Wizards 18-32 vs Warriors 24-27
When: Friday, April 9th, at 10p.m.
Where: Chase Center, San Francisco, CA
TV: NBCSWA, NBA League Pass / Radio: WFED 1500 AM
Injury
Wizards: Thomas Bryant (Out/ Left ACL Surgery), Daniel Gafford (Out/ Right Ankle Sprain),
Warriors: Klay Thompson (Out for the season/ Right Achilles), Eric Paschall (Out/ Hip)
Wizards -
113.6 - points per game
120.2 - points against
46.6 - Field Goal %
Warriors -
112.0 - points per game
113.0 - points against
46.1 - Field Goal %
Keep an eye on:
Steph Curry: Period!!!! Oh you need me to elaborate more? Ok. Curry averages 29.7 points (3rd in the NBA), 6 assists, 5.5 rebounds, 1.3 steals on 48 percent shooting from the field, 40 percent shooting from deep and 92 percent from the free throw line on the season. He's the greatest shooter of all time and the best point guard in the game. That should sum it up for you.
Dynamic Wings: of the Warriors can cause issues in a variety of ways. Andrew Wiggins and Kelly Oubre Jr can be very disruptive defensively. getting into passing lanes for steals and deflections, making the opposition think twice about passing the ball. Both excel at on ball defense as well where they have been consistent in locking down scoring threats for stretches during games all season. Lastly, with both wings being good rebounders for their position, you see why they're looked at as the complete package defensively.
Offensively, they're threats and have to be accounted for at all times. Wiggins who is averaging 18 points this season, is having one of his more efficient seasons shooting wise of his career. He's shooting 47 percent from the field, 39 percent from 3-point range and a solid 70 percent from the charity stripe. Oubre, while not as efficient is averaging 15.1 points this season and is capable of exploding at any time. Brad Beal, Deni Avdija and at times Rui Hachimura will have to be on their game defensively or these two could be the very reason Washington suffers a loss tonight.
Draymond Green: is a swiss army knife player if ever there was one. He impacts the game in every way, especially defensively and as a playmaker. Green leads the Warriors in assists (8.5), rebounds (6.5) and steals (1.5) while only turning the ball over 2.8 times a game. Defensively, he's one of the best the NBA has to offer. He has the IQ of a top point guard with the blend of size, strength and quickness to literally defend all five positions on the floor. What he brings may not always show up in the box-score outside rebounds and assists but often times when it comes to the Warriors winning, he's the x-factor in making that happen.
Hachimura, Avdija, Gill possibly need to apply pressure to Green to take away his vision as best as possible so he won't pick Washington's defense apart passing the ball and it will force him to become a scorer which often times, he's reluctant to do. Green is averaging 6.4 points on 41% from the field and 26% from deep, yet, he only averages a little under six shot attempts a game. You can't view Green as a traditional forward, he plays a point-forward role and looks to make plays for everyone else. Making him seek to score can disrupt Golden State's rhythm offensively.
3-Point Shooting: shouldn't be a big shock as something to watch in this game. The Warriors, even without the services of Klay Thompson, remain one of the better 3-point shooting teams in the league. Golden State has ten players shooting 35% from deep or better and they rank ninth in 3-point makes (13.7 per game), sixth in 3-point attempts (37.3 per game) and fifteenth in 3-point percentage (36.8%). Washington on the other hand is among the worst, converting 34.7 percent of 3-pointers which is 27th in the NBA. The Wizards only have three players shooting 35 percent or better from deep, Raul Neto (35%), Davis Bertans (39%) and Garrison Mathews (41%).
Washington needs to duplicate the shooting they displayed in their win over Orlando Wednesday and give maximum effort defending the three tonight or this game could get ugly in a hurry.
Youth Movement: for the Warriors is promising with talented rookie center James Wiseman and second year guard Jordan Poole.
Wiseman (11.5 ppg/ 5.9 rpg/ 1 bpg) while inconsistent, is still someone Washington's bigs has to account for in a major way. He's super athletic, 7'1, skilled and is willing to do the dirty work inside. It's no secret that Washington doesn't have the most athletic front court, and teams have taken full advantage of that throughout this season. You don't get compared to hall of fame centers like David Robinson for nothing so Alex Len and Robin Lopez gotta bring it tonight and hope their experience gives them an edge tonght.
Poole, after torching the G-league has returned to the Warriors and provided a reliable scoring punch off the bench. Poole, who is averaging 10.7 points on 44 percent shooting from the field, 35 percent from deep and 90 percent from the charity stripe this season, can score from all three levels and is especially deadly one on one. Poole can put up points in a hurry.