Jazz Too Much For Wizards

After winning in Portland on Jordan Crawford's heroic buzzer-beating three-pointer, the Wizards traveled to Salt Lake City to finish off their 5 game road trip with a showdown against the 22-19 Utah Jazz. The Jazz were on a three game winning game streak coming into Wednesday, and were looking to stay hot with a win against Washington, who had won 5 of their last 7 games.

Washington, though revitalized by the return of John Wall, has had an especially tough time winning in Salt Lake City. The Wizards had lost 20 of 24 previous meetings with the Jazz in Utah by an average of 15.8 points.

After leading by 6 at the end of the 1st quarter, Utah established a 22 point advantage, leading 47-25 with 5:58 left in the 2nd, but Washington was able to trim the lead back down to as low as 12, trailing 52-38 at the half.

The Jazz led 73-58 at the end of the 3rd quarter, but the Wizards stormed back on a 20-2 4th quarter run, cutting the deficit to 75-72 on a Trevor Ariza three-pointer with 8:49 left to play. Utah responded following a Tyrone Corbin timeout, and recaptured control of the game, going back up by as many as 8.

Wizards forward Nene is defended by Jazz forward Paul Millsap (Russ Isabella-USA TODAY Sports)

Despite a Martell Webster three-pointer to cut the lead back to 3 with 15 seconds remaining, Utah held on for a 92-88 victory.

Paul Millsap led the Jazz with a double-double, recording 16 points and 15 rebounds, and Gordon Hayward contributed 15 points off the bench. The Wizards were led by Martell Webster with 15, and John Wall, who contributed 14 points off the bench in a losing effort.