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Wizards-Kings Preview

Dec 16, 2009 - 7:25 AM By ALAN FERGUSON STATS Writer

Washington (7-15) at Sacramento (10-13), 10:30 p.m. EDT

The Washington Wizards may have suffered agonizing defeats in each of their last five games, but they've done nothing but win recently against the Sacramento Kings.

The Wizards will try to snap their five-game skid Wednesday night by adding to that dominance over the Kings.

Washington (7-15) sealed its latest loss, 97-95 at the Los Angeles Clippers on Monday night, when point guard Earl Boykins turned the ball over with four seconds left.

"I just lost the ball," Boykins said. "It was that simple. I saw Brendan (Haywood) open up under the basket, I went to make a pass, and I lost the ball. It was a game where we didn't execute at the end. Whenever you lose a one-possession game, there's other possessions in the game that lead to that. We played good, but we didn't play well enough to win."

Gilbert Arenas' late misses from the free-throw line contributed to the previous two defeats. The Wizards' comeback fell short in Detroit on Dec. 6, and they couldn't take advantage of Arenas' tying jumper with 13 seconds left in an overtime defeat to Toronto two nights earlier.

"It seems every game we'll find a different way to lose," Boykins said after Monday's opener of a four-game road trip.

The Wizards, who have dropped their last five by a combined 11 points, enter Wednesday searching for their ninth straight win over the Kings (10-13) and fifth in a row in Sacramento.

The Kings, however, have made Washington work for its past two wins in the series. Sacramento's Kevin Martin missed a last-second 3-point attempt in a 106-104 road loss on March 15, and the Wizards' Andray Blatche made two free throws with three seconds left to seal a 110-107 road victory on Jan. 21.

The Kings haven't beaten Washington since Feb. 27, 2005, and their previous home victory was Dec. 21, 2004.

Antawn Jamison, who had a season high-tying 32 points Tuesday, has averaged 26.4 points and 9.7 rebounds while playing seven times during the win streak over Sacramento. Gilbert Arenas has fared even better with a 32.0-point average in three of the victories.

They'll face a Sacramento team that's dropped five of six since Dec. 5 and had one of its worst scoring performances this season in Tuesday night's 95-88 defeat in Portland.

Tyreke Evans (19 points), Jason Thompson (18) and Beno Udrih (17) were the only players to score in double figures as the Kings blew a seven-point lead by scoring just 15 in the final quarter.

"I'm just extremely disappointed," coach Paul Westphal said. "We did not play smart basketball in the fourth quarter. We didn't do anything we had been doing the first three quarters to get that lead."

Sacramento, however, remains among the NBA's best with a 104.3-point average and has topped 100 in six straight home games, winning five.

The Kings have also allowed at least 100 points in each of their last three at Arco Arena and are yielding 104.9 points per game this season.