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After running all over a Heat team that was resting LeBron James and Chris Bosh for the playoffs, the Wizards seemed to have secured the sixth seed Monday when the Hawks took a 15-point lead in the second half of their game against the seventh-place Bobcats.
Then Atlanta got outscored 30-13 in the fourth quarter, losing at the buzzer on a crazy shot by Chris Douglas-Roberts, and now the Wizards need to finish the regular season with a victory over the Celtics to guarantee the sixth seed.
The Bobcats need to beat the Bulls, who are still vying with Toronto for the third seed, to have any shot of leapfrogging Washington, so even if the Wizards lose to Boston, there's a decent chance they'll remain at No. 6, but let's not let it come to that, eh? Just take care of business against the Celts, and we don't have to play the Heat with LeBron and Bosh. Shoot, if the Wiz win, and the Nets lose their last two against the Knicks and Cavs (yeah, not going to happen), they could still get the fifth seed.
As for Monday's game, the Wizards won 114-93 despite John Wall scoring only four points. Don't let that point total fool you; Wall had a very good game, racking up 13 assists in only 24 minutes against a Heat team that seemed disinterested in doing much of anything. Andre Miller picked up right where Wall left off, handing out nine assists in 22 minutes of floor time.
Trevor Ariza scored a game-high 25 points on 10-of-13 shooting, Nene was a beast off the bench with 18 points in 24 minutes, and Bradley Beal had an efficient 15 points on nine shots to go with five assists. Marcin Gortat scored 10 points and grabbed 13 rebounds, while Al Harrington chipped in 16 points on 4-of-6 shooting from three.
My only complaint was that Nene was still on the court late in the fourth quarter with the game well in-hand. I understand wanting to get the Big Brazilian conditioned for the playoffs, but the last thing you need is for him to get hurt again playing meaningless regular season minutes. Nene himself didn't seem too happy with his playing time, either (see below).
KEY LINKS
Home team recaps: BF StoryStream | Washington Post | AP | CSN Washington (recap, sidebar) | Wiz of Awes | DC Pro Sports Report | District Sports Page | Wizards.com | Monumental Network (recap, playoff scenarios)
Road team recaps: Hot Hot Hoops | Miami Herald (gamer, sidebar) | South Florida Sun Sentinel (gamer, sidebar) | Heat Index (grades, sidebar) | All U Can Heat | WaPo JReid column
Postgame interviews: Randy Wittman | John Wall | Trevor Ariza | Bradley Beal | Nene | Marcin Gortat
KEY STATS
59 - Washington's shooting percentage against Miami. This pretty much explains why the Wiz won.
78 - Percentage of Wizards' field goals against the Heat that were assisted (36 assists on 46 field goals). This pretty much explains why Washington shot 59 percent.
TWEETS OF THE NIGHT
First, a warning: For those of you who watch Game of Thrones but haven't seen this past Sunday's episode yet, a) what the hell are you doing with your life??, and b) you may want to stop here if you live under a rock and haven't heard what happened, because an itty bitty/major SPOILER awaits below.
For the rest of you, enjoy.
John Wall's league-leading 700th Ast makes him 1st Wizards player to hit the mark since Rod Strickland in 1997-98. pic.twitter.com/n4yH1I4bgO
— Numbers Never Lie (@ESPN_Numbers) April 14, 2014
TRADE KIRK COUSINS FOR ANDRE MILLER
— A. Sharif (@Abdu11ah) April 14, 2014
Everyone (well, Washington Heat fans) seem to be forgetting when Wiz were up by 30 with Lebron and Bosh in earlier this season
— Hoop District (@HoopDistrictDC) April 15, 2014
Partially True Story: Michael Beasley just saw Otto Porter on the court & thought he was a pack of rolling papers.
— Kyle Weidie (@Truth_About_It) April 15, 2014
Get ready for the reign of the Neo-OTTOman empire pic.twitter.com/ZWlCz5525Z
— Akbar Naqvi (@A_Naqvi_WoA) April 15, 2014
Destroying Tokyo. Sidling between buildings. RT @Truth_About_It: Otto Porter is a monster. You may know him as #Slenderman.
— Bullets Forever (@BulletsForever) April 15, 2014
I have confidence that Nene knows how to try to play without maybe hurting himself, but yea, let's get him on the bench.
— Kyle Weidie (@Truth_About_It) April 15, 2014
@BulletsForever Is this REALLY the same season we had Maynor at point? And Nene missed 20+ games? And Gooden wasn't with the team game 1?
— Jonathan S (@JS889208) April 15, 2014
The #Heat come to DC, then leave like... pic.twitter.com/W5bC1Ld7Ay
— Hoop District (@HoopDistrictDC) April 15, 2014
Crab dribble soup pic.twitter.com/gT71oj5jqo
— Dan Steinberg (@dcsportsbog) April 15, 2014
If the Wizards win on Wednesday in Boston, they'll be just the third Bullets/Wiz team since 1980 to get 44-plus wins.
— Bullets Forever (@BulletsForever) April 15, 2014
DWade on Wizards D: "They did a good job of denying me the ball all game. I felt like I was in football practice trying to get open."
— Ben Standig (@BenStandig) April 15, 2014
Wizards play Celtics on Wednesday. Bobcats play Bulls. That'll be tough for Charlotte, but why even give them a chance, y'know?
— Bullets Forever (@BulletsForever) April 15, 2014
One reporter suggested that Toney Douglas stopped John Wall because he scored just 4 pts. Coach Spoelstra quickly shut that down
— Rashad Mobley (@rashad20) April 15, 2014
Note: #Nene wasn't happy with playing w/his playing time. Said 24 on his current min restriction was too much #WizardsTalk #NBA #WizHeat
— J. Michael (@JMichaelCSN) April 15, 2014
"It was a post route, the safety bit on the ball fake," Beal describes his catch on Andre's long pass: http://t.co/cEAGTHFYXD #WizHeat
— Washington Wizards (@WashWizards) April 15, 2014
@HoopDistrictDC @BulletsForever this. was. epic. pic.twitter.com/oh8TeB3Mui
— Sunil Chhabra (@sunilc47) April 15, 2014
VIDEO/GIF OF THE NIGHT
Andre Miller has rendered Phil Chenier incredulous. "Oh no. Oh no. No he didn't."
If the Redskins end up trading Kirk Cousins, maybe they should consider signing Miller to backup Robert Griffin III.
GAMETHREAD COMMENT OF THE NIGHT
Yeah baby, yeah!!
GAMETHREAD ROLLCALL
# | Commenter | # Comments |
---|---|---|
1 | qthaballa | 98 |
2 | Ottoman-Empire | 73 |
3 | Wall_Hopeful | 64 |
4 | TheBackCourt | 47 |
5 | BealMVP4ever | 32 |
6 | Baird15 | 31 |
7 | LRJ | 27 |
8 | Bradley_B3al | 23 |
9 | Gators2015_BB3 | 22 |
10 | thewiz06 | 22 |
11 | Yeti60 | 21 |
12 | Banode | 20 |
13 | jarem | 18 |
14 | NewCavsfan | 18 |
15 | DCrez | 17 |
16 | MC-Sneaks | 17 |
17 | ryanwadams | 16 |
18 | novadada | 16 |
19 | the new Bradfather | 11 |
20 | abala | 10 |
21 | ExcuseMeDearSir | 7 |
22 | rotosportsbook | 7 |
23 | hambonejackson | 7 |
24 | John Wall Stan | 4 |
25 | George Templeton | 4 |
26 | Hands11 | 4 |
27 | ts35 | 4 |
28 | jaffejoe | 3 |
29 | Rook6980 | 3 |
30 | pplchamp | 3 |
31 | terpsDC | 3 |
32 | Mandark | 3 |
33 | gavalon55 | 3 |
34 | Wiz-kid | 3 |
35 | sublime1983 | 2 |
36 | Jormond Wall | 2 |
37 | obeast | 2 |
38 | mikeymoney | 1 |
39 | redterp02 | 1 |
40 | elliotlevy2 | 1 |
41 | jrhooo | 1 |
42 | Craig_ | 1 |
43 | Terping | 1 |
44 | kerrakpo | 1 |
45 | Akbar264 | 1 |
46 | g_andal16 | 1 |
47 | nesby8 | 1 |
48 | benofficial202 | 1 |
49 | WizADeveryday | 1 |
50 | jsuh0 | 1 |