Indiana Pacers vs Washington Wizards Pick

MY PICK

WIZARDS

When the Indiana Pacers (32-17) visit the Washington Wizards (21-29) tonight, they’ll be looking to end a two-game losing streak.

Since Victor Oladipo was hit with his season-ending torn quadriceps tendon, the Pacers have taken a 106-103 loss at the Memphis Grizzlies, and then were steamrolled by the Golden State Warriors at home, 132-100.

For the season, Indiana is now 7-6 overall without Victor Oladipo.

There’s a silver lining for the Pacers, however: Starting with the game tonight at Washington, they begin a four-game road trip where they’ll also take visits to the Orlando Magic, Miami Heat and New Orleans Pelicans — winnable games that Indiana desperately needs in order to eclipse both the Milwaukee Bucks and Toronto Raptors for the lead in the Eastern Conference.

But with the good news, also comes some bad news for the Pacers: For the entire road trip, it’s looking like their guard Tyreke Evans will be out — the replacement for Oladipo. Evans would miss the game against Golden State on Monday because of lower back soreness. He also didn’t participate in yesterday’s practice.

What this means for Indiana is Edmond Sumner, who was recently called up from the NBA G-League, could take over the responsibility of Oladipo’s spot in the rotation until the return of Evans.

Unfortunately for the Pacers, the 23-year-old shot a depressing 10% (1-for-10) against the Golden State Warriors.

Not feeling bad for Oladipo-less Indiana are the John Wall-less Washington Wizards, who are also without Dwight Howard and Markieff Morris. And not just that, but they’re on a back-to-back coming into tonight’s game.

Last night, the Wizards were getting hammered by the Cleveland Cavaliers by 25 points — and this entering the fourth quarter. However, their bench almost pulled an incredible rally, and Washington would only fall by a 116-113 score.

The Wiz also+ had a chance to even it up. After cutting the Cavs’ lead to just three, Washington would go for the tie after inbounding the ball with 10.8 seconds remaining in the game. Cleveland’s Cedi Osman would block a three-point shot from Wizards’ Troy Brown.

Despite the loss, some good numbers came from Washington in the game against the Cavaliers: Bradley Beal would put up 31 points, while reserve Jordan McCrae added 15 points off of 5-of-5 shooting. Trevor Ariza also scored 13 for the Wiz.

Washington is currently riding a two-game losing streak, and enter tonight a bit more healthy with the returns of big-man Ian Mahinmi and Sam Dekker. Mahinmi was out with a sprained right thumb, while Decker was hit with back spasms — both would miss one game.

In two meetings this season, the Pacers hold the 2-0 edge. Both games were played at Indiana in December.

INJURY REPORT

INDIANA PACERS

TYREKE EVANS: Lower Back Soreness (Out — Day-to-Day)
VICTOR OLADIPO: Knee Surgery, Ruptured Quad Tendon (Out For Season — 6-to-9 Months)

WASHINGTON WIZARDS

JOHN WALL: Foot Surgery, Tore Achilles’ Tendon (Out For Season — 6-to-8 Months)

PLAYERS TO WATCH

INDIANA PACERS

BOJAN BOGDANOVIC

With Victor Oladipo being out for the season, Bojan Bogdanovic now carries the responsibility for the scoring load — this due to Bogdanovic now being the team’s leading-scorer without the presence of Oladipo. For the season, Bogdanovic has been solid in scoring — he’s -4 away from the 20 mark at 16.0 PPG. And it’s been on great shooting as well: For the year, Bogdanovic is hitting 48.7% of his shots. He also makes his mark on the glass: For the season, he averages 4.1 RPG. Put the numbers together, it brings a 14.72 PER.

DOMANTAS SABONIS

Due to Victor Oladipo being out and Bogdanovic taking more of the responsibility as a result, Domantas Sabonis will also have to carry more of the weight for the Pacers in scoring — and he’ll need to continue to do his thing in rebounding as well. With a sexy 23.61 PER, Sabonis nearly averages a double-double for the season. In scoring the ball, he puts up an average of 14.7 PPG (and on elite 61.2 FG% shooting to boot), and falls just -0.6 short from another double figure: He grabs 9.4 RPG on the glass.

WASHINGTON WIZARDS

BRADLEY BEAL

With or without John Wall, Bradley Beal has put up elite numbers this season, and in all three main statistical categories of points, assists and rebounds — leading the team in scoring and ball movement. Running around the court with a 19.49 PER, Beal is just -0.3 away from 25.0 PPG with 24.7, and the shooting has been very effective at 46.6 FG%. In the assist market, he’s also lit up the scoreboard with his 5.1 APG. And Beal hits another five mark in the rebounding game: He averages at exactly 5.0 RPG. 1.4 STLPG to add, as well.

TREVOR ARIZA

The 14-year veteran plays second fiddle to Bradley Beal in scoring with John Wall out of the picture, and he also makes his impact known on both the glass and in ball movement. With an 11.42 PER, Ariza hits double figures in scoring with a tally of 12.2 PPG — though the shooting needs to be higher from his 38.0 FG%. On the rebounding end, he eclipses the five mark at 5.7 RPG. And Ariza is also effective in points production through assists, he averages out at 3.8 APG. Also effective on defense, he posts a number of 1.5 STLPG.

CHECK THE NUMBERS

INDIANA PACERS

For the Indiana Pacers, they come in with three of the four main statistical categories (the four categories are points-per-game, points against, field goal %, rebounds-per-game), with scoring being their only negative. When it comes to offensive production, they’re -4 sitting with 108.7 PPG. However, they’re +1 in field goal percentage hitting 47.8% of their shots. On the rebounding end, they have another positive — this time +3 with 43.7 RPG. Their biggest edge comes on the defensive end: +12 with a solid mark of 103.8 PA.

WASHINGTON WIZARDS

Along with homecourt advantage, the Washington Wizards come in with an advantage in one of the four main categories on the stat sheet. In points-per-game, the Wizards hold their only edge being +4 averaging 112.8 PPG. Hitting their shots, Washington sits -1 behind the Pacers with 46.4 FG%. On the glass, the Wizards come in at -3 currently at the 40.7 RPG mark. And in their worst disadvantage, they’re -12 on defense allowing a dismal 115.9 PPG. With Oladipo out for Indiana, however, look for the stats to creep closer for the Wiz.

POWELL’S PREDICTION

With both teams being without their stars, we have a pretty balanced matchup between the Indiana Pacers and Washington Wizards tonight. Despite the Pacers coming in with the majority of the statistical advantages, the numbers even out a bit with Indiana not having Victor Oladipo to counter Bradley Beal — as well as the game being in D.C., where the Wizards are a solid 15-9 for the year.

With that being said, expect a dog-fight and a close result tonight. Coming in, the Pacers are just a -1 favorite, however, they’re still the favorite — despite how close the odds are. I bring that up because I’ll be riding with the Washington Wizards to pull off the upset tonight. Though I like the effectiveness of Indiana’s Bojan Bogdanovic and Domantas Sabonis, I don’t see them keeping pace enough with Beal to steal a victory on the road — though Indiana’s edge on defense will keep the game close, and the win achievable.

With Washington just being a +1 dog, they’ll obviously cover the spread. So now what to do with the over/under: I’d take the under. With Oladipo out, Indiana’s points production is sure to take a drastic hit, and on top of that, the Wizards’ defense is always improved at Capital One Arena. Mix that along with the fact that the Pacers’ defense is solid with or without Oladipo, there’s no way this game is going over the 218 thresholds.