GT #56: Wizards @ Pistons 3:30 PM (CSN/99.1 FM) [2/22/15]

[FAH1223]

YOUR Washington Bullets are 33-22 suffering a 2 game losing streak to 2 of the best teams in the East (TOR and CLE).

YOUR Washington Bullets are 14-16 in their last 30 games after a 19-6 start in the first 25 games.

The bad news? They play against another good front line on Sunday when they travel to the Palace to take on the surging Pistons. Detroit pounded the Bulls on Friday night to a critical W for playoff positioning. Andre Drummond had 18 and 20 and Greg Monore chipped in 20 and 8. Caron Butler is now starting and the Pistons have brought in Reggie Jackson and brought back Tayshaun Prince in a last minute trade with the Celtics.

The good news? The Wizards have one of the most easiest schedules left in the NBA. We could see the team have a resurgence in the last 26 games against a flurry of teams below .500... much like we saw earlier in the season. The Wizards ARE NOT as bad as they showed on Friday night. But we all know Ernie and Wittman are horrible and are stuck in the past with their methodologies.

Without further ado, here's your lineup!




-------------------------AT-------------------------

Last game:
Cavaliers vs. Wizards - (L) 127-89
Bulls vs. Pistons- (W) 91-100

Lineups:






Bench:

[LyricalRico]

I'd actually be surprised if Reggie Jackson doesn't start. But either way, this needs to be a win. At least this should be a game where Witt's default strategy isn't as much of a liability.

[nate33]

The Wizards are reeling. They've lost 7 of their last 9 and got embarrassed at home Friday night on national TV by the Cavaliers. This afternoon, they face the Detroit Pistons, notorious Wizard-killers.

Detroit has turned their season around, going 17-10 in their last 27 games after starting the season off 5-23. They're sort of the opposite of the Wizards in that they are wildly inconsistent. They've beaten San Antonio, Phoenix, Dallas, Cleveland, OKC, Houston, Toronto and Chicago, but they've lost to Philly, Minnesota, the Lakers, Orlando, Boston and Utah. They won Friday night at home against Chicago.

Game time is 3:30.

On paper, the matchups are pretty favorable. Detroit runs their offense through Reggie Jackson and Greg Monroe, who happen to play the positions where we have our best defensive players. We're going to need to shoot the ball well though. That's always tough without Beal. (Beal has been cleared to resume basketball activities but is reportedly out for the game.)

Let's hope the Wizards can shake off their recent stretch of bad play and get back to their winning ways.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfWlot6h_JM[/youtube]

[montestewart]

Wizards can still reach 50 wins, but they need to win games like this to do it.

[Dark Faze]

predicting a 20 point loss

With the way our front court guys are playing sans Nene we're going to get obliterated by Monroe and Drummond. And Reggie Jackson is foaming at the mouth to make a mark on his debut.

[nuposse04]

We'll long 2 ourselves to death in this one. If Gortat can't keep Mozzy off the offensive glass what chance does he have against Drummond?

[FAH1223]

I'd actually be surprised if Reggie Jackson doesn't start. But either way, this needs to be a win. At least this should be a game where Witt's default strategy isn't as much of a liability.

I think he will play more

He'll prolly go off on us

[montestewart]

Dueling threads. Merge!

[montestewart]

Dueling threads. Merge!

[McFilthy]

Another daytime-game disaster by the Wizards? I fear it will be. Detroit is playing motivated ball right now. The Wizards...not so much. Wizards defense has slipped at crucial times and I am finding the offensive system offensive.

[dlts20]

I like jackson's potential. Im a huge boxing fan and one thing I always speak about is how being a Southpaw is a huge advantage because everything is backwards and guys arent use to seeing it. Then you quickly realize its an advantage in all of pro sports. Harden is good but being a lefty is what truly makes him unstoppable. Detroit gives us problems sometimes because they always have 3 Southpaws in Jennings, Smith, & Monroe. Witt is a good defensive coach but it seems like he doesnt know how to teach our guys to stop lefties. We always left them go left which is a no no.

Reggie is another lefty so I could see him giving us/Wall some problems. These are the type of games wheere I wish that we either had a competent coach or I wish that I was the coach. Reggie will be hyped but he will also be nervous, he's undersized, and his D sucks. We have a big pg who is playing great and has become very good in the post. I would start this game buy going to Wall every single play in the post on the left block so he can use his strong hand but Wall is solid on each side so Ill take either but Witt wont do it. We will probably do it once or twice this game, both times wil probably be Wall making the decision on his own, something good will happen each time, but we wont come back to it. Basically, wee never take advantage of mismatches. We just stay running this same ccrap systemm over & over

[closg00]

Afternoon game, eesh. My heart goes-out to John trying to lead this old squad.

[TGW]

Incredible...I predicted 43 wins to start because I thought Wall would miss games. Looks like they may only win around that anyway.

[nuposse04]

Temple is starting, meh. So long as Webster gets little burn I guess I can live with it.

[jeffsays]

Interested to see what Ramon can add.

[80sballboy]

Hey look at Gortat help on the screen. Instead of letting the player go by him.

[miller31time]

What a high-powered offense we have here in Washington.

[80sballboy]

Horrendous call on Nene. WTF.

[miller31time]

On a positive note, we're playing really good defense.

[80sballboy]

Holy shi-t Seraphin is passing the ball like Bill Walton!