Oct 20, 2012; Milwaukee, WI, USA; Milwaukee Bucks forward Ersan Ilyasova (7) grabs a rebound in front of Washington Wizards forward Jan Vesely (24) at the Bradley Center. Mandatory Credit: Benny Sieu-USA TODAY Sports

The Wizards have become familiar with winning over the past few games and they’ll have a chance to win their third straight game against the lowly Milwaukee Bucks tonight at the Bradley Center. The game will tip off at 8:00 PM.

Key Match Up:

The Bucks are sporting the worst record in the eastern conference, so I think it’s safe to say that they’re not a very good basketball team. They are essentially tied with the Utah Jazz as the worst offensive team in the NBA and with Brandon Knight struggling with injury, O.J. Mayo might be the only scoring guard left on the roster. Mayo has averaged about 15 points per game on the season, but in the last four games he’s averaged slightly under 7 points per game. With that said, he’s still very capable of scoring 20+ on any given night, so the Wizards will have to contain him if they want to pick up their third ‘W’ in a row tonight.

Randy Wittman opted to start Martell Webster in the place of Bradley Beal, who’s expected to miss at least a few weeks with a stress injury, and the Wizards didn’t seem to miss a beat. Webster made up for Beal’s scoring by chipping in 20 points to go along side 9 rebounds and 3 assists. It’ll inevitably be tough to replace Beal’s shooting, but if Webster continues to shoot the ball this well, I think the Wizards will manage to stay competitive with Beal sidelined. He’s gotten credit for his three point shooting, but Webster’s defense and hustle is often undervalued. He’ll be matched up with O.J. Mayo tonight, so he needs to contain his streaky perimeter shooting for the Wizards to pick up another road win tonight.

Notes:

Not only are the Bucks horrendous offensively, but they’re also the second worst defensive team in the NBA, according NBA.COM

John Wall has scored 30+ points in three straight games and became the first Wizards player to do so since Antawn Jamison.

Washington has won 4 of their last 5 games. The Bucks have lost 9 straight. Yikes.

Al Harrington has missed the last few games with a sore knee, but I think he may suit up tonight. Chris Singleton played a few minutes last night, so that was pleasantly surprising.

Prediction:

Even though the Bucks are one of the worst teams in the NBA, the Wizards still have to come in focused which is something they struggled with this past season. Playoff teams beat teams they’re supposed to beat, so tonight’s no different for the Wizards. Despite their awful record, the Bucks still have some talent on their team.

John Wall has been on a tear lately and his supporting cast has also stepped up in a major way. Nene is coming off a career high 30 point performance against the Lakers, Martell Webster is shooting the lights out and Marcin Gortat has constantly done Marcin Gortat things this season. I think the Wizards will pick up their third straight win tonight.