Washington Wizards: How to watch, injury report, and prediction
The Washington Wizards have had a disappointing start to their season. The team begins their 5-game road trip out west with the Portland Trail Blazers.
The Washington Wizards have got off to a terrible start losing their first two games of the season. Opening the year 0-2 is not how Washington pictured their record heading into a tough 10-day, West Coast swing.
In both games, the Wizards have played down to their opponents. The Miami Heat had a depleted roster, but yet still managed to pull out the victory in heart break fashion. One thing is for sure, the Wizards don’t ever have answer for Kelly Olynyk.
It felt like deja vu. For those that remember, Olynyk was Washington’s kryptonite in Game 7 against the Boston Celtics during the 2016-17 season. He scored 26 points off the bench and helped the Celtics to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals. On opening night, Olynyk had the game winning tip-in to stun the Wizards. Hopefully one day the team will be able to figure out how to contain him.
The defeat that’s more unacceptable was against the Toronto Raptors. Washington lost 117-113 to a Raptors team that didn’t have Kawhi Leonard in uniform that night. This is concerning if the Wizards can’t be a team without their superstar.
John Wall and Bradley Beal have been playing great, but the rest of the team, not so much. As I’ve mentioned before, the team won’t be able to contend at the next level if they don’t have a third option that can produce. These were two games that should have been won due to the advantage the Wizards had in each of them.
Now the Wizards head to face the Portland Trail Blazers, who are off to a hot start at 2-0. They beat two tough teams in the Los Angeles Lakers and the San Antonio Spurs and are demonstrating to the NBA not to forget about them when talking about the elite teams.
Game Info
Game: Washington Wizards vs. Portland Trail Blazers
When: Monday, October 22
Where: Moda Center
TV: NBC Sports Washington, Fubo TV
Tip-Off Time: 10:00 pm Eastern Time
Injury Report
Wizards: Dwight Howard (Gluteal Soreness-Out)
Trail Blazers: None
Projected Starting Lineup
Wizards: G-John Wall, G-Bradley Beal, F- Otto Porter Jr., F-Markieff Morris, C-Ian Mahinmi
Trail Blazers: G-Damian Lillard, G-C.J. McCollum, F-Jake Layman, F-Al-Farouq Aminu, C-Jusuf Nurkic
Prediction
The marquee match-up will be between the two All-Star caliber backcourts. Fans couldn’t ask for a better duel to watch than Lillard and McCollum vs. Wall and Beal. Washington also needs contain the rest of the Portland roster as they have been playing well.
The Wizards’ are in desperation mode as they don’t want to start off the season 0-3. After Portland, they face the Golden State Warriors which is basically a guaranteed loss. Following these two, they wrap up the trip out west with the Sacramento Kings, Los Angeles Clippers, and the Memphis Grizzlies.
More. Washington Wizards: Out with the old, Unleash Otto Porter. light
Scott Brooks needs to have the team disciplined and ready to go. The offense needs to be more fluid and more individuals need to contribute. I assumed the Wizards would be fine without Howard, but the team needs his return sometime on this trip. They’ve lacked a defensive presence and Jason Smith keeps getting torched.
I’m predicting a Wizards victory as they will be the more desperate team. It most certainly be an offensive affair.
Final Score: WSH-121, MIA-119
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