The Wizards are likely to be a very different team tonight against the Indiana Pacers than the one that led by 22 points before losing, 85-83, at home on Mar. 22, or the one that lost 93-89 in Indiana last week.
Tonight’s team still doesn’t have Nene and Trevor Booker, who will each miss their third consecutive game with plantar fasciitis in their respective left feet. Booker tried to warm up but gave a thumbs down.
Not unlike the comeback the Pacers achieved at Verizon Center, they went small to come back from 17 points down and win for the fifth time in their last seven games last night against New York, 112-104.
“If [Pacers coach Frank Vogel] wants to do that, it’ll help us,” Wizards coach Randy Wittman said. “Because we don’t have a lot of bigs. I hope he goes out with that.”
Much of the Wizards’ offense will depend on Jordan Crawford, who averaged 20.5 points in the first two games against the Pacers and continues to both thrill and frustrate at times with the volume of shots he takes.
“He’s a young kid that has great confidence in himself,” Wittman said. “He’s doing a better job in trying to understand what his shot selection is and what we expect of him. I think he’s made progress in that as we’ve moved on. He’s an aggressive kid, and you don’t ever want to take aggression away. You want to coach him, and get him to understand the good shot/bad shot, and I think he’s doing a better job of that.”
Tonight marks the first of three games in three nights for Washington, the final of two such stretches this season. It’ll make the final 10 games of the season over 18 days feel like pretty easy work.
“I think this is a good experience for these guys,” Wittman said. “Probably won’t ever happen again in their careers, but one that you can work through and do things through in tough situations. Playing three in a row is tough, but going from a mental standpoint, I think it could help these guys down the road.”
