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Wizards seek fourth straight win

Nov 17, 2007 - 2:27 PM Portland (4-5) at Washington (3-5) 7:00 pm EST

WASHINGTON (Ticker) -- Gilbert Arenas and the Washington Wizards are beginning to shake off the rust.

Arenas and the Wizards aim for a fourth straight win when they host the Portland Trail Blazers on Saturday.

Arenas, who has had his surgically repaired left knee drained twice, scored a season-high 27 points to lead Washington to a 105-89 win over Minnesota on Friday.

It was the second straight terrific performance for Arenas, who scored 30 points and had 11 rebounds in a 103-90 win over Indiana on Wednesday.

As Arenas goes, so go the Wizards, and it wasn't pretty early on. The sixth-year guard averaged just 20.8 points and shot 36 percent from the floor in the first five games - all Washington losses. But during the Wizards' current winning streak he is averaging 25.0 points.

Meanwhile, Portland is still in search of its first road win after a 92-88 loss to Philadelphia on Friday. It was a disheartening loss as the Trail Blazers led by as many as 25, but allowed the 76ers to shoot 75 percent (25-of-33) in the second half.

LaMarcus Aldridge scored 25 points for Portland, which has lost nine straight road games dating to last season.

The Trail Blazers can take solace in the fact that they've beaten the Wizards in nine of the last 14 meetings, and swept the two-game series last season.