two nights not playing up to the competitive disposition that we should be playing with, especially defensively. That will be addressed as a group and we will get better. But that wasn’t what we need to be, what our standards were. And we have to own that. And we have to look at ourselves and we have to get better.”
Washington forward Corey Kispert said the Wizards’ compete-level has not been where it needs to be.
“It’s been a bad few showings for us, and we can deal with losing if we’re competitive, (if) we come ready to play,” Kispert said. “But (to not) be ready to play at all and (to not) compete, that’s absolutely unacceptable.”
Washington is 0-1 in NBA Cup play this season. Boston improved its NBA Cup record to 1-1 by beating Cleveland 120-117 on Tuesday. It was Cleveland’s first loss after a 15-0 start this season.
Boston received a strong performance from 38-year-old center Al Horford on Tuesday. Horford had a season-high 20 points to go with seven rebounds and three blocked shots. He made four 3-pointers and had two blocks late when the Cavaliers were trying to complete a comeback after trailing by 21 points.
“It was just about finishing the job,” Horford said. “I felt like we played really well in the first half. In the third, they cut into the lead, and in the fourth they got in there and it was a back-and-forth. It was like, man, we put ourselves in a position, we gotta finish this and see it through.”
Boston’s Jayson Tatum had 33 points, 12 rebounds, seven assists and two steals during the victory.
“Al is just a calming presence out there,” Tatum said. “He just does so many different things for us. Sometimes they show up in the stat sheet and sometimes they don’t, but just him being on the court with us helps our spacing, helps our defense. He’s such a good passer, willing passer. So we’re just a much better team when Al is out there and being aggressive.”
The Celtics enter Friday’s game on a three-game winning streak and have won five of their last six. Boston is 7-1 in road games this season. Washington is 1-5 at home.
Friday’s game will be the second meeting between the teams this season. Boston earned a 122-102 road victory on Oct. 24. Boston’s Jaylen Brown scored a game-high 27 points in that matchup, which extended Boston’s winning streak against Washington to five games.