The losing apparently has taken a toll on Andray Blatche, who was benched after refusing to talk to coach Flip Saunders about playing better defense. The forward, who has averaged 23.2 points his previous 18 games, isn't expected to play as the Wizards also try to end a seven-game road skid.
"He didn't want to hear it," Saunders said. "I told him, 'If you don't come and talk, if you don't want to be coached, you're not going to play.' We had coaches go up to him three different times, they said he didn't want to play. Fifteen years, never seen anything like it."
The Wizards will try to move past this distraction and snap a four-game slide in Indiana. In the teams' last matchup at Conseco Fieldhouse on Nov. 6, the Pacers won 102-86 despite shooting 40.0 percent from the field.
WTF is up with Blatche???..........i watched the game tonight and they really struggled to rebound without him in the game...Pacers def gonna win this game
Blatche should come play for the warriors. He'll fit right in. -7 is too high for me. Wizards may play extra hard to pick up the slack, knowing one of their best players is out.