Predict the Series: Wizards-Pacers. Who Ya Got?!?

[NbdyBeatsTheWiz]

Wiz in 7.

The infamous heckler from Game 5 of the series against ATL goes nuts during their Game7 loss and Paul George goes into the offseason extra salty.

[long suffrin' boulez fan]

You're all pussies.

Not pussies.

PTSD from 35 years of abuse.

Love the team and the woebegone franchise...irrationally so.

[FreeBalling]

Six games. We are strong at every position. Every position!!!!

Trevor "He's kicking ass" Ariza --- aka --- ATHREEEZZZZAAA is going to be clutch for the Wizards in this series.



It can be done.

[WallToWall]

Wizards in 6 games. Blowouts for both Wiz and Pacers in their wins. Last game will be hard fought and tight. Keys for us to win will be tempo, turnovers, pressure defense, and rebounding from our guards.
We need to keep the tempo just a tad faster than when we played the Bulls, with fast breaks when we can.
We need to limit our turnovers to about the same as when we played the Bulls. Careless mistakes will cost us.
Pacer guards can rebound well. We need to box them out and get the rebounds.

[GhostsOfGil]

Pacers in six (sorry).

[keynote]

Wizards in 6. I think Gooden will play a bigger role in this series than vs. CHI. The Pacers have a great starting front line (when Hibbert's on his game), but they don't have a Taj Gibson-shaped wrecking ball coming off the bench. So, I see Wittman being able to use Gooden more as a stretch 4/5 without worrying as much about him getting eaten alive in the post by Mahimi or Scola.

[Induveca]

I hope we win, I think Ariza can contain George. I'm worried about Stephenson vs Beal. Stephenson is extremely physical and could knock Beal out of the series. Also 6 10 George on Ariza could take away the three ball.

We HAVE to run constantly, an extremely fast pace helps us get shots up. If they slow us down we're in trouble.

[noworriesinmd]

I hope I'm wrong and crow tastes really good.
I think Indy brings their A game. I think they got punched hard and they finally woke up.
I'm thinking like a NCAA team that coasted throughout the regular season and they get tested by an upstart team, but they win at the buzzer.
I'm thinking Washington will come in sipping their own Kool Aid.
First game will be a massive punch in the jaw to Washington - Indy wins
Second game will be a buzzer beater - Indy wins
Washington comes home and looses a close one
Washington wins the next one
Indy closes out.


I wanted to play Indy in the first round, because they were vulnerable. However, I think they take care of business this round. Most people would have us down as playoff foder...but we destroyed Chicago. I think the dream ends this week. Sucks,because I had Bullets Fever.

[hands11]

I can't call this until I see at least one game. Both team are pretty different then they were in the regular season.

IND was really good, then sucked, and now survived the first round so they are getting better again. You can't ignore what they were able to do in the regular season. 56-26

Wiz are still gelling. Their regular season was more about growing so their 44-38 record doesn't really reflect who they are. They could have been a 50-32 win team if they had a back up PG and focused more on efficiency vs doing things to expand Beals game via ball handing, etc.

WiZ just played a tough defensive series against CHI which should help them be prepared for IND and the team is clearly gaining confidence. Beal dialed back the inefficient things he was doing in reg season. Wall played focused on getting player involved vs hero ball. Nene was a beast.

WIZ can learn from what ATL did. IND does not have the perimeter D that CHI has and the WIZ are one of the best 3 pt shooting teams in the league. But different from ATL, the Wiz have post options in Nene and Gortat so they could look like ATL PLUS which would make you think they could beat IND.

Keys for the WIZ would be great ball movement and support players like Webster bringing his 3 ball game off the bench. Wall, Beal, Trevor A and Webster will all need to bring their 3 balls. But they need to also not fall in love with the 3 ball and keep Nene and Gortat involved attacking the basket along with Wall and Beal driving.

Wizards have the talent to win this series in 6, but its not going to be easy. They need to play great balanced basketball.

More specifically. Trevor A on Paul George and Beal on Lance. They need to win those defensive battles and get help from team defense. If they focus those two on that, then focus more on offense with Nene and Gortat against West and Hibbert and Wall vs George Hill. Question is, can they do that and also move the ball to avoid the offense getting stagnant which plays into Indy's hands. And the need to run IND on the break at ever chance and keep the pace up. HIbbert can't keep up with the Wizards pace.

[hands11]

Never go against the hometeam. Wizards in 6.

I refuse to post a predicted Wizards lose in the series but I don't feel like I did going into the CHI series where I actually wanted that match up and expected them to win it.

This is going to be a tougher match up.

Wall vs George Hill
Beal vs Lance
TA vs P George
Nene vs West
Gortat vs Hibbert

WIZ Bench Miller, Webster, Booker
IND Bench Copeland, Mahinmi and C.J. Watson

The last two IND wins they removed Scola and Turner from the rotation. Maybe thats where the chemistry problem was coming from.

If TA and Beal can neutralize Lance and P George, then its really Nene, Wall and Gortat vs Hill, West and Hibbert

A hot Webby off the bench hitting 3s can help win you a few games. Webby needs to bring it.

Nene and Webster should be plenty rested which is good for both.

F it. Wizards in 6

[hands11]

I hope we win, I think Ariza can contain George. I'm worried about Stephenson vs Beal. Stephenson is extremely physical and could knock Beal out of the series. Also 6 10 George on Ariza could take away the three ball.

We HAVE to run constantly, an extremely fast pace helps us get shots up. If they slow us down we're in trouble.

Exactly. They will try to take Beal and TA out. We will try to take P George and Lance out. I think both teams will have their effect in doing that. So those two neutralize each other.

[DaRealHibachi]

Wiz in 5.

[montestewart]

I can't call this until I see at least 4 games (more if there's no sweep).

Wizards in 6. Pacers players ask for Wall's autograph after series. West tries to bait Nene by saying Scola slept with G-Wiz, ends up upsetting Paul George instead.

[truwizfan4evr]

Wizards in 6

[queridiculo]

Bullets in 5, the Pacers do not stand a chance.

There's more koolade where this one came from if you'd like to imbibe.

[RustyMagoo]

Gimme Wiz in six.

[Illuminaire]

Wizards in five.

The Pacers are a high profile team, the #1 seed in the conference, and they have guys who drip swag. That means the Wizards coming out with laser focus, high intensity - and a bunch of wins.

[hands11]

opps

That IND voting was for against ATL. They had not updated it yet.

[GhostsOfGil]

http://espn.go.com/nba/playoffs/2014/matchup

Perfect. The "Experts" have voted..

The Wizards have their lockeroom press clippings. They want to be the under dogs. That's how they play best.

Having seen this. Wizards take Game 1 in Indy.

What happened to you Wallace, you used to be cool..

[J-Ves]

Aren't those the predictions for Hawks/Pacers. I'm sure Wallace wouldn't turn his back on us now.