Tonight at 7:00 p.m. ET the Eastern Conference fifth-seeded Washington Wizards, a popular pick after Round 1 to reach the East Finals, will try to avoid being eliminated by the top-seeded Pacers in Indiana. Watch the game on TNT or live stream it free by clicking this link. Pacers fans can hear their team go for the kill on 1070 The Fan while Wizards fans may do the same on WFED-AM 1500.
For all the struggles of Roy Hibbert and the squad as a whole, the Pacers sure resemble the team that raced to the top of the Eastern standings early in the season. Defensively at least, Indiana is back.
"It has been a while," coach Frank Vogel said of his club. "We've had a lot of guys, and it's been well documented, down the stretch they've had individual struggles that have impacted the team, the team was in a little bit of a rut."
The Wizards haven't topped 92 points since they won Game 1, and Hibbert in particular looks rejuvenated on both ends of the floor. Obviously, he's happy to be contributing once again in a big way, but he also warned against coasting with a 3-1 series advantage.
"We can't relax. I don't know what the statistics are, but we don't want to be one of those (teams that blows a 3-1 lead)," Hibbert said. "So we've got to go out there and play our best game back home. They're going to give it their all again and hopefully we'll be ready."
Meanwhile the Wizards have struggled along with point guard John Wall, their general. Wiz head coach Randy Wittman is advising his young star to stay the course, and not change his game.
"He's just got to keep on fighting through it and the main thing is keeping his confidence and staying aggressive in what he's doing out on the floor. That's who he is," Wittman said. "You can't all of a sudden become someone else."
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