With March Madness, the NBA regular season coming to a close and almost all of the 16 playoff seeds accounted for, tonight’s matchup between the Los Angeles Lakers and Washington Wizards feels something like the NIT.
Neither the Lakers nor the Wizards will make the postseason and both teams would probably be better off losing, yet they still have their best players to account for.
LeBron James led the Lakers to a win over Sacramento on Sunday with a triple double and Bradley Beal is playing the best basketball of his career. Although the Lakers are being careful with his minutes and games with their playoff hopes over, James is listed as probable for tonight’s game.
Taking on an even bigger workload without John Wall, Beal has been on a tear since the All-Star break. He’s averaging 28.5 points, 6.6 assists and six rebounds while shooting 36.4% from 3 and 48.8% from the field.
In addition to dealing with Beal on the outside, the Lakers will have their hands full with former Lakers big man Thomas Bryant. Bryant is coming off two big games (22/8 vs. Denver, 17/11 vs. Miami) and could be a major pain for the Lakers on the defensive glass, an area they’ve struggled with all season.
