Tonight at 7:30 p.m. ET, the Washington Wizards and Detroit Pistons each open up their seasons live from the Palace of Auburn Hills in Detroit. The game can be live streamed here. Washington fans can hear all of the action by tuning their radios to Sportsradio 106.7 The Fan while Detroit fans can do the same on 97.1 FM The Ticket .
The Wizards are coming off of a season in which they missed the playoffs by finishing 29-53, third place in the Southeast Division, while the Pistons enter after finishing fourth in the Central Division last season with a 29-53 record as well.
The visiting Wizards look for point guard John Wall to lead them when they take the court in hopes of avoiding a seventh straight loss to the Pistons. The Wizards went 5-28 without Wall last season as he was sidelined with a knee injury, but he returned in spades by notching a career-high 18.5 points along with 7.6 assists as Washington went 24-25 the rest of the way.
Wall paired with Bradley Beal and Nene provide the Wizards with some hope for a playoff appearance heading into this season.
"Yeah, we have much higher expectations," owner Ted Leonsis said per ESPN. "It's the fourth season of the rebuild. We expect to be a much, much better team."
Meanwhile, under new head coach Maurice Cheeks, the banged up Pistons enter this season hoping to turn it around after a rough go of it in 2012-13.
New arrival Brandon Jennings will miss some time after undergoing oral surgery following a season where he averaged 17 points with the Milwaukee Bucks. Meanwhile, veteran guard Rodney Stuckey (thumb) and will miss the opener as well.
"It really has been tough, not having Stuck or Brandon pretty much all of the preseason," Chauncey Billups, who will see a significant amount of time in the backfield, told the Pistons website. "Those two guys are going to mean so much to what we do offensively, defensively."
Greg Monroe, Andre Drummond and newcomer Josh Smith will look to lead the Pistons upfront and help the team win over 30 games for the first time since the 2008-09 season.
The Wizards and Pistons both look for strong starts to the season when they hit the court tonight in Detroit.
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