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Both the Wizards and the Pacers have adopted stretch 4s with Kris Humphries and Paul George

Washington comes into this game winning its past 3 games. The Wizards and Pacers split last season series 2-2 although the makeup of the Pacers team is vastly different. The new look Pacers that added Monte Ellis via free agency, Myles Turner in the draft, traded Roy Hibbert, and lost David West in free agency. In the meantime, the Pacers have also adopted a spread offense by starting Paul George at the 4 who is averaging 24.9 ppg over the first 13 games. CJ Miles has also helped key the Pacers to 8-5 start by shooting above 40% from 3.

Even though the Wizards have been winning as of late, John Wall struggled greatly in his last game against Detroit only scoring 8 points while getting 7 assists, and perhaps the most telling was that Wall could not get into the line. Hopefully, Wall can get back to playing as a top caliber point guard.

As Beal continues to play himself into form after his shoulder injury, it may be up to Otto Porter to key the Wizards offense both as 3 point point shooter, passer, and on the boards. Nene and Gortat combined for 32 points and 15 rebounds against Andre Drummond. It will be interesting if they build upon that momentum against Mahinmi and Turner.


Keys to the game:
- Can the Wizards matchup with the Pacers small lineup? If Humphries is not knocking down his 3 point shot, expect the Wizards to go small with Porter or Dudley at the 4.

- John Wall versus Indiana's defense is compelling especially since Wall struggled greatly in the 2014 playoff matchup. It will be interesting to see if Wall plays with a chip on his shoulder in this one. It will be important for Wall to improve his shot selection and knock down the open shot so that the defense respects him.

- The Wizards need to exploit Indiana's weaknesses defensively. They no longer have a great rim protector in Roy Hibbert. Ellis has been a defensive sieve throughout his career. And Paul George may struggle against physical low post play.

George is back from injury and better than ever, he's going off this season.

He will be the toughest matchup Otto has faced, PG is better than both Kawhi and Melo, and is solidifying himself as a top 10 player in the league.

Hope OP gets a good nights sleep - although it will take a team effort to neutralize PG, and he's a contested shot maker so there will be times when it doesn't even matter how you defend him.

I have bad feelings about this game. Trading agent double zero to LAL was win for Pacers.

Pacers have been on-fire going 8-2 the last 10 games, Looking at the roster I am perplexed.

This schedule is starting to piss me off. Seems like the Wizards are playing once a week, WTF.

closg00 wrote:Pacers have been on-fire going 8-2 the last 10 games, Looking at the roster I am perplexed.

Looking at the schedule sort of resolves the mystery for me.

@Pistons, vs. Celtics, vs. Heat, @Cavaliers, vs. Magic, @Celtics, vs. Timberwolves, @Bulls, @76ers, vs. Bucks.

Not a whole lot of good teams among the lot, mostly average to below average squads.

That said, the Wizards haven't exactly proven to be a cut above.

They're just as likely to post a convincing win against the Pacers as they are to suffer a blowout loss.

queridiculo wrote:This schedule is starting to piss me off. Seems like the Wizards are playing once a week, WTF.

Welp. It evens out this week. Four games in five nights is a tough stretch.

This is where Kris Humphries being a rotation player and not a true starting-caliber player hurts us. You need to make Indy pay for starting Paul George at PF. Somebody needs to rough him up down low, but Humphries doesn't have the post game to do it.

It might be interesting to see Wittman put Nene out there at PF for a few minutes to see what Indy does. Nene has quick enough feet to guard George for a few possessions, and he could absolutely obliterate him in the paint on offense.

Wittman won't do it though. We'll probably see a lot of Jared Dudley. And maybe some Neal/Temple at SF with Porter sliding over to PF.

Randy needs to get his head out of his ass and change the starting lineup

Dark Faze wrote:

Randy needs to get his head out of his ass and change the starting lineup

Sample sizes are too small. And let's not forget that Humphries only plays against opposing starters. Our bench on/off numbers benefit from playing against the opposition's bench.

Basically, if you had a 2nd unit that was an exact clone of the first unit, the 2nd unit on/off numbers would be vastly superior to the 1st unit, and everyone would clamor for the 2nd unit (of clones) to replace the 1st.

Finally, we should also consider that the team simply plays better when we play an opponent small enough that we can play small ball. So, yes, if possible, I like Dudley in there instead of Humphries. It's just that there are times when it's not possible because Dudley can't guard most starting PF's. Do you want to put Dudley on Sullinger, Millsap, or Ibaka? Do you believe that was the reason we lost those games?

I think they will prolly have Porter stick on PG13 and Hump on CJ Miles. I do think this is a situational matchup in which you have to consider starting Jared. Strong games from Wall/Gortat should help take advantage of their weaknesses.

nate33 wrote:It might be interesting to see Wittman put Nene out there at PF for a few minutes to see what Indy does. Nene has quick enough feet to guard George for a few possessions, and he could absolutely obliterate him in the paint on offense.

Wittman won't do it though. We'll probably see a lot of Jared Dudley. And maybe some Neal/Temple at SF with Porter sliding over to PF.

I hear you, but playing Nene into the PF slot would really hurt our bench depth. As it is now, Dudley has all but replaced Gooden in the rotation -- and that's been a Good Thing. If we start playing Nene more at the 4, we'd have to give more backup 5 minutes to Gooden or Blair. I'm not sure that's worth the benefits of bodying George down low for a few possessions (while hoping that Nene himself doesn't pick up cheap fouls guarding a dynamic wing scorer).

keynote wrote:

nate33 wrote:It might be interesting to see Wittman put Nene out there at PF for a few minutes to see what Indy does. Nene has quick enough feet to guard George for a few possessions, and he could absolutely obliterate him in the paint on offense.

Wittman won't do it though. We'll probably see a lot of Jared Dudley. And maybe some Neal/Temple at SF with Porter sliding over to PF.

I hear you, but playing Nene into the PF slot would really hurt our bench depth. As it is now, Dudley has all but replaced Gooden in the rotation -- and that's been a Good Thing. If we start playing Nene more at the 4, we'd have to give more backup 5 minutes to Gooden or Blair. I'm not sure that's worth the benefits of bodying George down low for a few possessions (while hoping that Nene himself doesn't pick up cheap fouls guarding a dynamic wing scorer).

Agreed. I wouldn't play Nene at PF for very long because I'd want him to handle all the backup center minutes. Gortat and Nene are averaging 27 and 18 minutes per game respectively. Why not play Gortat 32 minutes and Nene 26 for this one game? They would overlap for about 10 minutes, which would give Nene 5 minutes per half to beat Paul George to a bloody pulp.

Has Blair played at all this season? He lost a lot of weight, maybe he's recovered somewhat.

sample sizes aren't too small to determine that hump shouldn't be starting--that goes back to last year

nate33 wrote:

Dark Faze wrote:

Randy needs to get his head out of his ass and change the starting lineup

Sample sizes are too small. And let's not forget that Humphries only plays against opposing starters. Our bench on/off numbers benefit from playing against the opposition's bench.

Basically, if you had a 2nd unit that was an exact clone of the first unit, the 2nd unit on/off numbers would be vastly superior to the 1st unit, and everyone would clamor for the 2nd unit (of clones) to replace the 1st.

Finally, we should also consider that the team simply plays better when we play an opponent small enough that we can play small ball. So, yes, if possible, I like Dudley in there instead of Humphries. It's just that there are times when it's not possible because Dudley can't guard most starting PF's. Do you want to put Dudley on Sullinger, Millsap, or Ibaka? Do you believe that was the reason we lost those games?

I said the same thing since very early on... Dudley is the better player, regardless of size. Can Dudley effectively defend guys like Sullinger, Millsap or Ibaka one-on-one? No. But he's a much better team defender than Hump. Hump plays the game a step slow. Dudley is physically slow but mentally he's plays the game at the right speed. The rotations Hump is a step late on, Dudley would be right there. Dudley may be at a physical disadvantage but there's no advantage to having Humphries in there in his place. Hump may rebound better but that's it. Offensively, it's like night and day b/w Hump & Duds. As I said a million times already, defenses have to respect Dudley's skill & shot making ability. No such respect exists for Hump and I think it means a world of difference for Wall, Beal & Gortat offensively.

Dark Faze wrote:

Randy needs to get his head out of his ass and change the starting lineup

I'm a fan of Hump, but the Hump/Gortat front court doesn't work all that well. Neither guy has any playmaking ability and it hurts our team. Duds/Gortat and Hump/Nene are the better pairings, I'm sure Duds will start eventually but who knows when.


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Yeah we don't have a playoff quality starting 4, that's for sure.

queridiculo wrote:

closg00 wrote:Pacers have been on-fire going 8-2 the last 10 games, Looking at the roster I am perplexed.

Looking at the schedule sort of resolves the mystery for me.

@Pistons, vs. Celtics, vs. Heat, @Cavaliers, vs. Magic, @Celtics, vs. Timberwolves, @Bulls, @76ers, vs. Bucks.

Not a whole lot of good teams among the lot, mostly average to below average squads.

That said, the Wizards haven't exactly proven to be a cut above.

They're just as likely to post a convincing win against the Pacers as they are to suffer a blowout loss.

The Pacers have quietly become the GSW East. The Pacers goal of playing at a faster pace using small-ball is working, they are out-scoring opponents by 10.2 per 100 possessions over the last 10, right behind GSW. The Pacers version of Curry, Green & Thompson is George, Miles, & Hill and it's working.

Randy will start Dudley sooner than later is my guess.

Wittman was actually pretty quick to bump Temple ahead of Neal.