Indiana Pacers At Washington Wizards: Regular Season Game 54 Open Thread

After a brief glimpse at the good life, John Wall returns to the Island of Misfit Toys to start the second half of his rookie campaign. The optimist in me hopes that both John Wall and JaVale McGee will return from their All Star experience ready to get down to work and with a renewed enthusiasm for finishing the season strong. The pessimist in me likes to reiterate that the Wizards entered the break following a blowout loss to the Orlando Magic and that no amount of spirited play can fix what amounts to a broken roster.

The good news for both fans and the franchise is the many of the Wizards walking wounded return in some form or another for tonight's. Both Nick Young and Rashard Lewis will be available, but Coach Flip Saunders cautioned that they may be limited due to the time off (eight days) and the fact that this is the first game in a back to back. Al Thornton is expected to be held back for tonight's game unless the situation gets desperate, but should be ready for tomorrow night. Once again the team might be trotting out unfamiliar lineups and substitution patterns, which has become par for the course this season.

If the Wizards organization learned anything from All-Star weekend it was that John Wall is a truly deadly weapon when surrounded with the right component parts. Taking with a grain of salt that no defense is played during the Rookie-Sophomore game, it is still impressive to think what Wall is capable of when surrounded by players of roughly the same talent level. The rest of the season most likely will and should be concentrated on which Wizards get to remain on the good ship John Wall, and which will be given their walking papers at the end of the season.

UPDATE: No Kirk Hinrich tonight.

GO WIZARDS!!!

Wizards Starters

PG John Wall

SG Nick Young

SF Josh Howard

PF Andray Blatche

C JaVale McGee

Pacers Starters

PG Darren Collison

SG Mike Dunleavy

SF Danny Granger

PF Josh McRoberts

C Roy Hibbert