Washington Wizards: Wizards look to finish road trip strong against Indiana

The Washington Wizards will be wrapping up their four game road trip against the Indiana Pacers Monday night.

Yes, we all saw that the Washington Wizards lost to the Cleveland Cavaliers Saturday night, 116-101. It was a game that Washington should have easily won, but of course had to make things worse for themselves.

John Wall didn’t help either. He arguably had the worst game of his career. He finished the night with just one point and 6 assists. Apparently, he was injured and has been dealing with a bone spur in his left heel. Scott Brooks shouldn’t have played him.

Bradley Beal led the team with 27 points, 5 assists, and 4 rebounds. The bench played well as Markieff Morris, Kelly Oubre Jr., and Jeff Green combined for 41 points. It just wasn’t enough for the victory.

Washington made Tristan Thompson look like Shaquille O’Neal as he poured in 23 points and added 19 rebounds. Collin Sexton led all scorers with 29 points and shined against the Wizards backcourt. Once again, the defensive woes surfaced.

Enough about the loss to the Cavs, let’s take a look at tonight’s matchup verses the Indiana Pacers.

Game Info

Game: Washington Wizards vs. Indiana Pacers

When: Monday, December 10

Where: Bankers Life Fieldhouse

TV: NBC Sports Washington, Fubo TV

Tip-Off Time: 7:00 pm Eastern Time

Injury Report

Wizards: Dwight Howard (Lumbar microdisectomy procedure-Out), John Wall (Sore Left Heel-Doubtful)

Pacers: Victor Oladipo (Right Knee-Out)

Projected Starting Lineup

Wizards: G-Austin Rivers, G-Bradley Beal, F- Tomas Satoransky, F-Otto Porter, C-Thomas Bryant

Pacers: G-Darren Collison, G-Tyreke Evans, F-Bojan Bogdanovic, F-Thaddeus Young, C-Myles Turner

Prediction

John Wall will most likely not suit up due to his heel injury. He looked bad against Cleveland and Brooks needs to give him some rest.

This will force Bradley Beal to lead the charge once again. It will be interesting to see how things turn out if the team can win without Wall another time. Washington looked great against Atlanta with the All-Star point guard gone, but it didn’t have much significance since the Hawks are one of the worst teams in the NBA.

The Pacers will be without their All-Star, Victor Oladipo. Despite this, the Wizards can’t overlook them since they are currently the 4th in the Eastern Conference with a record of 16-10.

As always this game will be determined by defense. The Pacers enter into Monday’s game with the third best defensive rating in the NBA. They force about 16.5 turnovers per game and are also among the best at scoring off those turnovers.

On top of this, the Wizards will have their hands will with Miles Turner, Domantas Sabonis, and Thaddeus Young on the interior. Brooks needs to consider giving Thomas Bryant more playing time tonight because Markieff Morris and Jeff Green won’t be able to defend these big men all night long.

The recipe to success in defeating the Pacers is dictating the pace of the game and defense. Indiana does not want to play quickly. They are 27th in the NBA in pace and want to slow down the game as much as possible. Washington will need to control the tempo and of course play some type of defense if they want to go 3-1 on their road trip.

Unfortunately, the Wizards haven’t proven that they can beat the top teams of the East. Indiana will win this matchup.

Final Score- IND-113, WSH-102

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