The Washington Wizards are coming off two straight blowout wins, and they’ll look to continue their push for home court advantage tonight against the struggling Sacramento Kings. Tip-off is at 7:00pm EST from the Verizon Center.

Key Match Up:

The Kings looked like a playoff teams earlier in the season, but with DeMarcus Cousins sidelined, the team started to plummet in the standings, which resulted in the firing of head coach Mike Malone. Fast-forward a few months and the Kings are sitting 20 games below .500 with new head coach George Karl attempting to right the ship.

Last night against the Philadelphia 76ers, Cousins dropped 39 points and 24 rebounds en route to a disappointing loss. There’s been some speculation about whether or not Cousins could become a long-term piece under Karl’s run-and-gun system, and unless the Kings suddenly start to win, that speculation will continue.

Cousins is arguably the most talented big man in the NBA, but games such as the one against Philadelphia make you question the Kings altogether. Cousins was a first time All-Star this season and he’s put up monster numbers throughout the entire year. That hasn’t resulted in many W’s, though.

On the other hand, Marcin Gortat has played at an All-Star level since the break.

Gortat is back to playing confident basketball and it’s benefited the Washington Wizards greatly. Instead of hesitating every time he touches the ball, Gortat is finding easy ways to score underneath the basket and he’s continued to protect the rim for the Wizards. Over the past five contests, Gortat has averaged nearly 16 points, 11 rebounds on 67 percent shooting.

Tonight, Gortat will have the task of defending Cousins. Surprisingly, Gortat has held his own against elite-level offensive bigs this season. He can’t allow Cousins to get deep post positioning and he has to force Cousins to work for every basket down-low. While he’s obviously been fantastic this season, Cousins still has a tendency to force up difficult shots. When that happens, Washington will get easy looks in transition.

For the Washington Wizards to continue winning tonight, they’ll need Marcin Gortat to contain DeMarcus Cousins.

Other Key Match Up:

Andre Miller will make his return to D.C. tonight. He’s been solid in Sacramento and Kings fans seem to adore Professor Dre.

Ramon Sessions has grown on the Wizards’ fan base since he’s arrived, but he’s no Professor Dre.

Prediction:

For the sake of continuing the reverse jinx gimmick, I’ll pick the Sacramento Kings to win tonight.

They’ve been struggling, but the Kings have a number of players that have given Washington fits in the past. Cousins and Rudy Gay in particular could end up having big games. I’m still not 100% sold on Paul Pierce‘s ability to defend athletic wings, so tonight he could be tested. Gay is capable of putting up big numbers, and if Washington’s offense becomes stagnant, they could be in trouble.

Still, the Kings are the Kings.

Sacramento is still missing Darren Collison, so John Wall should have a significant advantage tonight. Bradley Beal is also due for a big game, and given how bad the Kings are defensively (they allow over 105 points per game), he should get plenty of open looks tonight.

The Washington Wizards should also have Nene back in uniform tonight. He missed last game because his wife was giving birth to twins.

Washington could potentially move up in the standings, but they have to beat teams like the Kings at home. Let’s hope they continue to play at the level they’ve been playing at over the past few games.