Will this finally be the night for the Washington Wizards?
Can the Wizards, the NBA's last remaining winless team at 0-7, get that elusive first victory Saturday night when they host the Utah Jazz at the Verizon Center?
"Our record doesn't show how good we really are and we just need to continue to get better every day and keep working hard," Wizards center Kevin Seraphin said after loss No. 7 Wednesday night in Dallas.
To be fair, the Wizards are missing point guard John Wall and starting center Nene with injuries, but the offense has been borderline non-existent. Washington, who signed Shaun Livingston Thursday for backcourt depth, ranks 27th in the NBA in scoring.
Washington's leading scorer is rookie and No. 3 overall pick in this past summer's draft, Bradley Beal. He leads the team with a modest 11.6 ppg average.
Three other Wizards average in double-figures and they actually get quite a bit of production, but the clock is ticking. When the Detroit Pistons beat the Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday, it left Washington as the only winless franchise this season.
The Jazz fell to 1-6 on the road this season and 1-2 on this current trip Friday night when they fell to the Philadelphia 76ers, 99-93. After a win in Toronto and a loss in Boston, Utah didn't have an answer for Jrue Holiday, who had 26.
The Jazz fell 10 behind in the first quarter and made up ground throughout the game. A few times Utah fell behind by double-digits, but clawed back, only to come up short.
"I know we have fight in us, but we need to make sure that we do as much as we can not to get down as much as we do, to use all of your energy to get back into the game and be able to finish it off," said head coach Tyrone Corbin. "So we have to understand how we don't make those mistakes night in and night out, especially on the road."
The Jazz are a top-six rebounding team in the league, but got beat on the boards by the 76ers on Friday. Philadelphia is just a middle-of-the-pack rebounding team statistically.
Things may be a little worse for the Jazz as they head to the nation's capital. Point guard Mo Williams, the second-leading scorer on the team, injured his right hand early in Friday night's game. He still played a team- high 34 minutes and had 12 points on 5-for-14 shooting.
Washington has won two of the last three, but Utah has taken seven of the last 10. The Jazz are 1-1 in the second game of back-to-backs this season.
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