Pistons Break Up Wizards Win Streak

Written By Jeremy Batka @EastCoastAssn

The Wizards win streak ends at four as the Pistons overcame a sloppy start to beat Washington 96-85 in Detroit Wednesday night.

Despite shooting 48% from the field the Wizards were outscored 31-17 in the fourth quarter. Wizard fans were also puzzled with Randy Wittman's lineup choices in that dismal final quarter.

Emeka Okafor was on his way to a very impressive night scoring 20 points and snagging nine rebounds. But for some reason he didn't step foot on the floor in the final six minutes of the fourth and played just 25 minutes on the night. Martell Webster had a similar story also playing just 25 minutes while scoring 9 points on five shots.

The Wizards led by a handful for the majority of the game but poor free throw shooting (14-22) and sloppy defense allowed Detroit to hang around long enough to eventually make a run which they did thanks to Will Bynum and Jose Calderon.

The six foot nothing Bynum had 20 points and eight assists while the not much taller Calderon led all scorers with 24 going 6-9 from beyond the three point line. The Wizards back court combination of John Wall and Bradley Beal had a much worse night.

Wall had 16 point and 9 assists but went just 4-11 from the field and scored a good chunk of his points when it was too late. Beal came off the bench yet again and was feeling it in the first half. However just like every other Wizard Beal went cold in the fourth and managed just ten points on the night.

The Wizards go into the All-Star break with a 15-36 record and a lot of work to do in the second half of the season.