A Beal-less Washington Wizards had an absolutely ballistic outing against top dawg Miami Heat recently, but then with Beal back (though on limited minutes) had a disappointing game against the mediocre Orlando Magic. Tomorrow, the Wizards host one of the best teams in the league in the Denver Nuggets and hope that the underdog situation plays to their favor.

Game Info

When: Saturday, Jan. 4 at 8 p.m. ET

Where: Capital One Arena, Washington, DC

How to watch: NBC Sports Washington

Injury Report

Wizards: Moritz Wagner (Out), Rui Hachimura (Out), Davis Bertans (Out), (Out), C.J. Miles (Out), Thomas Bryant (Out), John Wall (Out)

Nuggets: Bol Bol (Out), Paul Milsap (Out).

Pregame notes

This weekend tests the Wizards — Was the great performance against the Heat just a result of an overachieving team coming to D.C. and relaxing versus a sub-0.500 team or was it really a sign of player development (or both?)? Scotty Brooks has a chance to show his system against the Trail Blazers and the Nuggets in one weekend and prove the naysayers wrong.

Bol Bol vs. the Admiral? — Well, not this time... Bol Bol is still injured.... (There was quite some talk about the Wizards drafting the son-of in the first round. However, they picked Rui Hachimura instead and Bol slipped on Draft Night even below the Wizards 42nd spot pick whenl Bol was still available but they took Admiral Schofield instead.)

Can anyone stop McRae? — He’s been on a tremendous roll as of lately, and had a great game last time the two teams met in Denver with 21 points.

IT revenge game please?— Assuming that Isaiah Thomas isn’t suspended after getting ejected last night, he will have one more shot to play his former team from last season.

Last time, in Denver, IT had 22 minutes to make Denver regret not re-signing him (or giving him minutes in the playoffs), but he only had one field goal and a total of 3 points (though 6 assists). This is for hoping IT can show some All-Star form, even if just for one night.

Flashback: Can someone (please) stop Nikola Jokic?

Last time the two teams met, Jokic had 20 rebounds. Yes, 20 rebounds. He also had too easy buckets (take a look at the 5:03 mark of the video below, where he just dances around TB). Would be nice if Brooks and defensive oriented assistant coach Longabardi come up with some way to stop Jokic this time around.