The Washington Wizards are the worst team in the Eastern Conference, while the New Orleans Hornets are in the bottom of the West. The two teams will battle it out on Tuesday night as the Wizards attempt to win their first game of the season on the road.
Washington is coming off of a 101-97 loss to the Golden State Warriors and will be without point guard John Wall, who hasn't played yet this season.
The team has been dealing with numerous injuries, including to Trevor Ariza, who was hurt last Tuesday in the 105-101 win over Miami, and A.J. Price, who fractured his right hand early in Saturday's loss.
"It leaves kind of a salty taste in your mouth," said Price to the Associated Press. "We haven't been 100 percent all at the same time, so it's difficult right now but it's still a long season. We need to continue to try to get ourselves better, get ourselves right so we can get on the court together."
Price has started in place of Wall in 15 games this season and was averaging 8.5 points and 4.9 assists. He had 14 points in the win against Miami, but only had one assist in the loss against Golden State.
According to the Associated Press, Price will miss between four and six weeks while his fractured hand heals.
The Wizards have relied on Jordan Crawford for the majority of the season and he is leading the team in scoring with 14.2 points per game. Crawford scored 22 points and had eight assists in the game after coming in for Price.
"Definitely tough, unexpected," said Crawford. "Hopefully we can pull it together. I'm just trying to do what I can to help the team win."
Washington is the worst team in the NBA and has yet to win on the road in eight contests this year. The Wizards started 0-12 before defeating Portland on Nov. 28 and then won their second game last Tuesday against the Miami Heat.
The Wizards are ranked 29th in scoring with 91 points per game and are allowing nearly 100 in each contest. The team is ranked in the bottom half of the NBA in rebounding and assists and has lost five of the last six games played against the Hornets.
The Hornets are a little better than the Wizards, but not by much. The team is coming off of a blow out 106-90 loss to the defending champion Miami Heat, but will welcome No. 1-overall pick Anthony Davis back to the lineup.
Davis hasn't played in the past 11 games and was averaging 16 points and eight rebounds in his first six games of the year. He scored a career-high 28 points and 11 rebounds in his last game played, a 117-113 against Milwaukee on Nov. 17.
The Hornets have lost three games in a row after falling to Miami and are 3-8 at home this season. In Saturday's game against Miami, forward Ryan Anderson had a team-high 24 points, while Robin Lopez grabbed eight rebounds.
"We just need to come out and play with energy every night and play with effort. That is what our group is about," Anderson said. "Each night we're focused on us and getting better with this group. We know how good we are when we play right. We're a relentless team. No matter how much we're down we're going to try and fight back."
New Orleans is ranked 27th in scoring this season and is allowing over 98 points per game to opponents.
Anderson is the leading scorer on the team with 18 points per game and has been a force over the past 10 games, averaging 20 points and seven rebounds. He has scored at least 21 points in four of the last five games and had a double-double in a loss to the Thunder on Dec. 1.
Greivis Vasquez is leading the team in assists and is scoring 12.4 points per game. He has had at least seven assists in the past five games and had eight points in the loss against Miami.
The last time the two teams played the Wizards won 99-89 victory in New Orleans in March after Wall scored 26 points.
According to the Associated Press, "Tuesday marks the first matchup between these teams since New Orleans traded Ariza and Emeka Okafor to Washington this offseason. Okafor is averaging career lows of 6.6 points and 5.5 rebounds for the Wizards."
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