Jeff Dowtin Jr. leads Sixers to 122-103 victory over Wizards, snapping a 12-game losing streak

WASHINGTON — The makeshift 76ers have something to feel good about.

The players are fully aware of the tanking assignment. But that doesn’t take away their desire to win at least one of the remaining three games.

That victory came Wednesday in a 122-103 decision over the equally tanking Washington Wizards at the Capital One Arena.

The Sixers snapped a season-long 12-game losing streak. It was just their fifth victory in 34 games.

“It feels great,” Jared Butler said of the rare victory. “Long season. It’s easy to give up the rope and just play out the games … but I feel like tonight we did it with a purpose and got the W, so it feels good.”

Coach Nick Nurse was elated to see his players finally come out on top.

“Again, I’ve said the guys are doing a lot of good things, really preparing well and all that stuff,” he said. “Nice for them to get some results tonight. Played pretty [well]. A lot of good individual performances and a lot of good chip-in role performances, too.”

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The Sixers (24-56) still hold a 2½-game lead over the Brooklyn Nets for the league’s fifth-worst record. Another loss in the remaining two games will make it impossible for the Nets (26-53) to finish with a worse record.

The Sixers will conclude the season with home games against the Atlanta Hawks on Friday and Chicago Bulls on Sunday.

Meanwhile, the much-needed loss dropped the Wizards (17-63) into a tie with the Utah Jazz for the league’s worst record with two games remaining.

This game didn’t go without incident.

Lonnie Walker IV was called for a Flagrant 1 foul for shoving Kyshawn George to the court while trying to create separation with 6 minutes, 20 seconds left in the second quarter. The players had to be separated. Walker said George kept grabbing on his jersey and trying to get physical with him.

“Just a young fella, kept pushing me,” Walker said. “Sooner or later, you got to stand your ground. I’m not the type of guy to really get into any type of altercations. But I feel like if you overstep your boundary, and you keep checking my temperature, I got to let you know where I’m from. … It’s just one of those moments.”

While Walker was the aggressor, Jeff Dowtin Jr. was the Wizard slayer.

The two-way point guard finished with a career-high 30 points on 11-for-15 shooting — including 4 of 7 from three — to go with three assists in his first game since March 26.

Dowtin had 30 family members and friends in attendance, making his performance extra special.

“It definitely means a lot to play in front of them in one of the first times I ever played a professional game in front of them being at home,” he said. “So it’s big, definitely a lot of emotion out there. So I was just grateful that I can do something special in front of them.”

Walker added 24 points and Quentin Grimes recorded a double-double with 17 points, 11 rebounds, and six assists.

Grimes scored his first basket — a three-pointer — 1:10 into the second half. The Sixers guard had two points on 0-for-10 shooting before intermission.

“I love the 11 rebounds,” Nurse said. “You guys hear me harping on that all the time with our guards, that I want to see which of those guys can get on the glass, and he’s certainly doing that. Six assists. Got off to a really, really poor (shooting) start there … 0 for 10. But he usually will work his way out of those from a scoring standpoint, and he kind of did tonight, too.”

Adem Bona (17 points, nine rebounds), Butler (13 points), and Ricky Council IV (11 points) were the Sixers’ other double-digit scorers. And Colin Castleton finished with two points and 14 rebounds.

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The Sixers were, once again, without 10 of their normal rotation players. Grimes was cleared to play after being listed questionable with back soreness.

So for the second straight game, they unveiled a starting lineup of Walker, Bona, Grimes, Butler, and Marcus Bagley. Dowtin, Castleton, Council, and Alex Reese were the other available players.

Reese was only available for 10:54 due to suffering a right Achilles tendon strain.

“Didn’t look too good, either,” Nurse said. “Like it really, really looked like he had come out immediately in the game. Hopefully it won’t be bad because we only got a couple [of games] left. And he needs to get out there and play if he can.”

But this was definitely Dowtin’s night.

He was last made available when facing the Wizards at the Wells Fargo Center on March 26. That’s because as a two-way player, his contract allows him only 50 regular-season games. Dowtin had been listed as active 48 times after March 26, which made him eligible for just two of the Sixers’ remaining nine games at that time.

So the team held the Upper Marlboro, Md. native out until facing the Wizards, his hometown team, on Wednesday. The former standout at St. John’s College High School in D.C. made an impact. His highlight was scoring 11 straight points during one stretch in the third quarter.

Like the Sixers, the Wizards were without their best players.

Former Villanova star Saddiq Bey (left knee ACL surgery), Malcolm Brogdon (left ankle sprain), Bilal Coulibaly (right hamstring strain), Anthony Gill (right hamstring soreness), Richaun Holmes (right shoulder contusion), Corey Kispert (left thumb surgery), Khris Middleton (right knee contusion), and Jordan Poole (right elbow contusion) were sidelined for Washington.

Standout guard Marcus Smart was held out of the game despite not being listed on the injury report. Meanwhile, JT Thor was ruled out of the second half with right knee soreness.

But the Sixers aren’t feeling sorry for Washington. They enjoyed this rare victory.

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“We are missing a lot of guys,” Walker said. “We got 10-day [contract players] and two-way [players]. … I think every single player, individually and collectively, is trying to show what they can do, but show how they can play collectively as a team.

“And we are all, every single time we got on the court, we are playing [at] 210%. We want to get the win. So it feels great to be the one of this side, be on the win column at the end of the season.”