The Wizards played their best road game of the season in Oklahoma City on Friday, but still fell in double overtime to Kevin Durant and the Thunder. As far as moral victories go, it's tough to look at this is as more than heartbreak city for a Washington club that is now 0-22 on the road and just can't seem to get over the hump and into the win column.
We'll find out Saturday night if the near-miss lifts the Wizards against the Grizzlies or leaves them listless. On the second night of a road back-to-back, Washington will need all the inspiration it can muster following 58 minutes of basketball.
Washington does catch a break with Memphis missing shooting guard O.J. Mayo, who is serving the second game of a 10-game suspension, which resulted from a positive test for DHEA (the same drug that Rashard Lewis tested positive for in 2009).
Still, Memphis has won four of its last five games, and has the added incentive of standing a win shy of the .500 mark at 23-24. The Grizzlies are 13-7 at home.
This game looks like the best chance the Wizards have to get a road win on this trip, as Washington finishes up at Dallas and New Orleans.