Utah @ Washington preview

Last Meeting ( Dec 4, 2017 ) Washington 69, Utah 116

The Washington Wizards had a four-game winning streak come to an end in the opener of their five-game homestand on Saturday while fading down the stretch on the second night of a back-to-back. The Wizards should be well-rested by Wednesday, when they host the struggling Utah Jazz.

Washington was outscored 28-18 in the fourth quarter of Saturday's 110-103 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks but was not hanging its collective head after the contest. "We are up three with under three (minutes) to go, they got a lucky break on a bad call on Kelly (Oubre Jr.)," Wizards coach Scott Brooks told reporters. "That's part of the game. They made bigger plays than us down the stretch. Fourth quarter we were a little stagnant; we didn't move our bodies." The Jazz are losers of 13 of their last 16 games and might be coming off the most crushing of those setbacks - a 103-102 loss at Miami on Sunday in which they gave up the go-ahead layup with 5.1 seconds left and held an eight-point lead in the fourth quarter. That rough stretch for Utah began right after it secured its most impressive win of the campaign by pounding Washington 116-69 at home on Dec. 4.

TV: 7 p.m. ET, AT&T SportsNet Rocky Mountain (Utah), NBCS Washington

ABOUT THE JAZZ (16-24): Rookie guard Donovan Mitchell showed his inexperience when he hoisted up a jumper on the final possession Sunday instead of finding the open man, but he also wowed the crowd by finishing an alley-oop from Thabo Sefolosha. “Pretty easy,” Sefolosha told the Salt Lake Tribune of the play. “You just throw it up there, he finds a way to get it. Impressive young man." Mitchell finished with 27 points in the loss and is averaging 23.8 points over the last four games to boost his season average to an NBA rookie-best 18.5.

ABOUT THE WIZARDS (23-17): Mitchell and Utah point guard Ricky Rubio will have their hands full on the defensive end against Washington stars John Wall and Bradley Beal. Wall shot just 5-of-19 from the floor on Saturday but handed out a season-high 16 assists in his fifth double-double over the last 10 games. Beal is averaging 28.2 points over the last five games and scored at least 20 points in each of the last seven contests, but he went 1-of-7 from 3-point range on Saturday to cool off after a four-game stretch that saw him knock down 17-of-33 from beyond the arc.

BUZZER BEATERS

1. Sefolosha scored in double figures in each of his last five games to boost his season average to 8.4 points.

2. Wizards SF Otto Porter Jr. (back) sat out Saturday and is day-to-day.

3. Utah took each of the last four in the series and held Washington to 93 points or fewer in each of those wins.

PREDICTION: Wizards 106, Jazz 96