Tonight at 8:00 p.m. ET the Indiana Pacers, the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference, will try to close out the Eastern semifinals against the upstart Washington Wizards in the nation's capitol on ESPN in a Game 6 that can be live streamed free by clicking this link. Pacers fans can find the radio broadcast on 1070 The Fan, while Wizards fans may do the same on WFED-AM 1500.
With their backs against the wall in Game 5, the Wizards got desperate and churned out their finest effort of the postseason in a 102-79 smackdown of the Pacers on Indiana's home floor. Things looked bleak before Game 5, with Wizards leader John Wall sulking after a few off performances. "You can get down on yourself pretty easy," Wall said.
A turnaround happened when he admitted his issues to head coach Randy Wittman and said the Wizards' plight was on his shoulders. Wittman responded by saying, "I never want to hear you say that ever again, because I know how confident you are in yourself and I know how competitive you are."
Wall stepped up in a big way, as did center Marcin Gortat who ripped up the Pacers frontcourt to the tune of 31 points and 16 rebounds. Even Gortat takes his cue from Wall, however, and noted his steely demeanor before Tuesday night's big win.
"For the first time in 102, 103 games that we had this season, I seen this guy that didn't want to talk to anybody," Gortat said. "He didn't want to interact with anybody. He didn't rap before the game. He didn't laugh before the game. I guess it's just a lot of things around basketball that has influence on him. ... But at the end of the day, I'm with him. End of the day, I'm going to jump in the fire behind this guy."
Indiana's Paul George thinks the Pacers can rectify the situation by simply putting in more effort. "We should never get outrebounded by 40," George said. "It was like their life was dependent on those rebounds."
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