Toosie Slide into the Playoffs?

What if I told you the Washington Wizards could make the playoffs? As it stands today, the Wizards are 23-33 and tied for 10^th place in the Eastern Conference Standings with the Chicago Bulls and the Toronto (Tampa Bay) Raptors.

Believe it or not, Washington is riding a four-game winning streak and won seven of their last eight. This is not a fluke either. The Wizards’ schedule was front-loaded with tough opponents, Westbrook wasn’t playing back to backs and their team defense was extremely dreadful. Well, the defense is still bad but hang in there with me.

According to Thankathon.com, the Wizards have the fifth easiest remaining schedule in the NBA. The Raptors and Bulls have the second and seventh toughest remaining schedule, respectfully. For the Bulls, Zach Lavine has been sidelined with COVID health and safety protocols and we don’t know when he’ll be back. This opens the door for the Wizards to live up to their name and create some magic.

No team wants to play against Westbrook and Beal in a single-elimination game. In the playoffs, the games slow down, the opposing team knows all your sets and it becomes a superstar showdown. If the Wizards make the 10^th seed, they’ll most likely play the Indiana Pacers in the “Play-In” game. The team with the best players usually wins and the Wizards will arguably have the best two players on the court.

Focusing on the rest of the regular season, the Wizards do have a tendency to play down to their opponent. The Wizards are 9-14 versus teams that are under .500. This is where trading for Russell Westbrook comes into play. John Wall is a great player but his work ethic was questionable. Whether that is fair or not is irrelevant. Westbrook never gave a team such a concern and can prove he is much more than a stat sheet stuffer with a successful playoff push. His grit and determination could lead this team to the Promised Land aka the tenth seed.

Let’s not forget about the real deal Bradley Beal. Our concern is when he scores 40 or more. The Wizards were on an 11 game losing streak when Beal scored 40 or more but snapped that streak with a win over the Utah Jazz on April 13^th, 2021, who have the best record in the NBA.  It’s a janky statistic but ending a series of unfortunate events is never a bad thing.

The Wizards have a great shot at a play in-game. The last time a team from Washington was in a similar play-in-game scenario, the Nationals won the NL Wild Card game and the rest is history.

Now the lingering question is, “Can we still fire Scott Brooks?”