May 14, 2014
Ceci Ferrara
Sports Writer
Sports Insider – Update
On a night when the Wizards had no room for error, they were close to flawless.
With their season on the line, Washington had an impressive game, not only outscoring the Pacers 102-79, but dominating them on rebounds, 62-23. Their rebound margin of 39 was the widest in an NBA playoff game since 1985.
“They’re not ready to go home, number one,” Coach Randy Wittman said. “As we talked as a group before the game, we came in here and won game 1, they came into our place and convincingly won Game 3, but the other two games were tossups. It was close to being 2-2 or 3-1 the other way. We weren’t that far away and I wanted our guys to realize that.”
Both Marcin Gortat and John Wall stepped up to keep the Wizards’ playoff hopes alive. Gortat had a team-high 31 points and 16 rebounds, while Wall scored 27 for the highest scoring playoff game of their careers. Bradley Beal scored 18 points for the second time this series, while Trevor Ariza added 10.
Despite the win, the pressure is still on for Washington, who trails the series 2-3.
“The pressure’s still on us,” Wall said. “It’s one game and you’re out.”
Game 6 is Thursday at the Verizon Center.
