Nuggets-Wizards Preview

By JACK CASSIDY

(AP) -- The Washington Wizards seem to have regained the form that carried them through the season's first month and to the top tier of the Eastern Conference.

They'll look to stay the course and cap a perfect four-game homestand Friday night against the Denver Nuggets, a team that has caused Washington trouble in recent years.

After dropping consecutive games for the first time this season last week - falling to Atlanta and Cleveland on back-to-back nights - the Wizards (12-5) have rebounded with three straight wins at the Verizon Center. The last two have been blowouts, beating Miami 107-86 on Monday before defeating the Los Angeles Lakers 111-95 on Wednesday.

Bradley Beal's potential resurgence bodes well for Washington's sustained success. Beal missed the season's first nine games and averaged only 10.0 points in three games after rejoining the starting lineup last week. However, the third-year guard exploded Wednesday for 27 points on 11-of-19 shooting and added seven assists.

"I thought Brad was good. I want him staying aggressive," coach Randy Wittman said. "He gets himself in trouble sometimes when he's looking just to pass and not to make a play happen from an offensive standpoint."

The Wizards were 17-4 last season when Beal shot 50 percent or better from the field.

While Marcin Gortat has keyed the win streak with double-doubles in all three games, averaging 20.0 points and 11.3 rebounds, John Wall's distribution ability has also been a big factor. He had a season-high 15 assists against the Lakers after having 13 on Monday.

The Wizards rank near the top of the NBA with a 1.75 assist-to-turnover ratio.

Another big key to the win streak has been improved defense, allowing averages of 87.0 points and 40.3 percent shooting in the last three games. Six of its previous nine opponents had scored at least 100 points.

"Adding pace into the game, we work on that a lot in practice," Wall said. "Being in shape and being able to run. A lot of teams like to run one way, and that's on offense. But they don't like to run back on defense. It's not all about scoring. It's about adding pace into the game."

Denver (9-9) will counter with one of the top scoring attacks in the NBA. The Nuggets have surpassed 100 points in all but one of their last 16 games.

They've won seven of nine, scoring 109.4 points per game, but dropped their most recent contest 105-103 to Portland on Tuesday. Denver blew a 14-point lead in the second half and lost on a basket with 1.3 seconds left.

"I thought the effort was there, the consistency was there," coach Brian Shaw said. "We executed pretty well but we were careless with the ball.

"That one is hard to swallow."

Ty Lawson had 24 points and 13 assists to pace the Nuggets, while Arron Afflalo and Wilson Chandler scored 18 points apiece. Lawson is averaging a career-high 10.3 assists to rank second in the league, including 12.3 per game during Denver's current 7-2 stretch.

Even though Lawson missed one game and was held to nine points in the other, the Nuggets swept last season's series with the Wizards. Denver has won 11 of the past 14 meetings.

Washington, which has lost eight of 11 at home to the Nuggets, enters Friday looking to secure the team's best home start (9-2) since 1984-85.

Wizards forward Paul Pierce can pass Reggie Miller for 16th on the all-time scoring list with 25 points.