The Washington Wizards dropped their fourth straight game on Monday night, squandering a lead at home and losing 79-77 to the Detroit Pistons. It was the third straight home game the Wizards gave away a double-digit lead. Washington led by as many as 13 at one point but the Pistons went on a 12-1 run to completely wipe out the double-digit Washington lead with about four minutes remaining.
There were a series of lead changes over the final minute, but the Pistons had the last possession and that was all they would need. Rodney Stuckey hit a three-pointer to give Detroit a one-point lead with 55 seconds remaining but Nene would put the Wizards back in front with a pretty spin move to his left hand against Ben Wallace.
Detroit would respond when Georgetown alum Greg Monroe beat Kevin Seraphin for inside position and had a pretty tip-in off a Tayshaun Prince turnaround that went off the front of the rim. That was a theme of the evening as the Pistons had 15 offensive rebounds for 23 second-chance points.
After Ben Wallace split a pair of free-throws, Nene would come through again and tie it up on the other end with a nice finger-roll. But he left a little over five seconds on the clock and Stuckey would hit a pull-up from just outside the right elbow with .2 seconds remaining on the clock to finish it off.
It was another instance where the Wizards, who are 0-20 this season when scoring less than 90 points, simply disappeared on the offensive end in the fourth quarter. Washington had just 15 fourth-quarter points to give it away. Jordan Crawford had a team-high 20 points while John Wall added 14 points and nine assists.
The Wizards now have two days off before traveling to Indiana to face the Pacers on Thursday night.
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