GT: Wizards @ Sixers 02-05-08

[gowiz999]

@

Date: February 5th, 2008
Time: 7:00pm (EST)
Place: Wachovia Center, Philadelphia, PA
Television: CSN+, NBALP
Radio: WTEM 980 AM
Internet: http://www.sportstalk980.com/main.html
In-game Chat: http://www.realgm.com/src_chat.php
Opening Line: Washington -1.5 Philadelphia

Starting Lineups:
Philadelphia (18-30, 13th in the East):
PG Andre Miller
SG Willie Green
SF Andre Iguodala
PF Thaddeus Young
C Samuel Dalembert

Washington (24-22, 6th in the East):
PG Antonio Daniels
SG Deshawn Stevenson
SF Caron Butler
PF Antawn Jamison
C Brendan Haywood

Previous Meetings (2007-2008):
11/20/2007- Washington 116 Philadelphia 101 (in D.C.) W
11/30/2007- Washington 84 Philadelphia 85 (in Philly) L

Last 5 games:
Washington- Wins (1) VS Tor | Losses (4) @ Mil, @ Tor, VS Utah, VS LA
Outscored by opponents 530-471 (-11.8 per game)

Philadelphia- Wins (2) @ Char, VS Mil | Losses (3) @ NYK, VS Orl, @ Atl
Outscoring opponents 493-458 (+7.0 per game)

Interesting Stats:
-Josh Smith blocked 9 shots by himself against Philly last night.
-Washington allows the most three points made in the league with 8.0 per game.
-Philadelphia is last in the league scoring three points made with 3.7 per game.
-Philadelphia is second last in the league in FT shooting percentage at 70.7%.
-Philadelphia is 3rd in rebounds allowed in the league at 39.2 per game.
-Washington is 9-12 on the road this season.
-Philadelphia is 9-14 at home this season.

Key Factors to the game:
-Philly is playing the second game of a back to back. On the season they are 7-6 on the second games of back to backs. They started the season 0-5 on the second game of b2bs and since then they are 7-1 on the second halves of b2bs.
-The Health of Caron Butler. He played in the last game against LA but he did not look like himself. Hopefully he'll return to form in this one.
-Can Deshawn shut down Iguodala? DS is coming off a very poor game against Kobe and the Lakers so he should be pumped for this one.
-Will Andre Miller go off? He scored 29 last night against Atlanta and he usually goes off against us.

[miller31time]

Dare I say this is as close to a "must win" as there is this early in the season? We have a brutal stretch coming up, and need wins where we can get em'.

The way I see it, Miller will have a very good game - he always does against us.

Iguodala can at least be contained by Stevenson.

Haywood and Dalembert should cancel each other out.

Jamison should have the advantage over whoever guards him, and Butler should follow suit, health permitting.

We are, however, on the road and don't do particularly well away from Verizon Center. It'll be close, but I predict a 98-92 win for the Wiz Kidz.

[bulletproof_32]

The Wiz should and will squeak out a W on the road.

[tkunit]

Wizz need to pull out this win. As mentioned we have the tough stretch ahead so we need to stockpile a with W's for later.

[RMJ]

WIN. 25-22

[BigA]

Need 5 wins in February to be .500 at the end of the month. This is one of the best opportunities for a road win. Believe the Wizards lost @ Philly earlier in the year.

[ZonkertheBrainless]

Wiz are much better on the road this year than last year. Winnable game, should get it if Caron is feeling better. Plus yeah, they need to get wins where they can...

[newslowsad]

wiz end their 3 game losing streak with an unnecessarily close win and avenge their loss in philly from earlier in the season.

[RickRoll_inDC]

this is (somehow) a big game. 3 game losing streaks aren't good. we need to stay above .500 until Gil gets back. being above .500 is like having some run support in baseball for a relief pitcher coming in. Gil needs to have some 'game support' when he comes back.

as for this game in particular, DS needs to shut down AI2, and i'm afraid of Thad. Young. for some reason i feel like rookies seem to find some way to beat us. not only Thad, but on bad teams (no offense to Philly) there always seems to be some little guy off the bench that comes off the bench and goes for 25. i wouldn't be surprised to see Louis Williams go for 20 just like he went for 25 against us back in November.

[fishercob]

Blatche goes for a quintuple-double. Wiz win a squeaker.

[Joe_Wiz]

WIN. 25-22

NBA-record for low-scoring game.

We need this one because without it we could find ourselves in the middle of a long losing streak.

I predict a win.

[wateryd]

as long as we don't have nick young going one-on-three for the game-winning shot i think we'll be able to pull this one out. philly is scrappy, but this is one of the few teams that the wiz match up favorably when it comes to talent, with gilbert out. let iguodala, dalembert and willie green shoot jumpers to their heart's content, a few of them will fall but more of them won't. without korver this is a very poor team from behind the arc, which bodes well for us. i get the feeling the guys know this is a game they should win, hopefully they will come out fired up and get back in the win column.

[TheKingOfVa360]

This is a must win game. We need to go back to playing our above average defense.

[GhostsOfGil]

-= original quote snipped =-


NBA-record for low-scoring game.

We need this one because without it we could find ourselves in the middle of a long losing streak.

I predict a win.

[Ruzious]

I think the Wiz have decent matchups, but the Lakers loss had them looking like a tired team, and tired teams usually don't do well on the road. I'm picking the 6ers and hoping to be very wrong.

[miller31time]

My TV says that the game is on, but it's not being broadcast (ESPN News is being broadcast instead).

What the F?

[gowiz999]

DS 2/2 from 3-pt land

[gowiz999]

Our defense and specifically our transition defense is terrible. The Sixers have at least 5-6 easy layups or dunks so far.

[80sballboy]

Stupid F-ing cable BS. Where's the game on CSN+?

[Tiago]

Songaila is in...