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Game Info
When: Monday, December 9 at 7:00 pm Eastern Time
Where: Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana
TV: NBC Sports Washington
Injury Report
Wizards: John Wall (Out, Left Heel), Dwight Howard (Out, Back)
Pacers: Victor Oladipo (Out, Knee)
What to Watch for
Bradley Beal is carrying the team
Beal has carried his team all season and Saturday’s game was just another example of that. Although the Cavaliers snapped Washington’s win-streak, Beal did what he always does —go to work. He had 27 points, 5 assists, 4 rebounds.
But what good is that if the rest of the starters only combined for 25 points? The bench, on the other hand, delivered 3 less points than all of the starters combined (49 points). To whom starting minutes is given, much is expected, right?
The Wizards needs John Wall to show up...if he’s healthy
The Wizards won a game without Wall this past week, but that’s nothing to get excited about. They are certainly not a better team if he’s not in the lineup. In their last game against a shorthanded Cleveland, Washington would have likely had a different outcome if Wall didn’t score a career low of 1 point. It was evident that he was off and post-game we learned that he was trying to play through an injury. “It’s just like a bone spur. … I probably shouldn’t have played, that’s my fault. But you learn from your mistakes”, Wall said after the game.
The point guard is averaging 20.4 points and 8.3 assist per game (23.9 points in wins and 18.1 points in losses).
Pacers are on a win streak
The Pacers, the fourth-best team in the Eastern Conference at the moment, have won their last three games. The Wizards are not going to have to focus on leading scorer Victor Oladipo because he is out indefinitely with a knee injury. However, Washington will have to worry about former Wizards Bojan Bogdanovic who is averaging 16.4 points per game and Thaddeus Young after he dropped 20 points in their last win against Sacramento.