Pacers @ Bullets

So, it is going to be the Cavaliers and the Bullets in the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs. Philadelphia and Toronto have fallen out of contention for the 4th or 5th seed in the conference and will have to compete for the right to avoid Detroit in the first round. For Washington, it’s a chance to avenge playoff defeats in each of the last two seasons.
Before we get to that, though, the Bullets have two more regular season games to play. Tonight, the Indiana Pacers come to town. This is the 4th game between these two teams this season and Indiana leads the series 2-1, with 2 victories on its home court. Washington did defeat Indiana back in November, in Gilbert Arenas’ second-to-last game before undergoing knee surgery that would cause him to miss 66 games. Arenas scored 30 points and dished 11 assists in that game, surely the high point of his entire season. Washington’s two losses to Indiana came on opening night, a 119-110 overtime loss that saw Jamal Tinsley completely dominate the last 10 minutes of the game. In Washington’s second loss to Indiana, in December, the Bullets played without Arenas and Caron Butler, who was out with an ankle sprain.
Gilbert Arenas and Caron Butler did not participate in this morning’s shootaround so we don’t know if either will play.
In addition, Jeff Foster, starting center for the Indiana Pacers, will not play tonight due to an injured kneecap. Jermaine O’Neal missed the Indiana shootaround this morning with a stomach flu.
Fortunately for Washington, Tinsley will be inactive for tonight’s game and Ronald Murray will start in his place. Murray isn’t the player Tinsley is, but he shoots better than 41% on his 3-pointers, so the Bullets will have to rotate well and Antonio Daniels and Gilbert Arenas cannot fall asleep on their man. Murray can hurt the Bullets if he is left unguarded.
Danny Granger is the other guard and he’s a tall order for Deshawn Stevenson to fill. Granger is Indy’s leading scorer, putting in almost 20 points per game. Granger scored 37 points in a loss to Charlotte two nights ago and he poured in 6 3-pointers in that game. Stevenson likes to help out other, inferior, Bullets defenders, but he’ll need to stick with Granger tonight or his man will do a lot of damage.
At forward, Mike Dunleavy is one of the league’s most improved players. He averages almost 19 points per game and shoots over 40% from 3-point range. The power forward, Troy Murphy, is a decent rebounder and shoots almost 39% on 3-pointers. Seeing a pattern here? Indiana can shoot the long ball and Washington, as we know from bitter experience, does not defend the 3-point arc well. Or sometimes at all. If Indiana’s shooters are left alone tonight, they have the potential to do a lot of damage.
Jermaine O’Neal will come off the bench and get between 20-30 minutes of play. O’Neal, despite his great talent, is 8-23 from the field over the last 3 games and hasn’t played more than 21 minutes in any of those games. Still, he has the ability to hurt the Bullets if he’s hot tonight.
The Pacers need to win their final two games and have the Atlanta Hawks lose their final two games to slip into the 8th spot of the playoffs and the right to be swept by the Celtics. Indiana had won 4 straight games before losing to Charlotte, so the Pacers are not playing bad ball right now. Washington, aside from one embarrassing non-performance in Detroit, has been playing good basketball, too, of late. The question is how much will the Bullets want this game. Washington needs to win its final two games and have Cleveland lose its final two games in order to steal home court advantage in the first round. Cleveland plays the Philadelphia 76ers and the Detroit Pistons before the regular season ends. The Cavs are not playing well now and could easily lose to Philly — which is battling Toronto for the 6th seed and the right to avoid being swept by Detroit. The Pistons don’t seem to have much to play for, but they’re playing well anyway and they don’t like losing to the Cavaliers, who eliminated the Pistons from the playoffs last season. In other words, both games for Cleveland could easily be losses. Or wins.
How much does Eddie Jordan want that 4th seed and home court advantage? If Butler and/or Arenas suits up tonight and Jamison gets 35+ minutes, I think it is clear Jordan wants that home court advantage and is willing to deprive his players of rest in order to get it. If we see the Bullets resting players tonight, it’s clear that Jordan has decided home court won’t help the Bullets much if Arenas and Butler are not healthy for the playoffs this year.
Here are the stats…

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Indiana Pacers Record: 35 – 45 (.438) Standings: Third, Central At Home: 20 – 20 At Road: 15 – 25 Streak: L 1   Washington Bullets Record: 42 – 38 (.525) Standings: Second, Southeast At Home: 24 – 16 At Road: 18 – 22 Streak: W 1

Season PPG: 103.6 Opp PPG: 105.0 FG%: .443 Opp FG%: .454 RPG: 43.2 Opp RPG: 45.3   Season PPG: 98.8 Opp PPG: 99.0 FG%: .446 Opp FG%: .461 RPG: 41.4 Opp RPG: 41.3

Player G PPG RPG APG Granger, D 78 19.3 6.0 2.1 Dunleavy, M 80 18.8 5.2 3.5 O’Neal, J 40 14.0 6.8 2.3 Murphy, T 73 12.1 7.2 2.1 Tinsley, J 39 11.9 3.6 8.4 Murray, R 40 9.5 2.0 3.3 Rush, K 70 8.4 2.3 1.2 Daniels, M 72 8.3 2.8 1.9 Diener, T 65 7.0 1.7 3.8 Williams, S 63 6.8 2.7 0.9 Foster, J 77 6.4 8.7 1.7 Diogu, I 29 5.6 2.8 0.3 Graham, S 21 4.0 1.0 0.4 Harrison, D 53 4.0 2.2 0.3 Owens, A 30 3.7 1.5 1.5 Head Coach: Jim O’Brien   Player G PPG RPG APG Jamison, A 78 21.5 10.2 1.5 Butler, C 58 20.3 6.7 4.9 Arenas, G 13 19.4 3.9 5.1 Stevenson, D 80 11.4 2.9 3.1 Haywood, B 78 10.7 7.3 0.9 Mason, R 78 8.8 1.5 1.7 Daniels, A 69 8.5 2.9 4.8 Young, N 73 7.3 1.5 0.8 Blatche, A 80 7.3 5.0 1.1 Songaila, D 78 6.1 3.3 1.6 Pecherov, O 33 3.3 1.6 0.1 McGuire, D 68 1.1 1.8 0.5 Head Coach: Eddie Jordan

And now, for no particular reason, Andray “Bulletproof” Blatche throwing it down over Chicago’s Joakim Noah. Enjoy.

GO, BULLETS!