Yesterday as the Washington Wizards flew to Chicago for a game Friday night against the Bulls, they could be thankful for one thing — they don’t play tonight.
Back-to-back games on the road are never easy in the NBA. But they’ve been particularly unkind to the Wizards. In seven road games after playing the previous night, Washington is 1-6. Contrast that with the Wizards’ mark in road games with at least a day of rest (10-12) and the draining effect of back-to-backs is clear.
The latest example came Tuesday night in Houston, where the Wizards lost, 94-69, to a Rockets team reeling from the news that its best player, Yao Ming, is out for the year with a stress fracture.
One night after one of their most impressive road wins of the year, 93-90, at New Orleans on DeShawn Stevenson’s buzzer-bearing 3-pointer, the Wizards shot blanks in Houston, hitting a season-low 31 percent from the floor and scoring a franchise-low 23 points in the first half.
“When you are down by 30 points in the first half it is a very tough road to come back from,” said Wizards center Brendan Haywood. “Playing four games in five days is tough and I’m glad we will get a little rest.”
The Houston loss highlights another Wizards’ trend. After each of their last four victories over teams with winning records, the Wizards have been blown out, losing by an average margin of 28 points. In each of those losses, the Wizards hit less than 40 percent of their shots as they failed to get easy baskets in transition and off the offensive boards.
“We were drained,” said Wizards coach Eddie Jordan after the Houston loss. “We didn’t have it and they made us take tough shots and we didn’t make them.”
Washington (27-30) is in sixth place in the Eastern Conference, but its hold is becoming tenuous as Philadelphia (25-32) and New Jersey (25-32) have closed to within two games. Another pursuer, Chicago (22-34) awaits Friday, before the Wizards return home, where they will play seven of their next eight games.
