GT #60: Bullets @ Bulls 3:30 PM (NBCSW+/980 AM)

[FAH1223]

YOUR Washington Bullets are 28-31!

It seems like this team will avoid getting to .500 this year. Every time they sniff it, they blow a double digit lead! And on Friday, a 19 point lead was destroyed by the Knicks. This comes three weeks after the debacle at home vs. Rip City and on the road at Brooklyn.

Lottery positioning is at stake on Sunday as well as the futile Play-In push.

Chicago is below your Bullets in the standings. They will probably owe their pick to Orlando from the Vucevic trade and Billy Donovan is going all in with riding his veterans while his young players come off the bench. Pat Beverly was signed in the buy-out market and immediately started in the Bulls' blowout victory over the Nets.

This is the final matchup between these teams. Each winning on their homecourt. I'd take Chicago.

Porzingis is OUT for your Bullets, FYI.


-------------------------VS-------------------------


Projected Lineups :











Bench:

[nate33]

It's amazing how thin the line is between a 7th seed in the East and the 6th worst record in the league (with a 37% chance at a top 4 pick). I had given up thoughts of tanking, but we are still so close.

This Porzingis injury could be a blessing in disguise. He is our best player and we might lose a lot without him. We are only 1.5 losses away from having the 7th worst record, and 2.5 losses away from the 6th worst record (and that 6th team is Indy who may start winning now that Haliburton is back).

Looking out West, I'm concerned that Portland may be stealth tanking, so they are a threat to finish below us too.

[nate33]

It seems like this team will avoid getting to .500 this year. Every time they sniff it, they blow a double digit lead! And on Friday, a 19 point lead was destroyed by the Knicks. This comes three weeks after the debacle at home vs. Rip City and on the road at Brooklyn.

I don't really consider the Knicks game to be an embarrassing blown lead. That 19 point lead in the middle of the 2nd quarter was an anomaly thanks to hitting 11 of our first 16 threes. We weren't necessarily outplaying the Knicks, we just shot an abnormally high percentage. If we had hit 6 of 16 (37.5%), our lead would have been 4.

We regressed to the mean through the remainder of the game, shooting just 8-28 from 3-point range (28%) and that's how we got outscored by 25 throughout the remainder of the game. The Knicks were better than us all night.

[Jethrobodine123]

So player A gets hot for the first quarter or the first half, cannot be stopped, the team builds a lead, at times a large lead, so then for the rest of the game, player A doesn't hardly see the ball again or doesn't seem to have any plays drawn up for him. Can anyone make sense of this for me, it's the craziest thing I've seen of all the years of playing or following this game. Practically every time Porzingis is absolutely killing it, they seem to avoid him for the rest of the game and most times the Wizards lose said game. It's really perplexing, I don't get it.

I would be kind of pissed if I were Porzingis when the analyst or announcers are making up this Randle against Porzingis rivalry for the game, then Randle gets 30 shots and Porzingis gets 10. After the game there's this narrative that Randle put a beat down on Porzingis.

Just had to get that off my chest. I feel better now.

J

[nate33]

So player A gets hot for the first quarter or the first half, cannot be stopped, the team builds a lead, at times a large lead, so then for the rest of the game, player A doesn't hardly see the ball again or doesn't seem to have any plays drawn up for him. Can anyone make sense of this for me, it's the craziest thing I've seen of all the years of playing or following this game. Practically every time Porzingis is absolutely killing it, they seem to avoid him for the rest of the game and most times the Wizards lose said game. It's really perplexing, I don't get it.

I would be kind of pissed if I were Porzingis when the analyst or announcers are making up this Randle against Porzingis rivalry for the game, then Randle gets 30 shots and Porzingis gets 10. After the game there's this narrative that Randle put a beat down on Porzingis.

Just had to get that off my chest. I feel better now.

J

The Knicks were orienting their D on Porzingis all night long. They didn't give him any looks at all in the paint at all. (He had a grand total of 1FGA from 2-point range and it was a miss.)

Porzingis had 6 shot attempts (plus 4 FTA's) in the first half.
Porzingis had 4 shot attempts (plus 4 FTA's) in the second half.

This notion that Porzingis was somehow dominating the game in the first half, and then got froze out of the offense in the 2nd half is just wrong. Porzingis didn't really score against tight coverage at all. He wasn't an unstoppable force, abusing his defender and demanding double team coverage. He just took shots in the pick-and-pop when the Knick's defensive coverage allowed it. He made them all in the first half, and missed them all in the 2nd half.

[Frichuela]

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[Frichuela]

It’s gonna be tricky to win this one. Goodwin should play plenty of minutes though!

Read on Twitter

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[closg00]

Bring back the Luv-a-Bulls to the game threads....but I guess not, they are not the howlers they used to be.
https://www.nba.com/bulls/entertainment/luvabulls

[Frichuela]

Another good start leading to a time out by the opposition…let’s see how Wes does today…

[Frichuela]

I mean, playing a front court of Kispert-Kuzma-Gill front court is such a recipe for disaster…

[Frichuela]

Goodwin playing very solid and everywhere

[Pistol King]

Yeah Kuzma made a three right now, but WUJ is pissing me off with the green light he gives him the entire season. Zero sense of accountability.

[Frichuela]

Kuzma with the idiotic low IQ foul on DeRozen’s 3 pt shot…

[Frichuela]

And Kuzma continues with his nightmare performance…3/12 FGs

[JWizmentality]

Beal is a massive mental midget.

[nate33]

This is shaping up to be a very interesting tank loss. After this game, the Wizards fall to 8th-to-last, and only a half-game ahead of Chicago.

[80sballboy]

Tough schedule coming up. Now that Ted is half-ass tanking for the Caps, it's time to do the same for the Wiz. Rest a mid-3 guy every night.A loss means Chicago is just a 1/2 game out of the 10th spot and Indiana is closing in.

[80sballboy]

This is shaping up to be a very interesting tank loss. After this game, the Wizards fall to 8th-to-last, and only a half-game ahead of Chicago.

Thinking the same thoughts and also that Kuz is going through a rough stretch. Pressing to try and get the big deal.

Next 10 games
at Atlanta
Toronto
Toronto
Milwaukee
at Detroit
Atlanta
at Philadelphia
Detroit
at Cleveland
Sacramento
Depends on who is healthy but looks like 3-7 to me.

[Kanyewest]

So the tank is back on?

[nate33]

This is shaping up to be a very interesting tank loss. After this game, the Wizards fall to 8th-to-last, and only a half-game ahead of Chicago.

Thinking the same thoughts and also that Kuz is going through a rough stretch. Pressing to try and get the big deal.

Next 10 games
at Atlanta
Toronto
Toronto
Milwaukee
at Detroit
Atlanta
at Philadelphia
Detroit
at Cleveland
Sacramento
Depends on who is healthy but looks like 3-7 to me.

Toronto has won 7 of their last 8 games and seems to have righted the ship. Things could look real bleak 4 games from now after a 6-game losing streak.