The streak is up to five after the Wizards were successfully able to keep their streak alive when they beat the Utah Jazz on Wednesday night. After being cold leading up to and directly after the all-star break, the Wizards have finally returned to form and teams are now actually worried when they have to face DC.
Gordon Hayward was killing Paul Pierce as he scored 26 points, but he was only able to convert of 1/6 3-point attempts. Even with all of his production, it can be argued that Hayward was the biggest success for the Wizards because of his inability to convert from long-range.
John Wall had another near triple double, as he totaled 24 points, 6 assists, and 9 rebounds in 37 minutes of play. Wall has been hot offensively during this hot streak, and is a must for the Wizards to be able to keep up in the Eastern Conference.
Paul Pierce was also able to convert offensively and make up for his lack of defense with 18 points. With Pierce scoring 18 points, it would be hard for the Wizards to lose any game they play in.
Once again, the Wizards starters were piling up minutes, as bench play was limited as the team is getting prepared for the playoffs. Hopefully the decision from Wittman will do the right one and have his players ready for the playoffs rather than have them too tired to perform above expectations.
The production from the bigs of the Wizards is going to have to be much higher if the Wizards are going to want to go anywhere in the playoffs. Marcin Gortat only scored 7 points and grabbed 9 rebounds, while Nene scored 8 points and grabbed 5 rebounds. Even though they are underrated, they truly are one of the best frontcourts in the league skillwise, and must perform far better than what they did against the Jazz if the Wizards plan on going anywhere in the playoffs.
A win is a win, and a five game win streak is definitely something this team that looked like they were going to fall apart should be proud of. There were positives, and there were negatives the Wizards need to take away from this game, but all can be used to help the team go further in the playoffs.
The Wizards continue their west coast road trip on Friday night when they take on the Clippers (44-25). This challenge could lead the Wizards to their 6th straight win, or bring the Wizards back to where they were post all-star break.
