Randy Wittman and the Washington Wizards lost their second straight game on Friday night, falling 114-100 to the Utah Jazz in Salt Lake City. The Wizards kicked off this five-game road trip with two straight victories, but have now dropped two in a row to the Clippers and Jazz. Washington led briefly in the first quarter but the Jazz jumped all over the Wizards and scored a slew of easy buckets in the paint to coast to a comfortable win.
John Wall led the Wizards with 24 points and five assists while Jordan Crawford chipped in off the bench with 21 points. Wall was a perfect eight for eight from the free-throw line as he broke down the Jazz guards and got into the lane with regularity. But Utah simply had too much for the Wizards to handle on the inside, as Al Jefferson posted 26 points in the first half - part of 42 points scored in the paint by Utah in the first two quarters. Salt Lake City is a notoriously hard place to play, and the interior defense for Washington was not there against the dynamic young front line of Utah.
Washington now has two days off before finishing off their road trip on Monday night in Phoenix against the Suns.
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