The Washington Wizards defeated the Indiana Pacers 142-115 to earn the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference Playoffs. On Sunday, the Wizards and Philadelphia 76ers will begin their first-round series in what many expect to be an easy series for the Sixers.
The two teams met three times during the regular season with the 76ers winning all three. Sixers big man and MVP candidate Joel Embiid has been a problem for the Wizards, averaging 30 points and 9.7 rebounds in the three meetings. Expect Embiid to continue to dominate against the Wizards. Washington just doesn’t have an answer for Embiid, and not many teams in the NBA have this year as he has made a statement this year proving he is the best big man in the NBA.
Although Embiid is the best player on the 76ers, he isn’t the X-Factor. Point guard Ben Simmons needs to prove he can deliver in the postseason. In previous postseasons, opposing teams would double or triple-team Embiid, making it difficult for Embiid to be effective. As a result, Simmons would have the ball in his hands and because he isn’t confident with his jump shot, he would attack the basket and get fouled only to miss his free throws.
This year, Simmons has improved on his shooting and shows some confidence. He’s made a career-high 15 shots from 10-16 feet and has made three 3-point shots. The question is will Simmons be confident enough to shoot jump shots in the playoffs. Adding Danny Green and Seth Curry has taken some weight off Simmons’ shoulders. It will be interesting to see how the Wizards game plan to force Simmons to shoot the ball.
The Wizards have star talent and momentum. What will it take for the Sixers to stop them?
The Wizards got hot at the right time entering the Play-In Tournament. To close out the season, they won 15 of their final 20 games. After they defeated the Pacers, Wizards star Bradley Beal said “it’s probably the most beautiful thing I have seen us do all year.”
Can the Wizards keep up the momentum they’ve had for the past month? Well, that depends on how well Beal and Russell Westbrook play. The team will only go as far as they take them. Beal finished second in the NBA in scoring averaging 31.3 points per game. For for the WIzards to have success, Westbrook will need to be more efficient. In the loss to the Celtics in the first game of the Play-In Tournament, Westbrook scored 20 points on 6-18 shooting while missing all four of his 3-point attempts. A lot of the shots seemed forced and he lacked in assists, collecting only five. Against the Pacers, Westbrook totaled 15 assists. There’s no question Westbrook is most efficient when he shares the ball with his teammates and the Wizards are 27-23 when he collects more than 10 or more assists and 8-17 when he has fewer than 10 assists.
The 76ers pride themselves on defense and finished sixth allowing 108.1 points per game to opponents. Simmons is a top candidate for defensive player of the year and Embiid and Dwight Howard are both great rim protectors. The Wizards finished last with 118.4 points per game allowed. The Sixers have a more complete team and have better coaching. I predict the 76ers will sweep the Wizards.