Sixers-Wizards Game Thread And Preview

2015-2016 NBA REGULAR SEASON
Verizon Center
7:00 p.m.
CSN Philly/Marc Zumoff, Alaa Abdelnaby, and Molly Sullivan
PROBABLE STARTERS
Ish Smith	PG	John Wall
Nik Stauskas	SG	Garrett Temple
Robert Covington	SF	Otto Porter Jr.
Jahlil Okafor	PF	Jared Dudley
Nerlens Noel	C	Marcin Gortat
2015/16 ADVANCED STATS
100.0 (6th)	PACE	100.2 (4th)
94.2 (30th)	OFF EFF	102.5 (16th)
104.7 (19th)	DEF EFF	105.4 (22nd)
GAME OFFICIALS
Courtney Kirkland
Matt Boland
Gediminas Petraitis

Just 13 hours after the grossness that was Wing Bowl 24, Philadelphia will turn their attention to tonight's Sixers-Wizards game at 7 p.m.

Philadelphia, now 7-42 on the season, are losers of their last three, and most recently coming off of a 124-86 shellacking at the hands of the Atlanta Hawks. Nik Stauskas led the Sixers with 17 points (5-7 FG, 2-3 3PT), four rebounds and two assists. The 22-year-old has been far from a consistent contributor, but he's shooting 48.4% from the field in the past five games. One can only hope that he's finally starting to turn the corner. Jahlil Okafor had five turnovers in the first quarter, and finished the game with just 10 points on 5-10 shooting. On the injury front, Richaun Holmes will miss tonight's gamewith an ankle injury.

Washington had hoped that the return of Bradley Beal from injury would propel the team towards the playoffs, but things certainly haven't panned out that way. The Wizards are currently 21-26 and losers of two straight, leaving them 4 GB of the eighth and final playoff spot. On Wednesday, D.C. hung up 121 points on the Golden State Warriors and still managed to lose by 13, thanks to Steph Curry's 51 points. Lost in the fray of Curry's ridiculous performance was an equally absurd game from John Wall, who had 41 points on 25 shots to go with 10 assists and just three turnovers. I know Wall was a number one pick, but I find him to be one of the most underappreciated players the NBA has to offer. He's a smidgen away from averaging a double-double, a strong defender and has really improved his perimeter shooting. There's a ton to like about him.

We'll see how Ish Smith and T.J. McConnell hold up against Wall in just a little while.