Wizards 105

Pistons 101

April 10, 2017, The Palace of Auburn Hills Auburn Hills, Michigan

The quest for 50 remains a possibility and will happen if Washington avoids the South Beach flu
and beats the Miami Heat, who will be playing for their playoff lives, on Wednesday. First things
first, the Wizards avoided blowing a 15-point lead in The Palaces basketball finale thanks to a
strong performance from the Big Panda. Washington completes the biggest turnaround in NBA
history following a 2-8 start by recording their 49th win, 105-101 over Detroit.

John Wall (quad) and Otto Porter (back) sit out.

The Washington Wizards point guard sat out his first game since November 12th when he sat out
the back end of a back-to-back against Chicago. In his first three seasons in the league, Wall
played in just 184 regular season games, while in the last four he has already played in 316. It is
likely that Wall would have played if there was some meaning on the line with regards to seeding
or the playoffs itself, but there is no reason to aggravate a legitimate injury. [I've] missed too
many games in my career already, Wall said after the Charlotte game on Tuesday. Rest dont
mean nothing right now. I want to play as many games as I can.

There is a greater degree of concern with Otto Porter who is sitting out his second straight game
after taking a hard foul against New York. Porter said he needed a day for himself before missing
the Miami game on Saturday and did not sound confident when asked if he would be able to play
if this was in the playoffs. Despite Porters diminished three-point shooting post All Star Break,
he is still an important starter that ensures Kelly Oubre can play off the bench and help anchor
that unit.

This Wizards team has something in common with the Randy Wittman era.
Yes, you read that correctly. That thing is the element of balanced scoring. John Wall, Bradley
Beal and Marcin Gortat remain starters from that era as Otto Porter and Markieff Morris have
taken the place of Trevor Ariza, Paul Pierce, and Nene. Washington has all five starters averaging
double figures and even without Wall and Porter tonight, Beal and Morris were money. Beal was
13 of 20 for 33 points, his 13th 30+ point game of the season, including a thunderous dunk at the
end of the game to secure the victory for Washington. Morris was 9 of 16 for 20 points to go
along with 8 rebounds tonight including 3 of 4 shooting in the final four minutes of the game. In
his last two games, Morris is 18 of 29 (62%) from the field and 5 of 8 from three (62.5%) for 41
points, which could be a major X-factor in the playoffs.

Playoffs? You talking about playoffs?

Yes, lets talk about the possibilities for the rest of the Eastern Conference even though the
Wizards are locked into the No. 4 seed.
Boston is the No. 1 seed if they beat Milwaukee at home on Wednesday OR Cleveland loses to
Toronto at home on Wednesday.
Atlanta is the No. 5 seed if they beat Charlotte at home on Tuesday or they beat Indiana on the
road on Wednesday. The Hawks can also be the five seed if they lose both of their final two
games AND Milwaukee loses at Boston because Atlanta (4-3) would own the three-way tiebreak
over the Bucks (4-4) and Pacers (3-4).
Miami is in the playoffs if they beat Washington at home on Wednesday AND (Chicago loses at
home to Brooklyn OR Indiana loses at home to Atlanta).