Gameday Dish: Nets vs. Wizards

This evening the 29-20 Brooklyn Nets come to The Federal City for the second time this season. The Washington Wizards at 13-35 have the NBA’s second worst record.

However, they’ve won their last two contests and are 8-7 since their PG extraordinaire John Wall returned from injury. In addition, this season the Wiz have beaten the Miami Heat and OKC Thunder at the Verizon Center.

On Monday night at home, Washington got the best of a short-handed Clippers squad, 98-90. SF Martell Webster led the team with 21 points, 5 boards and 3 dimes.

Two nights later the resurgent Knicks came to the nation’s capital and left with an L to end their five-game win streak. John Wall led the Wizards with 21 points, 9 dimes and 5 boards. And Trevor Ariza came off the bench to score a season-high 20 points in the 106-96 victory.

When the Nets and Wiz faced off on January 4^th the Wizards fought hard, even without John Wall and veteran swingman Ariza. But they eventually fell 115-113 in double OT on a Joe Johnson jumper with .7 seconds left.

Big man Brook Lopez led interim coach P.J. Carlesimo’s team that night with 27 points, 13 rebounds and 3 blocks. In the losing effort rookie SG Bradley Beal, the 3^rd overall pick in the 2012 draft, filled up the stat sheet with 24 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals.

Beal is hoping to participate in tonight’s 48 after missing the past five games with a sprained wrist. The 19-year old Beal is 3^rd among rookies in scoring with 13.2 ppg and has started 39 of the 41 games he’s played in this season.

Brooklyn picked up a road win on Wednesday in MoTown. All five of the Nets’ starters scored in double figures, and the bench added 24 points, 14 boards, 10 dimes and 6 steals in the 93-90 W over the Pistons.

PG Deron Williams surpassed the 5000-assist mark on Wednesday in his 554^th NBA game, becoming the third fastest active player to reach surpass that milestone.

Tune in to the YES Network tonight at 7PM ET to see if Brooklyn can improve on their 11-11 road record and their 15-6 record under Coach Carlesimo.