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Wizards can prolong terrific home start vs. Jazz

Jan 15, 2007 - 2:55 PM Utah (24-13) at Washington (20-16) 1:00 pm EST

WASHINGTON (Ticker) -- With Gilbert Arenas coming off a subpar performance, the Utah Jazz could be in for a long night.

Arenas tries to bounce back from a poor outing when the Washington Wizards host the Jazz on Monday in an interconference showdown.

The NBA's second-leading scorer at 29.7 points per game, Arenas scored just 17 points on 6-of-20 shooting in Saturday's 93-80 loss to the San Antonio Spurs. It was just the fifth time this season that Arenas was held to less than 20 points.

However, Arenas has averaged 35.5 points in the last four contests following a sub 20-point outing. He was held to less than 20 on 14 occasions last season, but rebounded with an average of 33.1 the next contest.

Washington has won 14 of its first 17 home games, its best home start since 1984-1985. The Wizards have not started a home campaign 15-3 since 1968-1969, when the franchise was based in Baltimore.

Utah has dropped a season-high three straight games and has surrendered at least 105 points in all three defeats.

The Jazz look to rebound from Saturday's 119-110 loss to the defending-champion Miami Heat. Carlos Boozer scored 29 points and grabbed 14 rebounds and Deron Williams added 19 points for Utah.