washington wizards vs golden state warriors preview (Photo: Reuters)
Golden State Warriors Preview
Golden State Warriors (27-18) vs. Washington Wizards (21-22)
Tip-off: Tuesday, January 28th, 2014 – 7:30PM PST
Location: Oracle Arena, Oakland, CA
Spread: Golden State (-8) meaning Warriors are 8-point favorites
TV: CSN Bay Area | Radio: KNBR 680 AM
Livetweet: @LetsGoWarriors (by @MaggiePilloton)
Last Game / Streak:
WAS – Lost 104-101 vs UTAH in Utah, Lost 1 straight game
GSW – Won 103-88 vs POR in Oakland, Won 1 straight game
Probable Starting Lineups:
Warriors:
PG: Stephen Curry (23.3 PPG, 9.6 APG, 4.7 RPG)
SG: Klay Thompson (19.3 PPG, 2.7 APG, 3.3 RPG)
SF: Andre Iguodala (10.4PPG, 5.0 APG, 4.0 RPG)
PF: David Lee (18.9 PPG, 2.2 APG, 9.8 RPG)
C: Andrew Bogut (7.8 PPG, 1.6 APG, 10.1 RPG)
Wizards:
PG: John Wall (19.9 PPG, 8.8 APG, 4.2 RPG)
SG: Bradley Beal (18.0 PPG, 3.0 APG, 4.0 RPG
SF: Trevor Ariza (14.8 PPG, 2.6 APG, 5.6 RPG)
PF: Trevor Booker (6.8 PPG, 1.2 APG, 7.0 RPG
C: Marcin Gortat (12.5 PPG, 1.7 APG, 8.4 RPG)
The Warriors will look to repeat their defensive performance last time out against the Portland Trail Blazers. The Dubs will also look to get a win on Andre’s birthday. Hopefully Harrison shows up today as well.
The Wizards will be looking to hit .500 for the first time since Wall joined the team. They will also be looking to bounce back after their embarrassing loss to the Utah Jazz.
Our guest blogger today is Cory Grubbs (@CoryGrubbs10) of WizardsXtra.com. Here’s their preview with a Q&A featuring our Poor Man’s Commish.
The Wizards are hovering around .500 and currently 6th in the East, with Brooklyn looming at 7th. What’s the sentiment out there in Washington, are Wizards fans excited about getting the team back into the playoffs?
Yes Wizards fans are certainly excited about getting back to the post-season. It hasn’t happened since the Gilbert Arenas/Antawn Jamison/Caron Butler days so needless to say, DC sports fans are starving for some playoff basketball.
That being said, fans are still wanting more. And why wouldn’t they? The team with the 3rd best record in the East currently sits at 23-21, a record that would put a Western Conference team in the draft lottery.
I’ll put it this way: If Washington heads to the playoffs with either the 3rd, 4th, 5th, or 6th seed fans will be happy. If the Wiz go into the post-season having a first round match-up with the Indiana Pacers or Miami Heat, fans will be disappointed.
Unless we land the 8th seed and join you all as the only 8th seed to knock off a 1st seed in a seven game series .Let’s just say fans would be dancing their hearts out in DC if that happened.
Around Golden State there’s a lot of talk about how owner Joe Lacob has helped changed the culture of the Warriors. Is a similar thing happening with Ted Leonsis?
Yes and no. The major difference between Lacob’s and Leonsis’s tenures is that Lacob has brought in all new people to help “change the culture”. You could tell that once you guys brought in Jerry West, Rick Welts, and Jackson that a winning culture was being instilled in Golden State and your recent success has proven just that.
Leonsis went the other route with trying to keep continuity with the management and coaching while trying to instill a winning culture in their brains as it pertains to running a successful sports franchise. So far that has had mixed results.
Golden State’s culture change has been expedited a little quicker than the Wizards’ process. You all have already been to the playoffs and won a playoff series.
Washington has not made it to the playoffs under Leonsis’s reign, but this year should change that. A culture change has surely taken place in DC though. Now there is a locker room of guys determined to play a winning brand of basketball, which was not the case in 2010, and a lot of that can be attributed to Leonsis.
What kind of a year is John Wall having? What are his chances of making the All-Star team?
Wall is having the type of season that Wizards’ fans envisioned when we drafted him #1 overall in 2010. He’s averaging career high in points (20), assists (8.5), and steals (1.9) and he just so happens to lead his team in all three of those categories.
While his statistical numbers have improved, so has his decision making, his patience on the court, his jumper, and his leadership abilities. His hard work really has paid off, and the results are shinning through.
If Wall isn’t announced as an All-Star reserve on Thursday, there may be a riot in DC. The writing is on the Wall (possible pun intended) that he deserves to be playing Sunday of All-Star weekend. When compared to all other PGs in the East, it really is a no-brainer.
He should be starting in place of Kyrie Irving, but that’s a different topic for a different day.
If I was a betting man, which I am, then you can take it to the bank that J-Wall makes his first All-Star appearance this year.
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