If you were to see the Washington Wizards’ growth over the past season — up close and personal the way I have — what they are doing in this year’s Eastern Conference Playoffs may not be a revelation after all. It may feel like one to the casual fan… as well as the casual media. Over this past weekend’s home games at the Verizon Center, I saw more fans and local D.C. media than I have ever seen… and I have covered this team for three seasons.
To say the team is defying some heavy odds as they recently closed out the Chicago Bulls in five games is an understatement.
The rugged Bulls, who are generally regarded as the best defensive team in the league, were dismantled from start to finish this past Sunday as the Wizards had a plethora of answers for everything Chicago threw at them.
At the beginning of the series, most “experts” predicted Chicago would win in five games. Little did they understand that Washington has something special in this team… providing the big “IF” was not applied.
The “IF” that I’m speaking of is the team fielding a truly healthy roster. When Washington has played the lineup of John Wall (PG), Bradley Beal (SG), Trevor Ariza (SF), Nene (PF), and Marcin Gortat (C), it has compiled a record of 14-13. That’s a .519 winning percentage, which is nothing to write home about. However, this group had not played that much together this season because of injuries to Beal, Ariza, and Nene. Now they are fully healthy and playing great basketball. This was a huge obstacle that was overlooked by many, even though it gave the Wizards bench a chance to grow and find cohesive rotations that are now paying huge dividends.
The Wizards finished the season 19-11 and played a chunk of those games with out Nene due to injury. So, to see them playing this well for prolonged periods in their first round win against a quality opponent should not be a huge surprise.
When they play their best basketball, Washington is actually one of the top teams in the league from a productivity standpoint. If you don’t want to take my word for it look at these telling stats from the regular season:
When the Wizards…
– had more rebounds than their opponent, they were 27-12 on the year;
– shot a higher field goal percentabe than their opponent, they were 34-5 on the season;
– scored 100 points or more than their opponent, they were 31-15; and when they
– committed fewer turnovers than their opponent, they were 30-19.
These trends have remained steadfast in the team’s first round wins over the Bulls. In Games One, Two, and Five — and Game Five was the series-clinching win — the Wizards shot a better field goal percentage than Chicago. In games One and Five, they out-rebounded Chicago. And in games One and Two, they hit the 100-point mark. The irony of this is that all of the games just mentioned were on the road, in Chicago. The Bulls, on the year, had a home record of 27-14 which was the fourth best home record in the eastern conference. Their strengths are rebounding and defense, yet the Wizards took it to them during most of this series.
If the Wizards can remain intact, then this playoff run may very well just be starting. They have to await the winner of the Atlanta Hawks-Indiana Pacers series, during which Atlanta has surprised the number-one seed Pacers and may well be on the brink of pulling off an upset. Regardless, the Wizards will be well equipped to handle whatever either team throws at them.
An Atlanta series would put the Wizards in unfamiliar territory as they would undoubtedly be the favorites. An Indiana series would test how far this team has really come because they would be playing a team with Championship aspirations. And let us not forget what would be looming should they get that far… the world champion Miami Heat which brings LeBron James, Dwayne Wade, Chris Bosh, white-outs, etc.
Regardless of what happens going forward, the Washington Wizards have brought excitement back to a basketball crazed town. I have argued with my Washington Redskins friends — as well as sports fans — that the first professional team to win a championship in Washington, D.C. would own this town. Fans have been waiting so long… could it be the Washington Wizards who are leading the fast break?