Originally posted on 05/09/2014:

Tip of the hat for what reads like an unbiased objective writeup for a game you are emotionally invested in as an IND homer. As a Washington DC native, I gotta say I agree with you on virtually everything you've written. A couple of extra observations from a guy that knows this Wizards team better than
most:

1. John Wall's performance in Game 2 was very peculiar as far as his offensive contributions and decision making were concerned. One of the biggest improvements in his game this year that has gone unnoticed relative to others in media coverage is not JUST the evolution of his jumpshot (which has been heavily overstated), but rather his shot selection. He doesn't miss as many 3s because he doesn't take them with as much frequency, especially to date in the playoffs. 2nd half of game 2 was a step backwards in that respect, even moreso if you were just to focus on the last 5 minutes of the game. One sequence during which Washington grabbed an offensive rebound, kicked it back out to Wall who was at the top of the 3pt line, and Wall jacked the shot up virtually immediately even though Beal was available on the wing. I'll be the first to slam John when he plays poorly, but I will also say that he has matured at such a quick pace this year that I don't anticipate seeing him repeat these mistakes in Game 3. His defensive presence has been fantastic, and has accentuated the lack of production Indiana gets from the PG position. Which leads me to...

2.George Hill will continue to have a rough go at it, and expect to see Indiana continue to defer to Lance Stephenson to the ball, run the offense...his versatility on the pick and pop and dribble penetration make him more valuable than either Hill or Watson as far as distribution goes.

3.Hibbert will not continue his scoring binge. Not that that's difficult to predict, but a guy that averaged 10.8 ppg during the regular season and just over 11 for his career doesn't make his money as a high volume scorer. Washington's bigs played a little too casually for my liking in Game 2; Gortat's offensive production belies that. Expect Indiana to try to get him going early again in Game 3, but with a decreased level of effectiveness. Gortat has played BIG on the boards, and despite Hibbert's 28, Vogel and company cannot be happy about being outrebounded once again, and to see Hibbert only tally 9 rebounds despite getting many more touches (and being much more involved) than he's normally accustomed to.

4. Washington will revert to the high % shooting team they've looked like the in 6 games prior to Game 2 of this series. Wizards only made 5 shots outside of the paint in the second half, and shot beyond poorly at the charity stripe. Nene and Beal both need to and will knock down FTs with better consistency. Watch for tertiary players to get involved later in the game, as Washington's average distance shot has increased by nearly 5 feet in the last 5 minutes of both games of this series. The Wizards cannot simply expect that Ariza and Beal will combine to shoot the ball at a 70+% clip from long range, but they will surpass their slump from Game 2.

5. Much will be made about Paul George once again drawing Beal's assignment on the defensive end, but remember this: for as 'poorly' as Beal played offensively and as "impressive" as George was marking the second year man out of Florida, Beal STILL shot just a hair below 50% FG in Game 2, with a large portion of those shots being long range jumpers. Expect Beal to react with poise beyond his years, and for Sam Cassell and Randy Wittman to urge him to force George to commit fouls by taking the taller defender to the basket, and then use George's foul trouble (coupled with his significance to this Pacer team) to create better spacing around the 3pt line when George has to respect the drive.

6. The Pacers needed a terrible shooting performance from the stripe from the Wizards coupled with an unlikely outpouring of offensive production from Hibbert JUST to squeak by this Washington team by 4 points. Unless the Pacers can get improved production from Scola, Turner, Watson, Hill etc, Washington is the better team on paper, on the floor, and will win this series in 6 games.