The Essentials:
Wizards (43-38) at Magic (51-30)
7 p.m.
Amway Arena
CSN
Previously:
November 3: Magic 94, Wizards 82.
March 5: Magic 122, Wizards 92.
March 19: Wizards 87, Magic 86.
Notable Magic numbers this season:
6th in expected winning percentage (.694)
9th in pace factor (91.9 possessions per game)
6th in offensive efficiency/offensive rating (113.5)
6th in defensive efficiency/defensive rating (107)
Key Links (drop any others in the comments)
Third Quarter Collapse
Believing in Magic
Magic BasketBlog
Starting Lineups:
Magic
PG: Jameer Nelson
SG: Maurice Evans
SF: Hedo Turkoglu
PF: Rashard Lewis
C: Dwight Howard
Wizards
PG: Antonio Daniels
SG: DeShawn Stevenson
SF: Caron Butler/Darius Songaila
PF: Antawn Jamison
C: Brendan Haywood
Tonight's Lines
Wizards at Magic: Magic by 5.5
Over/Under on Total Scoring: 202
Everyone's locked into their playoff positioning, so I doubt this game will be of much real importance. The only question on our side is whether the wounded soldiers (Caron, DeShawn, etc) will play in tonight's game. I personally think they shouldn't, for the record.
On another note, if the Wizards win tonight, they will have only had a losing head-to-head record against one Eastern Conference team (Detroit). Who knows how much that means, but that would definitely be a nice accomplishment.
Get ready for lots of Nick Young posterizing J.J. Redick. At least I hope so.
This is an open game thread, so salute the first-ever BF 2.0 game thread. The live commenting feature is pretty sick, so I imagine there will be more conversation than usual.