(Picture above from Washington Wizards Twitter @WashWizards)

General Game Information:

Where: Philips Arena in Atlanta, Georgia

When: Friday, April 27 at 7:30 pm EST

Where to Watch: NBA TV, ESPNU, or CSN Mid-Atlantic

Injuries:

Wizards: Ian Mahinmi – doubtful (calf); Jason Smith – gametime decision (calf)

Hawks: none

What to Watch For:

WHAT IS HAPPENING WITH THE WIZARDS BIG MEN?

This big story is for Game 6 is who is going to play for Washington. Scott Brooks has said the Ian Mahinmi is doubtful for the game, so he won’t return to the rotation. Markieff Morris and Marcin Gortat have been outplayed this series, but that has been talked about enough and we must expect them to be outplayed for the remainder of the series. The big story is Jason Smith. If he is not able to play, who will be the backup center? Morris, Kelly Oubre, Otto Porter, and Bojan Bogdanovic can soak up his minutes at the 4, but Morris and Gortat will not be able to play all the minutes at the 5. Undrafted rookie Daniel Ochefu is the most likely candidate to play about 5 minutes if Smith and Mahinmi are both out, and this is a terrifying thought. Ochefu has played in 21 career NBA games, including the postseason, all of which have come in garbage time. In other words, if Smith and Mahinmi are both out, the Wizards will struggle down low.

WILL THE WIZARDS START PLAYING DEFENSE?

The Wizards have not played defense since the All-Star Break, ranking 27th in the league in defensive rating with a 110.7 (stats via NBA.com). Only the Timberwolves, Lakers, and Cavaliers were worse (two teams who were not even close to making the playoffs and a team that won less than half their games after the break). They have made Dennis Schroder, a decent starting point guard, look like an All-NBA caliber player. Taurean Prince, a rookie who averaged 5.7 points per game during the regular season, has more than doubled his average to 12.3 points in the playoffs (stats via Basketball Reference). These are just two examples of the Wizards making players look a lot better than they actually are. They have shown no signs of playing consistently good defense and this could lead to their downfall in the playoffs.

CAN THE WIZARDS WIN ON THE ROAD?

So far in this series, the home team has won every game. This trend looks like it will continue. Game 6 is in Atlanta, so unless Washington can somehow figure out to play well in Atlanta, I expect to see a Game 7 at Verizon on Sunday.

Prediction:

One of Smith and Mahinmi plays, the game goes back and forth, and Wall and Beal play well, but the struggles of Morris and Gortat are too much to overcome on the road against a Hawks team that does not want to go fishing yet. Hawks 107 – Wizards 103 (I hope I’m wrong about this one)

Series Prediction:

Wizards in 7

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