The slumping Washington Wizards will take any win they can get.
After a near late-game collapse, the Wizards face the Milwaukee Bucks, who hope playing at home Saturday night can turn the tides on a four-game losing streak.
Washington (35-27) had won a league-worst three games since Jan. 28 prior to Friday's matchup with Miami, but it jumped out to a 35-point lead with under seven minutes remaining in the third quarter.
The Wizards were then outscored 49-16 before escaping with a 99-97 victory.
"We didn't move the ball as much. We didn't defend," point guard John Wall said. "They scored off our turnovers, then they got into rhythm where they started making shots when we got into a slump where we didn't make shots.
"I just think when we get those leads sometimes we get complacent."
Wall finished with six points and 12 assists to snap a three-game streak of 20 or more points, while Bradley Beal scored 17 in his third game back from injury.
Wall, while admitting his team's performance left plenty to be desired, still believes the Wizards can build on the win.
"You take from it how you played in the first half," Wall said. "The second half was not us, it's back to the team that had been losing 12 of 15 games. You try to take what you did in the first half, and that's the team that won 33 games in the first half of the season."
The Wizards beat the Bucks 108-97 on Nov. 1, then won their fourth straight in Milwaukee 111-100 on Nov. 22. Wall averaged 20.0 points, 9.5 assists, 5.0 rebounds and 5.0 steals in those meetings, and Marcin Gortat totaled 22 rebounds.
Brandon Knight led Milwaukee (32-29) in scoring in each of those matchups, but with Knight now in Phoenix, the offensive burden may fall to his replacement, Michael Carter-Williams.
Carter-Williams has averaged 11.6 points since joining Milwaukee, winning only one of five contests. He and the Bucks are in the midst of a season-worst losing streak after a winless road trip, and will be pleased to return home where they have won eight of nine.
Washington has averaged 89.1 points in losing eight in a row on the road. It hasn't suffered nine straight defeats away from home since a 10-game skid Feb. 16-March 27, 2011.
The Bucks, who are 2 1/2 games behind the Wizards for the fifth spot in the Eastern Conference, wasted a second-half lead Wednesday in a 102-93 defeat to West-leading Golden State. Carter-Williams and Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 16 points apiece but also had five turnovers each.
Milwaukee committed 24 turnovers and ranks among the worst in the NBA with 16.8 per game.
"We have to get better in that area, especially against the elite teams, and not just the elite teams, but everybody that we play," said coach Jason Kidd, whose club had 28 turnovers in the first meeting with Washington for its most since committing 30 against the Nets on Feb. 16, 1998.
"That has been something that's hurt us throughout the season. We turn it over early and we still continue to turn it over, so we have to take care of the ball."
