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Cavs pay a visit to Wizards

Apr 14, 2012 - 2:07 PM (Sports Network) - The Cleveland Cavaliers haven't been on the winning side of things quite often lately and will try to even their season series with the Washington Wizards tonight from the Verizon Center.

The Cavaliers have lost two straight and 15 of their last 18 games, including last night's 102-83 loss to the Indiana Pacers in the back end of a home-and- home set in the Hoosier State. Omri Casspi scored 14 points off the bench, while Antawn Jamison and Donald Sloan netted 12 points apiece for the Cavs, who were done in by a 34-13 margin in the third quarter.

"We couldn't buy a basket in the third quarter and offensively, they got going a little bit," Cleveland head coach Byron Scott said of the third period.

Samardo Samuels had 10 points and 10 rebounds in defeat. Rookie Kyrie Irving missed his sixth straight game with an injured shoulder and is not expected to suit up in the near future. Irving is averaging 18.8 points and 5.7 assists.

Cleveland is just 9-19 away from home this season and has dropped two straight and seven of eight games on the road.

Washington has been just as dismal as the Cavs with 11 losses in the previous 14 games. In Friday's 103-65 drubbing at the hands of the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden, Jordan Crawford scored 17 points and Kevin Seraphin added 12 for the Wizards, who shot just 27.8 percent and committed 22 turnovers for 28 New York points.

"I tried everything. Every lineup. When you shoot 27 percent for a game, you're going to have numbers that look like this," said Wizards head coach Randy Wittman

The Wizards were down by as many as 43 points and hope to work on their 8-21 home ledger this evening. John Wall had only eight points at New York.

Washington won the first contest with Cleveland, 101-98, on March 3 in the nation's capital and has prevailed in three of the last four meetings. The Cavs have lost seven of eight and 11 of the past 13 matchups in D.C.