In the final game before the All-Star break for each team, the Indiana Pacers travel to the nation’s capital to meet the lowly Washington Wizards on Wednesday.
Indiana has lost three of four games and is looking to enter the weeklong break with momentum as it finishes the unofficial first half of the season against the NBA-worst Wizards.
The Pacers fell to the New York Knicks 128-115 in Indianapolis on Tuesday. Indiana shot just 29 percent (9-for-31) on 3-point attempts, but it’s the other end of the court that coach Rick Carlisle wants to see improve. The Knicks shot 53.8 percent from the floor.
“We were not good. We really struggled on defense,” Carlisle said. “It was just a rough night. We had a hard time getting anything going, and the calls weren’t going our way. It was just a difficult night.”
A bright spot both on Tuesday and throughout the season for Indiana has been All-Star Pascal Siakam, who had 24 points in the loss and is averaging 20.8 on the year.
“We’ve just got to play better,” Siakam said of Indiana’s recent skid. “We’ve got to continue to fight and stay together. This is the NBA. There are times where you go through periods not playing your best. As long as we recognize the things that we’re not doing well and try to fix them, I think we’ll be OK.”
Siakam has eclipsed the 20-point mark in seven of the past eight games. His scoring average and rebounding average (7.4 per game) both lead Indiana. Tyrese Haliburton adds 17.8 ppg and 8.5 assists per contest.
Since winning a season-best three games in a row to begin February, the Wizards have dropped three in a row. On pace for the worst season in franchise history, Washington is well on its way to claiming the highest odds of securing the first overall pick in the NBA draft.
The Wizards have found offensive form in recent weeks, averaging 117.3 points in February. The positive trend continued on Monday, when Washington had nine double-digit scorers in its 131-121 home loss to the San Antonio Spurs.
The Wizards fell behind by 18 points early but clawed back to take the lead before eventually taking their league-worst 44th defeat.
“Loved the fight, loved the competitiveness, didn’t love the start,” Washington coach Brian Keefe said. “We got down 18, and you never want to do that in the first quarter. We cut it to three by (halftime) and it was a back-and-forth game the rest of the way. Our fight was good.”
Jordan Poole struggled, connecting on just 4 of 18 shot attempts, but he leads the Wizards with an average of 20.7 points per game. After trading second-leading scorer Kyle Kuzma to the Milwaukee Bucks, Washington will rely more on Malcolm Brogdon (12.7 ppg) and Bilal Coulibaly (12.6) to fill the absence.
–Field Level Media
