Official Thread -- Wizards vs Magic (2/25/14)

[pineappleheadindc]

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____28-28 (14-14 home / 19-14 vs East / 5-5 L10)_________17-41 (3-26 road / 13-24 vs East / 4-6 L10)




Starters


_______________________________________
____________John Wall (6'4", Kentucky)__________________Jameer Nelson (6'0", St. Joseph's)
____________19.5 ppg, 8.2 apg, 4.4 rpg_____________________12.8 ppg, 6.1 apg, 3.5 rpg




_______________________________________
____________Bradley Beal (6'4", Florida)___________________Victor Oladipo (6'4", Indiana)
____________20.6 ppg, 3.5 apg, 4.2 rpg_____________________14.0ppg, 3.5 apg, 4.6 rpg




_______________________________________
____________Trevor Ariza (6'8", UCLA)____________________Tobias Harris (6'9", Tennessee)
____________15.5 ppg, 2.5 apg, 6.0 rpg_____________________14.5 ppg, 1.0 apg, 3.0 rpg




_______________________________________
____________Trevor Booker (6'8", Clemson)______________Maurice Harkless (6'9", St. John's)
____________6.6 ppg, 1.1 apg, 5.6 rpg_____________________7.2 ppg, 0.8 apg, 3.3 rpg




_______________________________________
________Marcin Gortat (6'11", Lodz, Polant)_____----_________Nicola Vucevic (7'0", USC)
____________13.1 ppg, 1.7 apg, 9.0 rpg_____________________14.1 ppg, 2.4 apg, 11.3 rpg


Coming off of three victories in a row, YOUR Washington Wizards take the court at the Phone Booth for a Tuesday evening match-up with the Orlando Magic. This marks the first full game that YOUR Wizards will be without the services of F/C Nene Hilario, who is averaging 14.8 ppg and 6.2 rpg on the season. Also out with a sore knee will bf F/C Kevin Seraphin, who has been showing signs of improvement with the Wizards' second unit. Expect coach Randy Wittman to have to put together a scrambled line-up to make up for the loss of both players.

The Magic will be without G Aaron Afflalo (ankle), who sports a 19.7 ppg average this season. Coning into tonight's match-up, Orlando has lost its last 15 road games in a row.

An opportunity for the Wizards to get over .500 versus an underperforming team without its leading scorer? This game has "trap" written all over it.

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-- Can YOUR Wizards win this and get over the .500 mark?

-- Who do you blame for the Wizards current roster issues? Bad luck injury bug? Ernie Grunfeld? The Curse?

-- Do you want me to put photos of Luv-a-Bulls in this thread?

Post your thoughts, comments, and bomb threats below.

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What: Wizards vs Magic
Where: Verizon Center -- Washington, DC
When: 7:00 p.m.
Television: Comcast SportsNet, NBA League Pass, Quasi-legal internet streams
Radio: 106.7 THEFAN


Go Wizards!

[Zonkerbl]

Oyyyyyy... yoyyyyy... yoyyyyyyy.

Let the beatings begin.

[jeffsays]

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Standby guys. Under construction this afternoon. Will pretty this up between meetings.

Go Wizards!

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo



Seraphin is out tonight which makes our frontcourt that much smaller. Will we see some small ball action??? Probably not because Randy is an idiot who doesn't make smart adjustments. GO WIZ!!


Looks like I spoke too soon..
[tweet]https://twitter.com/JMichaelCSN/status/438382145955168256[/tweet]

[Sluggerface]

**** yea Rice/Porter time.

[Dark Faze]

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

[queridiculo]

Here's my preferred lineup

Wall/Beal/Webster/Ariza/Gortat

With Ariza splitting time between the 4 and 3, and the remainder of the PF/C minutes split between Booker, Seraphin and Harrington.

Porter should get some burn at the 3, and I don't see why Rice and Temple can't spell Beal for 12-14 minutes.

I could see that lineup putting significant pressure on opposing defenses by stretching the floor and giving Wall more room to operate inside.

Defensively this is a good enough unit rebounding, and Ariza can certainly hold his own against a good number of power forwards around the league.

[NbdyBeatsTheWiz]

Comes out of lurking...



…the wife is holding a staff meeting in our living room tonight
(which is what happens when a growing church lacks a building).

Anybody got a decent link to watch tonight's game online?

[dckingsfan]

No Nene
No Seraphin
We are at .500



This doesn't bode well...

[dckingsfan]

Here's my preferred lineup

Wall/Beal/Webster/Ariza/Gortat

I am with you that this lineup needs to see significant time - make it so Witt.

[AFM]

Jameer Nelson doesn't look too happy.

[dobrojim]

anyone want tickets?

Jacqui's team is playing the 2nd round of their regional tourney tonight so
going will be difficult for me.

2 seats in 104 around a great group of Wiz fans, $70 for the pair.
During a TO you can walk down a couple steps and introduce yourself
to M Lee.

[dlts20]

I wrote this in the roster thread yesterday so Ill post it here:


this Nene injury sucks. Even if he comes back late, he'll be totally out of shape & rusty. However, I dont think its a death sentence like some do. Weve lost alot without Nene but most of the time he's been hurt, weve had other key guys out also. Then add to that we had no Harrington, no Miller, and both KS & Book are way better now than before. Still, we definitely need Nene.

With that being said, it could open up the possibility for the lineup I wanted us to maybe started at the begining of this season. Harrington at the 4 with Nene off the bench. I just wanted to see what Wall would do with a true stretch 4 and I thought Nene could dominate backups while staying healthy. I dont mind Witt giving KS or Book the start. They deserve a shot but I would be happy if Al got the nod and if he didnt, we better give him a shot if we start losing.

To me this season is about Wall now. Reminds me of last year when a ton of guys were hurt and it reminds me of when Gil 1st broke out as a star when Hughes & AJ got hurt. I say put the ball in Wall's hands, let him be aggressive, and ride or die with him. Then when Nene comes back, let him be our 6th man until we are facing an elimination game

[FAH1223]

So who's playing backup Center?

[dlts20]

So who's playing backup Center?

the good thing is that Vuceic only averages 32mpg and other then him they play all undersized people at the 4 & 5 spots so just leave Gortat in against him and we are good

[Soup's Uncle]

Seraphin has a sore knee? Bogus.

[pancakes3]

However, I dont think its a death sentence like some do.

I don't either, but not because it allows us to play Harrington but rather it allows us to play Trevor at the 4, and more minutes for Booker and Porter. We become a much faster team, and I'm curious to see how we look with all those shooters.

To me this season is about Wall now. Reminds me of last year when a ton of guys were hurt and it reminds me of when Gil 1st broke out as a star when Hughes & AJ got hurt. I say put the ball in Wall's hands, let him be aggressive, and ride or die with him. Then when Nene comes back, let him be our 6th man until we are facing an elimination game

Oooh, disagree. Wall can't go superman. If anything, the offense needs to be MORE team-oriented now that Nene's gone. Nene was a big part of the offense. He could post up and go iso. He'd run the pick and roll/pop with Wall. He averages 3 assists a game. He draws more fouls than Wall does on a per-minute basis. Wall by himself won't be able to come close to making that up.

[WizardsWorld]

We "should" be able to win this one pretty easily even without Nene. I mean theyre missing Afflalo so that kinda evens the injury thing out. I love me some Oladipo though.... that kid has game ! But hopefully a comfortable Wiz win !

[dandridge 10]

I don't know if I would say Nene's absence is a death sentence, but I think the Wizards are really going to struggle without him. Our interior defense this year hasn't been all that great with Nene in the line-up. Its going to look a lot worse with either Seraphin and Booker starting, and I don't think Ariza is strong enough to defend most PFs. Also, although we have a soft schedule the rest of the way, I have no confidence from recent history that they will take advantage of it. I still think the Wizards will sneak into the playoffs, but my bet is they fall to the 7th or 8th seed, which is the worst thing that can happen this year.

[SOUL]

Nice game thread. One slight mistake - Tobias is averaging 14.5 ppg not 8.0 ppg.

Don't know how we're going to hide Nelson on defense. Oladipo will probably pick up Wall and Harkless will stay on Ariza. If a shooter like Webster was out there we'd probably have Nelson stay around him, but Ariza seems too tall and moves around. Beal is going to eat him alive if Nelson is forced to guard him and not Wall (who would kill him even worse).

[pineappleheadindc]

Nice game thread. One slight mistake - Tobias is averaging 14.5 ppg not 8.0 ppg.

Don't know how we're going to hide Nelson on defense. Oladipo will probably pick up Wall and Harkless will stay on Ariza. If a shooter like Webster was out there we'd probably have Nelson stay around him, but Ariza seems too tall and moves around. Beal is going to eat him alive if Nelson is forced to guard him and not Wall (who would kill him even worse).

Oops, thanks for correction. Fixing now.

You'all are gonna have to zone Nelson at the top and switch whoever's guarding among Wall, Beal, and Ariza/Webster.

Good luck tonight. Drop by during the game for comments. Enjoy perspectives of fans of opposing teams.