NBA Match Preview: Los Angeles Lakers vs. Washington Wizards
Only after a week since their last meeting, Washington Wizards and Los Angeles Lakers get ready for their second meeting of the season. On Tuesday night, the Wizards host the Lakers at the Verizon Centre in Washington D.C.
Although the Lakers top the Pacific Division standings with an impressive 17-7, their recent performance on the road has been somewhat mediocre. Alternating between a win and a loss, the Lakers are at a level 2-2 this month.
Currently, on a seven game road trip since last Wednesday, the Lakers finished last week with a 3-1 win-loss mark in one home and three road matches. Their loss came on Friday when they visited Chicago to play the Bulls. After
a four-point defeat with the scoreboard showing 84-88, the Lakers were sent packing to New Jersey where they played the Nets on Sunday. Their home match last week was coincidentally against the Wizards. After a 115-108 win over them, the Lakers set out on
their short road trip.
Although the Lakers have won three of their last four games, they failed to win even one of them by double digits. They managed an eventual victory by seven points against the Nets before trailing by a point towards the end of
the fourth quarter.
Shooting guard Kobe Bryant scored 32 points in the game while forward Lamar Odom recorded 22 points with seven assists. Talking about their recent performance, Bryant said, "We have to muster up the energy and muster up the
motivation to play every night. I'm (annoyed) about it. We're not doing a good job of doing it."
Odom added to this by saying, “We can't be great every single night. But it's just the way we've been going for us for the last 10 to 15 games. We get a lead, give it away and have to fight back. We're not playing to our potential.
Not taking anything away from the Nets, but we're just not playing well right now. It's a little disappointing."
It seems the two-time defending champions needed a confidence boost! What better than a meeting with the President for morale boost. The Lakers spent the day in Washington with American President Barrack Obama.
Though the Lakers might be going through a rough patch with their close wins, they have nothing on Wizards when it comes to disappointing performances. Trailing the standings in the Eastern Conference, the Wizards currently stand
at a 6-16 win-loss mark for the season.
Finishing last week with no wins (0-3), the Wizards stand at a four game losing streak. They started of the week with a defeat against the Lakers last Tuesday. This was followed by another defeat the very next day when the Wizards
visited the Sacramento Kings. Their latest defeat came on Friday when they hosted the hot New York Knicks.
Wizard’s star John Wall was held to eight points on 0.285 shooting against the Knicks. Wall has missed seven games this season on account of his knee. His status for tonight’s game is questionable as well. The only notable performances
came from Nick Young who recorded his season high of 30 points on 10 of 18 shooting. However, Coach Flip Saunders believes his team needs to pick up its intensity if it is to have any chance of winning.
Statistically, Lakers come out as the favourites to win. Currently, on a higher win-loss mark, this season coupled with the 1-0 lead in the head to head, Lakers have both the numbers and the psychological edge in their corner.
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