At the time of writing, the Washington Wizards are .333 and sitting in 12th place in the Eastern Conference with a record of 13-26. So, we are just a couple of games away from mid-season.
And although we are not exactly where we would like to be, let’s not lament. The ninth-place Charlotte Hornets only have 15 wins and the 8th-place Brooklyn Nets are just five games up with 18 wins. So, although it may seem out of reach and disappointing at a glance, the Wizards are definitely in the hunt. And a hard-working squad like Washington has, is definitely going to make a push for that eight-spot.
The Wizards have proven that they can beat top teams. Before losing to the Utah Jazz on Sunday, January 1st, the Wizards won three out of four. And this wasn’t against scrub teams either.
Sure, the Atlanta Hawks are dead last in the East with just nine wins – tied with the Golden State Warriors for worst in the league. But Washington beat third team in the West, the Denver Nuggets, and No. 2 team in the East, the Boston Celtics, in that same 4-game stretch.
So, consistency is an issue. You might be able to write it off as a fluke, or just a good night when you randomly beat a top team. But when you beat three top teams back to back to back, there is definitely something there.
On Wednesday night, the Wizards face the Bulls as 4.5-point underdogs at the A-rated, Betonline Sportsbook. Then they get a day off before taking on the Raptors in Toronto.
Right now, the Wizards are scoring well. They have the No. 5 offense in the league, at 114.82 points per game. They are hitting three-pointers at a clip of 36.27 (No. 9) percent and making field goals at 45.76 percent, which is 15th. They’ve maintained a great offense while out on the road, scoring almost equally well, 114.00 per game which is the No. 7 road offense.
Their woes have come on the defensive end of the floor. They allow 119.68 points to be bucketed against them on a nightly basis which is dead last in the NBA. Another scary stat is the fact that they are 30th in field goal percentage allowed, at 48.61 – jeez guys, at least get a hand up! While they’re out on the road it worsens to 121.65 per game and 49.38, which are both still No. 30 in the league …
OFFICIAL: We have signed C Anzejs Pasecniks to a multi-year deal.
Congrats, @AnzejsP! https://t.co/ESoXDBnDQj— Washington Wizards (@WashWizards) January 12, 2020
But, considering John Wall is out and they have been hamstrung in their depth at forward, with both Rui Hachimura and Moritz Wagner out, it’s amazing that they are still scoring near the top of the league. They just need to find an identity on defense. But, their defense has been historically bad. One writer called their 2019-2020 defense ‘astonishingly feeble’. Isaiah Thomas – not the famous Detroit Piston– is one of the least effective defenders in NBA history. How is it that you can score 158 points in regular-time and still lose? And it isn’t just one time that they have allowed 150 points or more but twice. They also let the Celtics put up 140 and the number of times teams have scored more than 130 is breathtaking – like a punch in the gut.
So, if the Wizards want to make the playoffs – which they can with their entertainingly potent offense– they are going to have to step it up just a little on defense. Of course, we can’t expect them to convert to an elite, defensive-minded team. But if they just get off the very bottom of the league in various defensive stats, then they can surely work their way up to that No. 8 spot.
I would like to say that the recent signing of Anzejs Pasecniks will give some spark to the defense … but he is a Center that doesn’t even average half a block a game or even half a steal … so we are not going to get much improvement on defense from there.
That said, it isn’t all bad. The Wiz’s offense is really, really good … we just need a smidge more out of the defense to get more wins.
