Wizards (25-18) vs Bucks (22-20)
When: Monday, January 15th at 2 p.m. Where: Capital One Arena in Washington D.C. TV: NBC Sports Washington / Radio: 1500 AM
Injury:
Wizards: Sheldon Mac (Out, Achilles), Chris McCullough (G-League assignment )
Bucks: Jabari Parker (Out, Knee), Mirza Teletovic (Out, Knee, Illness/Lungs)
Notes -
Bradley Beal tallied 24 points, his 33rd game this season with at least 20 points, the most among Eastern Conference guards this season and tied for fifth-most in the NBA overall.
Total Games with 20+ points, Eastern Conference guards
Bradley Beal 33
Kyrie Irving 32
DeMar DeRozan 32
John Wall tallied 23 points and 16 assists, tying his season high in assists. It was Wall's second game this season with at least 15 points and assists in a game, each coming in the last week (Jan. 6 vs. MIL).
Total Games with 15+ points and assists
Russell Westbrook 4
John Wall 2
James Harden/LeBron James 2
Darren Collison 1
Marcin Gortat tallied 16 points and 13 rebounds in the game for his 11th double-double of the season. Wall and Gortat had their third game this season where each player recorded a double-double (Dec. 25 at BOS and Dec. 19 vs. NOP). The Wizards are 3-0 when they each record a double-double. The pair had 25 games last season where they each had a double-double, going 18-7 in those games.
Wizards -
107.1 - points per game
104.7 - points against
48.5 - Field goal %
Bucks -
105.7 - points per game
106.4 - points against
43.7 - field goal %
Keep an eye on:
Contain Greek Freak and Eric Bledsoe: Easier said than done but those two in a short period of time have developed a strong chemistry, and that chemistry was strong in a 110-103 win over Washington earlier this month. Milwaukee closed the game on a 12-4 run and Antetokounmpo and Bledsoe scored 10 of the Bucks points. Milwaukee is coming off a 97-79 loss to the Miami Heat where Antetokounmpo had a solid game by his standards 22 points and 6 rebounds however Bledsoe struggled with 10 points and 4 assist on 4-16 shooting. The Bucks have other players capable of putting numbers up like Khris Middleton and Malcolm Brogdon, yet, the closer's are Greek Freak and Bledsoe. Contain those two for a FULL 48 minutes instead of 45 and Washington should avenge the loss from a week ago.
More Poise & Execution in the clutch: The Wizards held a 99-96 lead with 3:01 remaining in the game. From then on, Milwaukee finished the game on a 14- 6 run. During that stretch, Washington shot 0-4. The Bucks stars made more play's than the Wizards stars late. Beal took a hard foul from Bucks guard Matthew Dellavedova early in the fourth quarter and the Wizards never got back on track after the incident. Although Wall finished with 16 points and 16 assist and Beal finished with 20 points and 5 rebounds, the all star level back court also combined to shoot 12-38 from the field and committed 10 turnover between them. Late game execution and poise has to improve sooner than later from the back court, because as they go Washington goes.