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Okay, so here we are. We won the biggest game of the regular season and can not fall to the 7th seed. One more victory or a Toronto loss today will secure us our re-match with Cleveland and a potential second round series against Boston. Meanwhile, Indiana's playoff hopes are near dead, it will just take one more team to mathematically end it.

Washington Wizards [42-38]:
PG- Antonio Daniels
SG- DeShawn Stevenson
SF- Caron Butler???? (Don't know whether he'll play)
PF- Antawn Jamison
C- Brendan Haywood
6th man- Gilbert Arenas


Indiana Pacers [35-45]:
PG- Flip Murray
SG- Danny Granger
SF- Mike Dunleavy
PF- Troy Murphy
C- Jermaine O'Neal
6th man- Travis Deiner

Keys to the Game:

Gilbert Arenas-
The Pacers up-tempo playing style is the type of game that Arenas loves to play. We saw it last night when Agent Zero turned on the hibachi in that fourth quarter. This is the type of game that Arenas can take over and create fits for this pretty much defenseless Indiana team.

Close in on shooters-
These guys attempt 40 three's a game (39 last night), we need to make sure we defend their shot attempts because there will be alot of them. Perimiter defense against the Sixers through the first three was disgusting. Let's hope that it was the Wizards game plan to let them shoot from the perimiter because of their struggles back there.

Secure that 5th seed-
The 5th seed in the East and a matchup against the Cavaliers has been what the Wizards have been talking about since DeShawn's comments about LeBron. A win here tonight will give DeShawn and the rest of the Wizards the chance to prove they are the better team.

Prediction:
Washington Wizards: 112
Indiana Pacers: 98

This is going to be a tough one. For Indiana it's do or die and for the Wizards the question is just how bad they want that 4th seed. If Toronto loses today it would give Washington a chance to rest its starters throughout the rest of the regular season.

At the same time, Cleveland has a pretty tough home stretch with games remaining against Miami, followed by Philadelphia and Detroit and it's not inconceivable for them to drop 2 of their next three.

I hate playing the Pacers. They love the long-ball, and have the players to play that style effectively. Granger is coming off a career high his last game, and Dunleavy has been a pleasant surprise all season.

If we don't somehow find a way to get out on 3pt shooters, we're going to have a really hard time winning this game, even though we're at home.

We should win this. Dunleavy, Granger, and Diener will light us up but we should kill them on the boards and in the paint. Let's push for the 4th seed. How can we get the fourth seed guys? If we win all our games and the Cavs drop 2 out of 3 do we get the 4th?

TheKingOfVa360 wrote:How can we get the fourth seed guys? If we win all our games and the Cavs drop 2 out of 3 do we get the 4th?

Precisely, we own the tie breaker.

How big is that loss agains the Bucks right now?

Toronto lost, we can do no worse than the 5th seed and will play the Cavs.

I see this game being tougher than the Orlando game. These guys have been playing well and Granger is a stud.

Hopefully Caron doesn't spill some more of his Tough Juice in this game.

I say still go for the fourth, why not Cleveland has to play a fighting Philly tommorw we have Indy...

Philly will still be fighting to get the 5th seed over toronto and cleveland is on a little slump so that should be a good game.
and there's a huge possibility they lose to detroit.

We can beat the Pacers and Orlando (if Haywood can shut down Dwight again, 3 pts) so there is a big chance we get 4th.

By the way
Wiz 108-97

Our win tonight will officially give the Indiana board nothing else to talk about but the lottery. I don't miss those days AT ALL. 4 years and counting is great (I can't believe the stat I heard last night, that the Lakers have made the p'offs 55 out of the 60 years they've been in existence), and I can't wait to get the ball rolling all over Cleveland...

section 110 row m 3 and 4 for me tonight!

Go Wizards!!!!!!!!!

NbdyBeatsTheWiz wrote:Our win tonight will officially give the Indiana board nothing else to talk about but the lottery. I don't miss those days AT ALL. 4 years and counting is great (I can't believe the stat I heard last night, that the Lakers have made the p'offs 55 out of the 60 years they've been in existence), and I can't wait to get the ball rolling all over Cleveland...

Considering that we were lucky to win 20 a year when I was growing up, I'm hardly going to complain that we're ONLY working on a four year playoff streak.

From 1988 to 2003, we went to the playoffs ONE time. ONCE. UNO.

Yeah I wouldn't use the word "only" when talking about 4 years of Wizards playoff basketball. Washington fans were borderline spoiled this year with the Wiz, Caps, and Skins all having playoff years. It would be nice to win a championship or two, but at least we won't end up being teased to death twice like Patriots and (eventually) Celtics fans.

Anyone got a guess on when the first playoff game will be? If I had to guess, I'd say it will be at 1 on Sunday so that ABC can show Queen James on national TV.

Zerocious wrote:section 110 row m 3 and 4 for me tonight!

I think we're in 113 or 112 tonight, not our normal seats

jholmbe1 wrote:Anyone got a guess on when the first playoff game will be? If I had to guess, I'd say it will be at 1 on Sunday so that ABC can show Queen James on national TV.

I don't know but I wish they'd hurry up and announce it.

I do know I will be in Boston this weekend so I'll need to find
a good place to watch. It better be on Natl TV!

I don't care if we win or lose just as long as no one gets hurt.

jholmbe1 wrote:Anyone got a guess on when the first playoff game will be? If I had to guess, I'd say it will be at 1 on Sunday so that ABC can show Queen James on national TV.

That will be interesting, but wasn't the Cavs-Spurs final last year the lowest-rated final in some time? Couldn't beat NASCAR?

I think the NBA is salivating for a Celtics-Lakers final (can they bring back Donaghy?) and those teams will get the prime TV slots on the first weekend.

dobrojim wrote:-= original quote snipped =-



I don't know but I wish they'd hurry up and announce it.

I do know I will be in Boston this weekend so I'll need to find
a good place to watch. It better be on Natl TV!

They have to wait until all the seedings are final, which might not be until after the last games on Wednesday.