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___________VS_________

__15-6 Overall (3-1 vs West), 7-3 Last 10___________16-5 Overall (6-1 vs East), 9-1 Last 10
___2nd Southeast Div / 3rd Eastern Conf_____________2nd Pacific Div / 4th Western Conf

Coming off of last second win in Florida against the Orlando Magic, YOUR Washington Wizards return to the friendly confines of the Phone Booth for a big Friday night match up against the visiting Los Angeles Clippers.

The Wizards Wednesday night victory was marked by a mostly-flat performance by the good guys and a reliance of PG John Wall to bring Washington into striking range at the end of the 4th Quarter. A end-of-game play designed by Head Coach Randy Wittman and involving a PG Andre Miller inbounds lob to a curling SG Bradley Beal sealed the game for the good guys.

The Clippers are led by All-Star PG Chris Paul and his big man running mate PF Blake Griffin. SG J.J. Redick can still shoot from range and gives the Clips a long-distance threat. But truly, this game looks to be all about a match-up between Wall and Paul. Whoever prevails individually -- particularly on defending the other -- looks to have an inside track to success.

Let's meet the starting lineups.

_____

_______PG John Wall, 6'4" (Kentucky)____________________PG Chris Paul, 6'0" (Wake Forest)
________18.0 ppg, 10.4 apg, 4.9 rpg_________________________18.0 ppg, 10.1 apg, 4.5 rpg


_____

_______SG Bradley Beal, 6'5" (Florida)___________________SG J.J. Redick, 6'4" (Duke)
________14.2 ppg, 3.2 apg, 2.5 rpg________________________14.1 ppg, 1.6 apg, 1.6 rpg


_____

_______SF Paul Pierce, 6'8" (Kansas)_____________________SF Matt Barnes, 679" (UCLA)
________13.5 ppg, 4.9 rpg, 2.3 apg_________________________8.5 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 1.1 apg


_____

____PF Kris Humphries, 6'9" (Minnesota)______________PF Blake Griffin, 6'10" (Oklahoma)
________8.0 ppg, 6.7 rpg, 0.7 apg________________________23.7 ppg, 7.7 rpg, 4.0 apg


_____

______C Marcin Gortat, 6'11" (Poland)______________C DeAndre Jordan, 6'11" (Texas A&M)
________13.9ppg, 9.0 rpg, 1.4 bpg______________________8.4 ppg, 12.6 rpg, 2.6 bpg

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What: Wizards vs Clippers
Where: Verizon Center -- Washington, DC
When: 7:00 p.m. EST
TV: Comcast SportsNet, NBA League Pass, Quasi-legal internet streams
Radio: WNEW 99.1 FM / WFED 1500 AM

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After a few flat performances in a row, can the Wizards (the entire team) come out with energy and purpose and not rely on Wall to rescue them at the end of the game?

Drop your thoughts, predictions, and opinions below.

Go Wizards!

Good test to see how we stack up against good Western Conference teams.

This is a good barometer game. Are we a legit team capable of really making noise in the playoffs and possibly making it to the Finals? Or are we merely a competent team, good enough to beat all of the bad teams in the East?

We have no signature win in this season so far. We've played exactly 2 top tier teams: Dallas and a red hot Toronto, and they both blew us out. A win here would be a statement.

The Paul/Wall matchup should be fascinating. Paul is as crafty and wily as a player can be, but he may also have lost a step. Can Wall slow him down with his suffocating D, or will Paul pull some crafty tricks (i.e.: flop) and get Wall into foul trouble?

It would nice to give Wall a chance to isolate against Paul in space in a small-ball configuration, but we can't ask Pierce to guard Blake Griffin. I think small ball is off the table unless Griffin gets in foul trouble.

Gonna need a good game from Nene. He's one of the few guys in the league who has the strength and foot speed to guard Griffin.

This is probably the first team in a while that isn't going to space us to death. But it is Griffin and the flopocopter, so they'll probably get a ridiculous amount of BS calls.

We've played down to our opponents for the past three games. Hopefully, we'll show up for this. I'm also very wary of putting Humphries on Griffin. I know Nene is on a minutes restriction but I'd consider starting him on Griffin.

JWizmentality wrote:We've played down to our opponents for the past three games. Hopefully, we'll show up for this. I'm also very wary of putting Humphries on Griffin. I know Nene is on a minutes restriction but I'd consider starting him on Griffin.

I have the same feeling about Hump. His D vs Magic was non existenzed He is too weak to handle well with Griffin.

Is Jamal Crawford available vs wiz? cause lastly He was ejected during the game

I hope Pierce will be fresh cause Otto is awful and it seems it won't be his breakthrough year

Pierce could be huge for us this game. These are exactly the type of games where he's needed most, and where he has the potential to rise to the occasion and go vintage.

nate33 wrote:This is a good barometer game. Are we a legit team capable of really making noise in the playoffs and possibly making it to the Finals? Or are we merely a competent team, good enough to beat all of the bad teams in the East?

We have no signature win in this season so far. We've played exactly 2 top tier teams: Dallas and a red hot Toronto, and they both blew us out. A win here would be a statement.

The Paul/Wall matchup should be fascinating. Paul is as crafty and wily as a player can be, but he may also have lost a step. Can Wall slow him down with his suffocating D, or will Paul pull some crafty tricks (i.e.: flop) and get Wall into foul trouble?

It would nice to give Wall a chance to isolate against Paul in space in a small-ball configuration, but we can't ask Pierce to guard Blake Griffin. I think small ball is off the table unless Griffin gets in foul trouble.

Gonna need a good game from Nene. He's one of the few guys in the league who has the strength and foot speed to guard Griffin.

I always appreciate your analysis, but ... the Dallas game wasn't a blowout (105-102). Perhaps you were thinking of the second game against the Cavs? At least the 'Zards blew them out in the first game, which is looking even better in retrospect.

Anyway, I am also curious how they will stack up against a top tier team.

nate33 wrote:This is a good barometer game. Are we a legit team capable of really making noise in the playoffs and possibly making it to the Finals? Or are we merely a competent team, good enough to beat all of the bad teams in the East?

We have no signature win in this season so far. We've played exactly 2 top tier teams: Dallas and a red hot Toronto, and they both blew us out. A win here would be a statement.

The Paul/Wall matchup should be fascinating. Paul is as crafty and wily as a player can be, but he may also have lost a step. Can Wall slow him down with his suffocating D, or will Paul pull some crafty tricks (i.e.: flop) and get Wall into foul trouble?

It would nice to give Wall a chance to isolate against Paul in space in a small-ball configuration, but we can't ask Pierce to guard Blake Griffin. I think small ball is off the table unless Griffin gets in foul trouble.

Gonna need a good game from Nene. He's one of the few guys in the league who has the strength and foot speed to guard Griffin.

In all fairness we did not get blown out by both Toronto and Dallas, only TOR. We were neck and neck with Dallas (had a one point lead at the 2:30 mark in the fourth), Dirk and Barea were just making everything they threw up, hats off to them.

We need to focus on rebounding. LAC is 28th in NBA with 39.7 RPG, while WAS is 10th with 44.0 RPG, but last game Clippers went for 50 rebs at IND.

nuposse04 wrote:This is probably the first team in a while that isn't going to space us to death. But it is Griffin and the flopocopter, so they'll probably get a ridiculous amount of BS calls.

Flopocopter. I love it.

Griffin is surpassing DWade as the 2nd most loathesome player in the league

Every series have the ends. Clipps are now on winning streak + 9 I count it stops at the wizards

Hypnotizer wrote:We need to focus on rebounding. LAC is 28th in NBA with 39.7 RPG, while WAS is 10th with 44.0 RPG, but last game Clippers went for 50 rebs at IND.

How do you have Jordan and Griffin on your roster (along with a top rebounding PG in Paul) and rank 28th in the league in rebounding. Griffin must be slacking in that aspect this season. Now that I've said that, he'll probably go for 20 and 20.

nate33 wrote:This is a good barometer game. Are we a legit team capable of really making noise in the playoffs and possibly making it to the Finals? Or are we merely a competent team, good enough to beat all of the bad teams in the East?

We have no signature win in this season so far. We've played exactly 2 top tier teams: Dallas and a red hot Toronto, and they both blew us out. A win here would be a statement.

The Paul/Wall matchup should be fascinating. Paul is as crafty and wily as a player can be, but he may also have lost a step. Can Wall slow him down with his suffocating D, or will Paul pull some crafty tricks (i.e.: flop) and get Wall into foul trouble?

It would nice to give Wall a chance to isolate against Paul in space in a small-ball configuration, but we can't ask Pierce to guard Blake Griffin. I think small ball is off the table unless Griffin gets in foul trouble.

Gonna need a good game from Nene. He's one of the few guys in the league who has the strength and foot speed to guard Griffin.

Dallas beat us by 3.

CntOutSmrtCrazy wrote:

Hypnotizer wrote:We need to focus on rebounding. LAC is 28th in NBA with 39.7 RPG, while WAS is 10th with 44.0 RPG, but last game Clippers went for 50 rebs at IND.

How do you have Jordan and Griffin on your roster (along with a top rebounding PG in Paul) and rank 28th in the league in rebounding. Griffin must be slacking in that aspect this season. Now that I've said that, he'll probably go for 20 and 20.

LAC leads the NBA in FG% with 48.4 so they don't have that much occasions for OREB as other teams have.

That's interesting:

Wow, look at Paul's crappy stats so far this season. Is he slowing down? How old is he?

Hypnotizer wrote:That's interesting:

Code: Select all

#  Team 3P%

1. WAS  38.3
2. LAC  38.1
3. ATL  37.7
4. PHX  37.6
5. GSW  37.6


Rasual baby

Tricky_Kid wrote:

Hypnotizer wrote:That's interesting:

Code: Select all

#  Team 3P%

1. WAS  38.3
2. LAC  38.1
3. ATL  37.7
4. PHX  37.6
5. GSW  37.6


Rasual baby

Yes, he leads our team with 52.5%, 2nd is Beal with 47.7% and 3rd is Gooden with 38.9%.

This team has to play good offense to have a chance of beating LA. They're just too good in transition and we don't have the athleticism to keep up with their bigs. Take good shots, milk the clock, and don't turn the ball over.