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Wizards vs. Rockets preview: Washington seeks another big win with Houston in town

By Jake Whitacre
Houston Rockets v Washington Wizards Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images

Game Info

When: Friday, December 29 at 7:00 p.m.
Where: Capital One Arena in Washington D.C.
TV: NBC Sports Washington and NBA TV
Win probability: Washington has a 47 percent chance of winning, according to FiveThirtyEight.

Injury Report

Wizards: Mike Scott (Out due to the birth of his daughter), Sheldon Mac (Out, Achilles)

Rockets: Chris Paul (Will play), Clint Capela (Out, Orbital Fracture), Luc Mbah A Moute (Out, Shoulder), Troy Williams (Out, Shoulder)

What to Watch for

Who wins the battle behind the arc?

Houston has taken their prolific three-point shooting to another level this season. Over half of their field goal attempts this season have come from behind the arc. No other team has attempted even 40 percent of their shots from deep.

The Rockets run great offensive sets to get their bevy of shooters open, but they can also just let it fly when needed. Over 30 percent of Houston’s threes are unassisted this season. By comparison, only 13 percent of the Wizards’ threes have been generated the same way.

Believe it or not, no team has done a better job at forcing misses on threes than the Wizards. Teams are only shooting 33.9 percent from deep against Washington this season.

But here’s where it gets interesting: According to NBA’s tracking data, Washington is 24th in contested threes per game, which means the Wizards are having success even though they’re not always getting a hand up on those outside shooters. This can mean one of two things: Either the Wizards have been incredibly lucky this season, or else they’re just doing a great job of baiting bad shooters to take threes instead of the good ones.

Friday’s game against the Rockets should serve as a perfect test case for whether or not the Wizards' three-point defense is legit.

A random moment in Wizards - Rockets history: The time Gilbert Arenas found John Wall for the alley-oop

Arenas and Wall only played together for a handful of games in 2010 before the Wizards traded Arenas to Orlando, but the two made some nice highlights together, including this impressive lob.