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Washington Wizards try to get on track with Charlotte Hornets in town

The Washington Wizards look to gain a measure of consistency when they welcome the Charlotte Hornets to the Verizon Center Monday night.

The Wizards have dropped two in a row and four of their last six games, and suffered a 120-116 overtime loss versus the Toronto Raptors on Saturday in DC.

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Washington staged a furious rally with a 31-15 scoring differential in the fourth quarter, but the visitors posted 11 of the 18 points in the extra period. John Wall had 28 points, 12 assists and eight rebounds, while Bradley Beal and Paul Pierce scored 26 and 19 points, respectively.

"We just couldn't get the stop we needed in the fourth quarter and overtime to get over the hump," said Wall, who is averaging 20.8 points, 11.4 assists and 6.2 rebounds in his last five games.

Beal is posting 17.6 ppg in his last five and Pierce is three points shy of passing Alex English for 15th on the NBA's all-time scoring list.

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Washington will try to hold the Hornets under 100 points and is 25-1 when doing so this season. It has a 16-1 mark at home when keeping opponents from reaching the century mark in scoring.

After hosting Charlotte, the Wizards will visit the Atlanta Hawks Wednesday. Washington is 18-7 at home.

The Hornets will close out a three-game road trip Monday and will host the Wizards Thursday.

Charlotte posted an easy 104-86 triumph over the Denver Nuggets on Saturday, as Cody Zeller scored a career-high 21 points and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist ended with 17 and 13 rebounds. Al Jefferson and Jason Maxiell each scored 14 points for the Hornets, winners in 10 of the last 13 games.

"We defended and we ran," Charlotte head coach Steve Clifford said. "We had a lot of good possessions where we kept the ball moving."

The Hornets rebounded from a 95-86 loss at San Antonio in the opener of the trip and have an 8-14 record as the guest this season.

Charlotte and Washington will play the first of four meetings this season, and the Wizards were just 1-3 in the 2013-14 series. Charlotte has won six of the past eight matchups between the Southeast foes.

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[SportsNetwork.com]

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