The Washington Wizards play host to the Cleveland Cavaliers at Capital One Arena on Wednesday.

The Cavaliers (2-11) are coming off their best performance of the season, as they handed the Charlotte Hornets a 113-89 loss on Tuesday. What was really impressive was their defense, as they held Charlotte to just 35 percent from the field and 8-of-41 from three-point range. This is a team that has ranked as one of the worst defenses in the league all season long and holding the eighth-ranked offense to those ugly numbers is a step in the right direction. Tristan Thompson collected 11 points and 21 rebounds in that win, as he's having the best season of his career. In fact, Thompson now has four-straight double-doubles, as he's averaging 15.5 points and 16 rebounds per game in that span. Those are all-star caliber numbers and it pairs beautifully with breakout youngsters like Jordan Clarkson and Collin Sexton. The losses are going to come rapidly for this team but seeing improvements like this from your individual players is all you can ask for with where this franchise is at right now.

The Wizards (4-9) come into this matchup in the midst of a modest two-game winning streak, as they desperately need to keep that going. It's clear what the issue is when looking at the statistics, as this club currently ranks 30th in points allowed and 29th in rebounding. The addition of Dwight Howard was supposed to help those numbers but they appear to be worse than ever. The fact that Howard has only played four games definitely plays a part in that though, as they need time to gel and figure things out on that end of the floor. What's also a fascinating development is the fact that Otto Porter Jr. hasn't played in the fourth quarter in three-straight games. Porter was a breakout for the Wizards last season and it's a wonder why his playing time is dropping off so immensely. They'll need 2017 Porter if they want to get out of this slump and keeping him off the floor is not a good way to fix that issue.

Cleveland has won six of their last eight games over Washington, picking up 3-1 series wins in each of the last two years.