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| 2014-15 NBA Regular Season | ||
|---|---|---|
 | vs. |  |
| January 21, 2015 | ||
| Chesapeake Energy Arena | ||
| 8 p.m. | ||
| CSN (D.C. area), ESPN (nationally), WNEW 99.1 FM | ||
| Projected Starting Lineups | ||
| Russell Westbrook | PG | John Wall |
| Andre Roberson | SG | Bradley Beal |
| Kevin Durant | SF | Paul Pierce |
| Serge Ibaka | PF | Nene |
| Steven Adams | C | Marcin Gortat |
| 2014-15 Advanced Stats | ||
| 94.5 (10th) | Pace | 93.2 (21st) |
| 105.2 (17th) | ORtg | 106.0 (15th) |
| 103.7 (10th) | DRtg | 103.2 (8th) |
| Also see: Welcome to Loud City | Preview | ||
More Numbers
| OFFENSE FOUR FACTORS | DEFENSE FOUR FACTORS | |||||||
| Team | eFG% | TOV% | ORB% | FT/FGA | eFG% | TOV% | DRB% | FT/FGA |
| Wizards | 51.3% (6) | 14.0% (22) | 25.4% (12) | 19.2% (24) | 48.5% (9) | 13.5% (14) | 77.3% (4) | 21.9% (21) |
| Thunder | 48.8% (21) | 13.9% (21) | 28.1% (3) | 21.3% (14) | 48.0% (4) | 12.8% (20) | 75.6% (11) | 21.3% (18) |
Notes
It's a big game for top Eastern Conference teams, not just the Wizards. The conference-leading Atlanta Hawks (5.0 games ahead of D.C.) host the Indiana Pacers, while the third-seeded Toronto Raptors are on the road to face the Memphis Grizzlies. If Memphis beats Toronto, AND the Wizards win, Washington will have a 2.5 game cushion over the Raptors.
I will add my two cents about the KD2DC circus for tonight since I'm not as gung-ho about it as others. Even thought he is playing at Verizon Center tonight, this game still needs to be more about the Wizards than about the Thunder. This team is already playing as well as they ever have in franchise history, without him. Later this spring, the Wizards could very well win the Eastern Conference this season and/or the next.
And even if Durant does play here, at least to me, John Wall is still the Wizards' number one franchise player, since he was here first. He'd be like Paul Pierce was for the Boston Celtics when Kevin Garnett arrived in 2007, or like Dwyane Wade was (and still is) for the Miami Heat after LeBron James signed there in 2010.
Anyways, I anticipate many comments for this game. So if and when commenting traffic warrants it, we may have a new second half thread. And we may even have a new thread for the Golden State Warriors' game against the Houston Rockets which is at 10:30 p.m. ET. You can watch that on ESPN.
Time to get to 30 wins y'all.