Friday’s game against the Orlando Magic was definitely a shock to the system for the Brooklyn Nets. Although everyone knows full well the Nets aren’t at full capacity without their stars and other key cogs, Brooklyn wasn’t expected to struggle like they did against Orlando, who trailed them by half a game in the standings at the time.
Now the Nets are the No. 8 team in the Eastern Conference, and, once again, they’re set to face the team that is right behind them in the standings. But things should go much differently against the Washington Wizards.
This is the third meeting between the two teams — the Wizards won both of the previous two matchups (113-107 and 110-106).
The No. 9 team in the East, Washington is without its top two scorers from the 2019-20 season (pre-hiatus), Bradley Beal and Davis Bertans.
As much as the Nets have lost far more bodies — and are down players that are better than both Beal and Bertans — the Wizards are nothing without those two players and John Wall, who has not played in an NBA game since the day after Christmas in 2018.
Here’s who Wizards head coach Scott Brooks has at his disposal in Florida:
- Isaac Bonga
- Troy Brown, Jr.
- Thomas Bryant
- Jerian Grant
- Rui Hachimura
- Ian Mahinmi
- Garrison Matthews
- Shabazz Napier
- Anzejs Pasecniks
- Jerome Robinson
- Admiral Schofield
- Ish Smith
- Jarrod Uthoff
- Moritz Wagner
- Jonathan Williams
Jamal Crawford (conditioning) was listed doubtful ahead of Brooklyn’s game against the Magic before being ruled out prior to tip-off. On Friday, he was upgraded to questionable against Washington.
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