Round 2, Game 2: GET GREEDY! Wizards @ Pacers 7 PM TNT 5/7

[dandridge 10]

We're a few missed free throws and Wall brain farts from being up 2-0. Pacers still don't scare me. Our bench is better, the threes will fall at home, and Hibbert won't play like this again.

Let's go back to DC and take care of business!

Yeah, that is how I feel too. This game was ripe for the taking, but the missed FT and John jacking up 3s at the end killed us. Hopefully, John can learn from this game.

The other thing that John can learn from this game is that he can get to the rack at will against the Pacers. He really didn't start driving until the 4th quarter. Had he kept it up instead of trying to play hero ball, we would have had a better chance to win.

All said, we did what we were supposed to ... regain home court. Let's win 2 in Washington.

[tontoz]

They just fell apart the last 5 minutes. Shades of the regular season.

[mohammed10]

Exactly i See us winning the next 3

Slow down there, pal

All I am saying is it took a 28-point game from Hibbert and some poor play down the stretch by the Wizards for Indy to win. Much like the Bulls (Dunleavy) game. Call me crazy, but I am still mildly optimistic. I’d be more worried if George went off.

[deneem4]

It must be a lot of bandwagon fans here...considering wall has been playing tremendous all playoffs...i dont expect wall to be an efficient scorer...i do expect him to be an effective playmaker and he's been doing that for the last 7 games...Yea he missed the 3's but that's ok...He hit all his freethrows he only had 1 turnover to 9 assists...i can't get mad at wall...i can ask nene to hit his freethrows

[deneem4]

Exactly i See us winning the next 3

Slow down there, pal

All I am saying is it took a 28-point game from Hibbert and some poor play down the stretch by the Wizards for Indy to win. Much like the Bulls (Dunleavy) game. Call me crazy, but I am still mildly optimistic. I’d be more worried if George went off.

Us as in wizards

[Deivy202]

Seriously, shut the **** up.

Once again, Wall should be ashamed of himself. 2-13 shooting, hero balls, playing like a maxi pad with the game on the line. Time for Wall to have a big game. I'm one of the biggest Wall fans and I didn't give up on him while people on this board were making dumb posts in the trade thread about him. But this is the playoffs, it's time for him to finally have a game shooting over 50 percent from the field. You're welcome to continue to be a Wall apologist but save the attitude.

Ashamed of himself, are you for real?

The Wizards have just lost their 2nd out of 7 playoff games, have some **** perspective.

Ariza-beal-nene- was a big part wall hasnt had a great game yet.

[mohammed10]

Exactly i See us winning the next 3

Slow down there, pal

All I am saying is it took a 28-point game from Hibbert and some poor play down the stretch by the Wizards for Indy to win. Much like the Bulls (Dunleavy) game. Call me crazy, but I am still mildly optimistic. I’d be more worried if George went off.

Us as in wizards

I understand who 'we' are. Just not sure that I would put on my rose-colored glasses and call for 'us' to win three straight.

[payitforward]

Not even upset.

Wall had 3 bad plays down the stretch. Not sure why he did that after being a great floor general the entire game. Two back shots and a turnover on a drive.

5-12 from the line.

And horrific calls all game by the refs. I don't blame it all on the refs because of 1 and 2, but come on they were horrible. 21 FTA to IND vs 12 for the Wizards. And it wasn't like WAS didn't get shots in the paint and dive for loose balls. 21 PF to 15 PF

And they lost by 4 on the road.

I'll take that.

They still won home court. Now they go back to DC.

Congrat to Hibbert for fighting everything he had to fight and showing up.

Well said, Hands -- you don't win every game, and the world didn't just come to an end. Did anyone expect them to lay down for us at home?

And, yes, good for Hibbert to show up the way he did.

This series is going to be a dog-fight, and that right there is a tribute to this team. Just need to go home and win 2 games. And if we lose one, then we need to come back to Indy and win #5 -- we've shown we can win on their court, and if we need to win another one and can't -- probably means they're the better team.

[dandridge 10]

3:20, we're down one point after a great pick and roll play by Wall and Gortat, and from that point on Walls decision making turned to ****.

The three point attempt with a fresh clock after an offensive board was awful, and the three from the corner with Nene all by himself under the basket was just as bad.

Then to compound, he tries to be the hero and turns the ball over.

Didn't care for Beal's three point attempt either, but at least he was relatively open, not a good shot to take in that situation though.

Not a good performance down the stretch.

Yeah, and I had to make a comment right before the last 3 minutes on how impressed I was with their composure, especially the young guys. Then the inexperience came out and they sh** all over themselves.

[sfam]

You all demanding Wall's head are really over the top. We aren't anywhere without Wall tonight. This was a new experience for the guy. Cut him some slack already. Fine, his shot goes when he's under pressure. Give him another year or so to fix that. But he still had us in position to win even when his shot sucked. Think about that for a second, and then still see if you can ask for his head. Yeah, he **** the bed in the last two minutes. OK, but he got us to the point that the last two minutes mattered.

[jeffsays]

John's gotta change something up. He did not play well tonight. Forget about what happened in the past. I'm talking about tonight, Wall needs to step it up. You can't go 2-13 in a playoff game. He is the leader of this team and needs to be attacking that rim instead of jacking up shots. He has to make better decisions and be aggressive.

[hands11]

We're a few missed free throws and Wall brain farts from being up 2-0. Pacers still don't scare me. Our bench is better, the threes will fall at home, and Hibbert won't play like this again.

Let's go back to DC and take care of business!

Yeah, that is how I feel too. This game was ripe for the taking, but the missed FT and John jacking up 3s at the end killed us. Hopefully, John can learn from this game.

The other thing that John can learn from this game is that he can get to the rack at will against the Pacers. He really didn't start driving until the 4th quarter. Had he kept it up instead of trying to play hero ball, we would have had a better chance to win.

All said, we did what we were supposed to ... regain home court. Let's win 2 in Washington.

Brain fart was exactly what I was thinking. The two long shots and the turnover back to back to back.. What was he thinking. The first 3 ball I was like.. alright... didn't like it but realize what you did and move on... but the 2nd, then the turnover... I was like .... Johnny... what are you doing..

But they were in it anyway. Made FTs and refs not handing the game to IND for 3 quarter badly and even down the stretch by not giving Nene the call... what was terrible.

And only lost by 4.

I expect a win next game. Actually, I expect bath at home.

They really played impressive game. Not going to worry about 1 lose.

[CntOutSmrtCrazy]

I'll try to erase this game from Wall from my memory. The last play with 8 seconds left pretty much summed his night up perfectly. I think we blew one there big time, we had them on the ropes and had some piss poor execution that started with that Beal turnover. After that Nene barely missed the lefty layup. On our next possession Beal misses a long two, Gortat gets the offensive board, and Wall inexplicably chucks it from 30 feet. The next two offensive possessions were quick threes and than that final Wall turnover versus Hill (although it was denoted as a blocked shot) was the dagger.

I saw someone say that Beal and Wall are to blame, but I'd say he really didn't do anything all that bad other than rush that early three (which was a pretty good look). Wall had two awful three point attempts, a turnover, and was just too careless about getting us into our offense.

All in all, disappointed because that was a very winnable game. A couple things stood out to me in the second half that hurt us. I think Randy stuck with the starters for too long when Indy made their run in the 3rd. Our bench had a good first half, when that's the case I think you give them a good look. I also felt for the most part we got good looks, perimeter players just didn't knock them down (Wall/Beal/Ariza were a combined 11 for 36). Our break was none existent tonight and contributed only 1 point. Wall had a couple instances were he just lacked any aggression when he had a chance to get in the open floor. Lack of free throw attempts and our continued awfulness from their didn't help either.

In the end, I find it hard not to put some heat on Wall for this game. He played sloppy and again inexplicably refused to take shots at the rim. He has to learn to balance his play better. All the best PG capitalize on scoring opportunities when the defense gives you them. He won't be seen as any less of a PG if he gets 19 and 7 if he does so in a manner instead of 11 and 12 if he's doing in a way that is in the flow of the offense. People complain about his shot, but his biggest problem with is shot is that he's too predictable and that he goes long periods where he doesn't want to shoot. It both kills rhythm and confidence.

There's some positives to take from this game. Other than letting Hibbert get too many easy looks, we played good defense. We out rebounded and out assisted them while keeping our turnovers low. Heck, we even shot pretty well tonight, the glaring holes were missed free throws and not knocking down threes. We also need to get to the line more than 12 times.

[dlts20]

Ft's another reason why we lost. 5-12 and they are 18-21. Thats the scor right there

[MarcoPolo]

Don't lose faith. Gortat will be ready in DC. Now it's time for Wiz fans to show what they are made of. You need to lose a battle to win a WAR !! #dcRising

[hands11]

It must be a lot of bandwagon fans here...considering wall has been playing tremendous all playoffs...i dont expect wall to be an efficient scorer...i do expect him to be an effective playmaker and he's been doing that for the last 7 games...Yea he missed the 3's but that's ok...He hit all his freethrows he only had 1 turnover to 9 assists...i can't get mad at wall...i can ask nene to hit his freethrows

Another positive was the bench.

Hey, its all part of maturing and growing. You learn from close loses as well.

[hands11]

Once again, Wall should be ashamed of himself. 2-13 shooting, hero balls, playing like a maxi pad with the game on the line. Time for Wall to have a big game. I'm one of the biggest Wall fans and I didn't give up on him while people on this board were making dumb posts in the trade thread about him. But this is the playoffs, it's time for him to finally have a game shooting over 50 percent from the field. You're welcome to continue to be a Wall apologist but save the attitude.

Ashamed of himself, are you for real?

The Wizards have just lost their 2nd out of 7 playoff games, have some **** perspective.

Ariza-beal-nene- was a big part wall hasnt had a great game yet.

I disagree. Wall has played really well.

I thought he had a great game tonight. But brain farted for like 2 mins at the wrong time down the stretch.

Still had a great floor game.

[queridiculo]

If Nene splits his free throws this is a different game, and you to expect Beal to make his free throws from the line as well.

The lack of attempts in general though is a concern.

Something to think about, the Pacers needed 18 makes on 21 attempts to keep pace with us on offense in a low scoring affair.

We can't bail them out by sending them to the free-throw line, and conversely we have to try to be more aggressive and get to the line.

I'm also a bit worried how easy it was for Hibbert to get to his spot on the blocks. When he's that close to the basket it's impossible to defend him, you have to give him different looks, and battle him for post position.

I want to see them front Hibbert, double him on occasion, throw different defenders at him etc.

You've got to make him think down there, you can just let him hold the ball for 5 seconds while sets up his move.

[hands11]

Not even upset.

Wall had 3 bad plays down the stretch. Not sure why he did that after being a great floor general the entire game. Two back shots and a turnover on a drive.

5-12 from the line.

And horrific calls all game by the refs. I don't blame it all on the refs because of 1 and 2, but come on they were horrible. 21 FTA to IND vs 12 for the Wizards. And it wasn't like WAS didn't get shots in the paint and dive for loose balls. 21 PF to 15 PF

And they lost by 4 on the road.

I'll take that.

They still won home court. Now they go back to DC.

Congrat to Hibbert for fighting everything he had to fight and showing up.

Well said, Hands -- you don't win every game, and the world didn't just come to an end. Did anyone expect them to lay down for us at home?

And, yes, good for Hibbert to show up the way he did.

This series is going to be a dog-fight, and that right there is a tribute to this team. Just need to go home and win 2 games. And if we lose one, then we need to come back to Indy and win #5 -- we've shown we can win on their court, and if we need to win another one and can't -- probably means they're the better team.

I'll add this to that.

Winning this series is going to be sweeter now that IND proved they don't totally suck and the team isn't in total internal dysfunction.

Now winning will actually mean something.

[TheKingOfVa360]

Ashamed of himself, are you for real?

The Wizards have just lost their 2nd out of 7 playoff games, have some **** perspective.

Come on que, Wall went 2-13 and played passive. He's yet to have a game where he has shot over 50 % from the field. You and I know he is better than that. Walls floor game was great, besides for the last 3 minutes, but he has to shoot better.