| NBA Regular Season Game 9 | ||
|---|---|---|
 |
@ |  |
4-4 (1-3 away) | 2-6 (1-2 home) | |
| The Verizon Center aka "The Phone Booth" Wizards Blog: Bullets Forever | ||
| November 14, 2009 7:00 PM ET | ||
| TV: Fox Sports Detroit Radio: 97.1 The Ticket | ||
| Probable starters: | ||
| Rodney Stuckey | PG | Gilbert Arenas |
| Ben Gordon | SG | Randy Foye |
| Jonas Jerebko | SF | Caron Butler |
| Charlie Villanueva | PF | Antawn Jamison |
Ben Wallace | C | Brendan Haywood |
Both teams come into Saturday's match up fresh from extended off-time. Detroit last played on Wednesday when they defeated the Bobcats and the Wizards last played on Tuesday when they lost to the Dwyane Wade led Heat. The Pistons are sporting a two game winning streak and the Wizards are suffering a five game losing streak.
A major reason for the Wizards struggles is injuries. They have been without Antawn Jamison and Mike Miller, and Randy Foye just went down with an ankle injury on Tuesday against the Heat. Good news for them, bad for the Pistons, is that Antawn Jamison and Mike Miller are both expected to play tonight.
Meanwhile, Detroit has done a nice job adjusting with their injury problems. As you know, Richard Hamilton (sprained ankle) and Tayshaun Prince (ruptured disc) have been out with injuries and will once again be missed on Saturday. Doing a nice job of filling those holes has been Ben Gordon and Jonas Jerebko, who are both expected to start again.
Detroit matched up well against the Wizards in the preseason when the two teams met in Grand Rapids. Washington slipped past Detroit, 101-98 behind a strong effort from Gilbert Arenas and surprising showing from Javale McGee, a Detroit native.
Detroit will have to do a good job keeping Arenas from blowing up, let him get his, and shut down his supporting cast. If Jamison is back, it's going to be a tough task to handle him, Haywood, and Butler down low, so Jerebko and Wallace will have their hands full.
Expect the same from the guards as any other night, and hopefully the Pistons can pick up another 20-25 points from Charlie V for good measure. It wouldn't hurt to see some production from Kwame and Wilcox off the pine.
I spoke with Mike Prada from Bullets Forever the other day about this match up, so you can hear what I had to say over there.
Tip off is at 7:00 PM EST. Do the right thing and share your thoughts here as the game is going on.
UPDATE: Antawn Jamison will not play tonight due to a sickness.