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Playoff Pixels, Wizards vs. Pacers (Game 2): Roy Hibbert, free throw line doom Wizards to 1-1 series tie...but they still got this

Roy Hibbert woke up and the Wizards shot themselves in the foot at the free throw line, but don't worry. The Wiz still got this.

By Jeff Newman

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Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports

We shouldn't have poked the bear.

Alright Roy Hibbert, we see you now. But you'll have to forgive if I'm not about to panic about this series. Despite an 86-82 loss in Game 2, the Wizards are still coming home having accomplished the one goal every team has when starting a playoff series on the road -- steal one of the first two games, and flip home court advantage.

Mike already expressed my thoughts to a tee this morning. This was the worst game Washington played all postseason...and they lost by four. On the road. To the top overall seed. So don't fret.

John Wall (six points on 2-of-13 shooting, eight assists, one turnover) and Trevor Ariza (six points, eight rebounds) both struggled. The Wizards shot only 12 free throws the entire game, which was somehow made worse by the fact that they missed seven of those attempts (Nene alone was 0-for-4 from the stripe). In a four-point game, I'm guessing that loomed large. Add on the fact that the Pacers made 18-of-21 free throws, and really Indiana should have won this game more handily than they did.

The Wizards didn't do everything terribly. Despite Big Roy's resurgence (28 points, nine rebounds) Washington still outrebounded Indiana, 43-38. They shot 45 percent, pretty good against the Pacers' defense (though only 5-of-21 from three), and racked up 20 assists on 36 made field goals. Marcin Gortat recorded 21 points and 11 rebounds, both team highs. Bradley Beal was effective again, with 17 points, seven assists and five rebounds.

Bottom line, win Game 3 at home and you're right back to where you were against the Bulls. Let's do this, Wizards.

KEY LINKS

Road team recaps: BF StoryStream | SB Nation | Washington Post (gamer, sidebar, JReid column, Wise column, best-worst) | Washington Times | CSN Washington (recap, Wall sidebar, Gortat sidebar)  | Truth About It | Wiz of Awes (recap, Wall sidebar) | DC Pro Sports Report | Hoop District | District Sports Page (recap, column) | CBS Sports |  Ted's Take | Wizards.com | Monumental Network | Daily Wizdom

Home team recaps: Indy Cornrows StoryStream | Indy Star (gamer, sidebar, column) | AP | SI | ESPN | NBA.com | Hoops Habit | Sporting News | FiveThirtyEight | 8 Points 9 Seconds (recap, Hibbert sidebar) | Pacers Pulse | Pacers.com (recap, Hibbert sidebar, Hill sidebar)

Game highlights

Postgame interviews: Randy Wittman | John Wall | Marcin Gortat | Bradley Beal | Frank Vogel | Roy Hibbert

KEY STATS

13 - Indiana's scoring advantage at the free throw line in Game 2. The Pacers shot an absurd 18-for-21 at the charity stripe, while Washington shot a dreadful 5-for-12.

1 - Fast break points scored by the Wizards in Game 2. This will need to improve.

22.2 - John Wall's shooting percentage in Round 2. Wall has shot 6-for-27 in the two games against Indiana, and missed all seven of his three-point attempts.

TWEETS OF THE NIGHT

VIDEO/GIF(s) OF THE NIGHT

For those of you who prefer "Polish Hammer" to "Polish Machine," this was for you.

FIRST HALF GAMETHREAD COMMENT OF THE NIGHT

I know I said we shouldn't have poked the bear, but this is just too good. I didn't even know you could make GIFs this long...

SECOND HALF GAMETHREAD COMMENT OF THE NIGHT

Gt_comment

GAME RECAP COMMENT(s) OF THE NIGHT

I'm actually surprised by how measured most of you were afterwards. Well done.

Gt_comment

FIRST HALF GAMETHREAD ROLL CALL

# Commenter # Comments
1 NewCavsfan 69
2 terpsDC 50
3 DCrez 44
4 BucfaninAZ 39
5 Rice2012 37
6 MC-Sneaks 35
7 Ottoman-Empire 35
8 Justificati0n 29
9 LRJ 26
10 mr. 91 26
11 BealMVP4ever 23
12 Craig_ 23
13 lobster11 21
14 novadada 21
15 Hands11 19
16 Astilita 19
17 TheBackCourt 19
18 khrabb 17
19 Brown Flash 17
20 Nickdogggmoneycash 15
21 wad0cash 14
22 Krobify 14
23 eltacoman 13
24 Palace of Good Play's Golden Toilet 13
25 wizkidforlife 12
26 abala 11
27 murtd1 11
28 ryanwadams 11
29 sluMDoc 10
30 gregjohnson1229 10
31 tw10 10
32 ywlee22 9
33 Blitzkrazy21 9
34 formula0 9
35 capital city banana smushers 8
36 nesby8 7
37 denny from yates 7
38 House_oF_GuarDs 7
39 Horcasitas4 6
40 little stevie colter 6
41 imperialme 6
42 TheHogHouse 5
43 KappakidToo 5
44 Loanmoney001 5
45 qthaballa 5
46 Discodc 5
47 tarheel723 4
48 Big Spoon 4
49 LeHalfrican 4
50 Jim America 3
51 ExtraSpecialBitter 3
52 Tibia 3
53 Knowledge92 3
54 vodkamattvt 3
55 KurisuDevil 2
56 John Wall Stan 2
57 wizardsfan13 2
58 chn 2
59 ZonkerBL 2
60 Mike Prada 2
61 t0Shihiro 2
62 Skinsfan_chadoe 2
63 RG3K_46 2
64 Finnarious 1
65 WhiteMambah 1
66 Kuruption 1
67 WizardFan 1
68 Great Vengeance and Furious Anger 1
69 thewiz06 1
70 Hulk_07 1
71 g_andal16 1
72 The Gif Jester 1
73 J_D_P 1
74 jaffejoe 1
75 perroandaluz 1
76 do.itch.big 1
77 elliotlevy2 1
78 Jormond Wall 1
79 Clutchcity202 1
80 daca 1

SECOND HALF GAMETHREAD ROLL CALL

# Commenter # Comments
1 wizkidforlife 79
2 NewCavsfan 75
3 Rice2012 60
4 Craig_ 50
5 lobster11 39
6 wad0cash 35
7 terpsDC 34
8 BucfaninAZ 34
9 TheBackCourt 32
10 DCrez 31
11 tw10 30
12 Ottoman-Empire 30
13 BealMVP4ever 28
14 Astilita 26
15 gregjohnson1229 26
16 MC-Sneaks 23
17 ywlee22 21
18 wizardsfan13 19
19 LRJ 18
20 Palace of Good Play's Golden Toilet 18
21 khrabb 18
22 ryanwadams 17
23 murtd1 15
24 satchmore 15
25 formula0 14
26 mr. 91 14
27 denny from yates 14
28 novadada 13
29 Loanmoney001 12
30 abala 12
31 TheHogHouse 11
32 kyleMaroc 8
33 Hands11 8
34 sluMDoc 8
35 Rhamm21 7
36 Nickdogggmoneycash 7
37 House_oF_GuarDs 7
38 Krobify 7
39 t0Shihiro 6
40 Justificati0n 6
41 do.itch.big 6
42 jsuh0 6
43 ZonkerBL 6
44 Horcasitas4 5
45 Brown Flash 5
46 eltacoman 5
47 jrhooo 5
48 DCPerspective 4
49 Joe.H 4
50 WizADeveryday 4
51 chn 4
52 mauledbyabeer 4
53 WizardFan 4
54 LezBoules 3
55 TeamDC 3
56 Discodc 3
57 WASwizardsfan671 3
58 Tibia 3
59 NRKgoSKINS 2
60 dcRising#1 2
61 nesby8 2
62 Knowledge92 2
63 ATrueNigerian 2
64 Objdadon 2
65 wync 2
66 Big Spoon 2
67 DavidDunn 2
68 zskins26 1
69 thewiz06 1
70 KurisuDevil 1
71 oakhillsteeze 1
72 daca 1
73 little stevie colter 1
74 Jormond Wall 1
75 RCpige 1
76 perroandaluz 1
77 Blitzkrazy21 1
78 tengis 1
79 Rook6980 1
80 RG3K_46 1

In This Stream

Wizards vs. Pacers, NBA Playoffs 2014 Game 2: Poor decisions late causes 86-82 loss

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