Nets Look To Snap Streak Vs. Road-Woeful Wizards
NEW YORK (AP) -- The Nets may be riding an eight-game losing streak, but they're likely feeling good about hosting the stumbling Washington Wizards.
Losers of 8 of 12 at home, New Jersey (6-19) will try to add to the Wizards' road woes. Washington, meanwhile, will be looking to snap their longest road losing streak in 12 seasons against the Nets when they meet at the Prudential Center on Thursday night.
Washington (6-17) is an NBA-worst 0-12 on the road and hasn't lost 13 straight away from home since a franchise-record 15-game slide Dec. 23, 1999-Feb. 20, 2000. The Wizards, though, have taken four in a row on the Nets' home court.
The Nets are hoping a new face can help them get on track after completing a three-team trade with Houston and the Los Angeles Lakers on Wednesday. They acquired Sasha Vujacic and two first-round picks in exchange for Terrence Williams, Joe Smith and two second-round picks.
"We're excited to get a player like Sasha who can come in and help us," general manager Billy King said. "He's scrappy on defense and a good shooter on offense. He has experience with being on a champion. It's also an opportunity for us to get better with future draft picks."
The Nets fell 82-77 to Philadelphia on Tuesday night as they continue to struggle from the field.
New Jersey ranks near the bottom of the league with a 43.2 field-goal percentage and shot 34.1 against the 76ers. The Nets trailed after the first quarter for the sixth consecutive game.
"We need to jump out on some of these teams and put them on their heels," said Devin Harris, who scored 14 points. "It's like we are walking into a fight and catching the first three punches. We realize what is going on, it is happening every single game. We can't fight like that. We have to come out and throw some punches and come out swinging."
Harris is averaging 23.0 points in his last four meetings with Washington.
Without Andray Blatche and No. 1 overall pick John Wall again, the Wizards lost 103-89 to the Lakers on Tuesday night.
Wall, who has averaged 16.7 points in 15 games, was sidelined with knee tendinitis while Blatche, averaging 17.1 points, sat for the third time in four games as he continues to deal with a knee injury.
Wall and Blatche will likely miss this game.
"It's definitely difficult because (Andray) is definitely the offense-minded player that we have on our team," center JaVale McGee said. "But we just have to go out there and keep working hard even though he's not playing."
With two of the Wizards' three leading scorers on the sidelines, Nick Young had 21 points and is averaging 18.2 over his last five games.
The Wizards are allowing an average of 113.3 points on the road - among the most in the NBA - but face a Nets club scoring 92.7 per game.
Yi Jianlian, acquired from New Jersey in the offseason, suffered a sprained right knee against the Lakers and is expected to miss 2-to-4 weeks.
The Nets' Anthony Morrow suffered a hamstring injury Tuesday and is expected to be sidelined for up to three weeks. Morrow is third on the team with 12.8 points per game.
© 2010 by STATS LLC and Associated Press.
