Wizards Schedule Beginning to Ease Up

The Washington Wizards are about to enter the fourth quarter of their season, and things have been rough to get the year started.

The Wizards have won just nine of their first 56 games of the season, and they hope they can tack on a few more in the final two months of the year to finish the campaign off strong.

NBA.com writer John Schuhmann has kept the Wizards at No. 30 in his power rankings, but he has cited some improvements to the team's schedule over the next few weeks.

"The Wizards’ latest losing streak is at six games, with their loss in Orlando on Sunday being their 20th by at least 20 points. (The record is 26.)," Schuhmann writes.

"The Wizards will have a hard time climbing out of the basement in offensive efficiency, but half of their remaining 26 games are against teams that rank in the bottom 10 defensively, while only three are against top-10 defenses."

The other teams in the bottom five alongside the Wizards are the Charlotte Hornets, New Orleans Pelicans, Chicago Bulls and Utah Jazz.

The Wizards also have the unfortunate distinction of being the team that has played among the fewest amount of close games, which in part has led to their futility.

"Only the Thunder (17) have played fewer clutch games than the Wizards (18), who’ve lost eight of their last nine that were within five points in the last five minutes," Schuhmann writes.

Perhaps the Wizards will see some clutch time here at some point again in the next few games. Their week kicks off tonight with a game against the Brooklyn Nets at home before the Portland Trail Blazers come to town on Wednesday. Then, the Charlotte Hornets host them on Saturday at the Spectrum Center.

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