Hoyas in the NBA: Greg Monroe dominates, Otto and Roy face-off

Wednesday Night

We'll start in Detroit, where Greg Monroe had a big night.

Pistons vs. Knicks final score: Detroit survives furious New York rally, wins first game of season 98-95 - Detroit Bad Boys

Detroit was powered by another strong game from Greg Monroe (23 points), some terrific Smith defense on Carmelo Anthony, who didn't score a field goal in the first half, and were finally able to start knocking down some of their open outside looks.

Greg also had 18 rebounds to go along with his 23 points. The Pistons are certainly happy to have him back from suspension and not relying solely on Josh Smith at the 4.

Hollis, Henry, and the 76ers came close to getting their first win of the season but were undone by a buzzer-beater against the Magic

Sixers-Magic Recap: Nerlens Injured as Magic Win Entertaining Game on a Buzzer-Beater - Liberty Ballers
Hollis Thompson had 6 points and 9 (!) rebounds and Henry Sims added 3 points and 8 rebounds of his own, but the Sixers were knocked off by the Magic on a buzzer-beater from Tobias Harris.

Tobias Harris hits game-winner against 76ers - SBNation.com
Tobias Harris hit the first game winner of his career, stunning the 76ers home crowd that thought the winless streak was ending.

Jeff Green had another solid game, but the Celtics dropped their third straight

Sloppy play buries Celtics vs. Toronto - CelticsBlog
The Celtics got off to a hot start, but were unable to overcome the damage of their 27 turnovers and a big time performance from Kyle Lowry. Jeff Green had 20 points and 4 rebounds in the loss.

How Jeff Green Torched the Mavs - CelticsBlog
A good look at Jeff's big game on Monday night.

Roy and Otto square off in DC

John Wall finishes the Pacers in overtime - Bullets Forever
The Wizards improved to 4-1 on the season as John Wall went wild, and Paul Pierce continues to adjust to his mentor role with the team. Otto Porter had a quiet offensive game with only 3 points, 1 rebound, and 2 assists. He didn't force a bunch of bad shots or look terribly out of place, but was definitely quiet on the offensive end. He did get big crunch-time defensive minutes in OT so Randy Wittman clearly trusts the second-year man.

3 things we learned from the Wizards' escape against the Pacers - Bullets Forever

The Wizards didn't roll over, but they would need overtime to top the Pacers at the Verizon Center by a score of 96-94 in overtime on Wednesday night to win their fourth game in a row to start the NBA season. During the final play of overtime, the Wizards were zoned in on Sloan, so he dished it out to Roy Hibbert, who missed a three-point shot to end the game.

Roy Hibbert's game-winning three-pointer juuuuust missed - SBNation.com
This did not go like the shot against UCONN.

Wizards hold on in OT against Pacers - November 5, 2014 - NBA.com

HUMBLED HOYAS

Playing in their college arena, former Georgetown standouts Hibbert and Washington's Otto Porter (1 for 5) combined to go 1 for 12 from the field.

Down by two to the Washington Wizards in overtime, with a chance to break a three-game losing streak, the depleted Indiana Pacers called timeout and opted to set up a 3-point attempt.

The flaw in the plan: 7-foot-2 center Roy Hibbert ended up taking it.

"Go for the win," Indiana coach Frank Vogel said, "doesn't mean Roy go for the win."

Hibbert's first 3-point shot of the season was off the mark, and Chris Copeland couldn't convert the offensive rebound as time expired, giving the Wizards a 96-94 win Wednesday night and the Pacers their worst five-game start since the 1990s.

Hibbert was supposed to set a screen to free Copeland in the corner, but the Wizards defended the play well.

"I saw the ball come to me, so I had to shoot it," said Hibbert, who is 6 for 21 from 3-point range in his career. "It's not my forte."

Career night from Donald Sloan not enough as Pacers fall to Wizards in OT - Indy Cornrows

For Indiana, C.J. Miles (2-13) and Roy Hibbert (0-7) were the biggest field goal percentage menaces, but both had completely different games. Miles continues to look well out of sync, not even looking for quality shots so much as looking for the ball to finally go through the net. Hibbert on the other hand was blanked offensively (coming up with his lone two points at the line in overtime), but had a big impact in other parts of the game with nine rebounds and five blocks.

BONUS (?) Documentation

I was at the game last night (PROOF) (MORE PROOF) and have some (terrible) documentation of our boys.

I got distracted by the game and was watching Otto closely most of the time he was in so I missed my chance to get good action shots of him and sadly, Roy and Otto were only in the game for a short stretch in the 2nd half and then again in OT when I wasn't focusing on getting pictures.

Otto had a very quiet night, but didn't play badly and certainly didn't make any major mistakes. Roy was absent on the offensive end, due at least in some part to a noted lack of touches though he did miss all seven of his field goal attempts. He did have 9 rebounds and 5 blocks. He is a beast on the defensive end and forced John Wall to dish the ball out of the lane several times instead of going up for a layup. Unfortunately (or fortunately for Otto and the Wizards), the rest of the Pacers aren't very good and Wall was often able to find open shooters to knock down shots in those situations.

One other observation from the game:

I haven't seen a crowd respond to a superstar like the Verizon Center responds to John Wall since Allen Iverson on the Sixers.

— chrismchaines (@chrismchaines) November 6, 2014

John Wall gets the Verizon Center crowd jacked up and they respond to his energy and big plays in a really meaningful way. It's a great atmosphere.

Thursday night

Only two NBA games Thursday night and all of the Hoyas in the NBA have the night off