Five Things We Learned About The Washington Wizards So Far In The Season by Greg Gottfried

The Washington Wizards are coming off three straight victories and will play a regular season game on national television for the first time in nearly half a decade tonight. They’ll meet the injury plagued Indiana Pacers at 8:00pm EST in the nation’s capital.

Key Match Up:

The Pacers have been decimated by injuries. Paul George will miss the entire season after breaking his leg during a Team USA exhibition game, David West is out with an ankle injury, and George Hill is expected to miss some time as well with a knee issue. Lance Stephenson also opted to leave the Pacers this off-season to join the Charlotte Hornets via free agency, leaving Indiana with just one remaining starter from the previous season–Roy Hibbert.

After struggling mightily in last season’s playoffs, this season could be considered Hibbert’s chance at redemption. The Indiana Pacers have invested a lot of time in developing Hibbert, and he’ll be called upon to help the team stay afloat in the Eastern Conference while the rest of the team recovers from injury. Although George will miss the entire season, the Pacers could still sneak in the playoffs with the 8th seed. Hibbert scored 16 points, grabbed 7 rebounds, and blocked 5 shots against the Milwaukee Bucks last night, but it wasn’t enough to lead his team to victory.

Hibbert will be matched up with Marcin Gortat, who had some of the best performances of his career against Indiana in the playoffs–via NBA official YouTube.

Gortat wasn’t spectacular against the New York Knicks last night, but given how the Pacers have struggled to defend pick-and-roll, Gortat will have a chance to bounce back tonight. If Gortat can keep Hibbert from getting position in the paint, execute on pick-and-rolls with John Wall, and rebound the ball, the Washington Wizards will get a dominating win over the Indiana Pacers tonight.

Prediction:

The Washington Wizards can’t afford to drop games to sub-par teams at home, and I think they’ll come out with the victory tonight.

John Wall is coming off an underwhelming performance against the Knicks, but the Pacers haven’t been able to take care of the ball recently, and he should be able to get going in transition tonight. If Nene and Gortat bounce back tonight, as they should, it will open up even more perimeter shooting for Garrett Temple and Paul Pierce, who were both spectacular against New York.

The Wizards should be able to get the win tonight, but the Pacers are still somewhat dangerous. C.J. Miles has hurt the Wizards in the past, Rodney Stuckey is capable of scoring 20+ points on any given night, and Chris Copeland has shown an ability to get hot from beyond the three point arc. Basically, the Indiana Pacers aren’t the same team that eliminated the Wizards in the semi-finals, but they shouldn’t be taken lightly.

If the Wizards contain Indiana’s potential shooting and rebound the ball, they should be able to get a convincing win on national TV tonight.