The Washington Wizards have an incredible opportunity this postseason to accomplish something truly special, and they could do so by embodying the spirit of D.C.
A drastic change is happening in D.C. The city in which, for at least the past two decades, its citizens have associated professional sports with nothing but disappointments and “what ifs,” something strange is occurring. They’re beginning to celebrate and love a team that genuinely looks as if success is imminent…the Washington Wizards.
The city itself has grown numb to the constant letdowns that its sports franchises have provided. Whether it be the failure of the Washington Nationals, that never legitimately materialized into a serious postseason contender, or everything that the Washington Racial Slurs have not been, D.C. hasn’t really been able to embrace a sports team the way they’ve been lately with the Wizards.
Sure, they’ve had a great hockey team – though it’s been rare for the Washington Capitols to even reach the second round of the NHL playoffs – but you need to remember one thing: “Chocolate City” isn’t a hockey city, it’s a basketball city. The only this is that until recently, the basketball hasn’t been all that great, or even good for that matter.
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Washington basketball hasn’t necessarily been good since their 1978-79 championship season, when they were still known as the Washington Bullets. Since then, D.C. has had to deal with a bunch of basketball teams that never became serious contenders. As for the Bullets, they made five-straight playoff appearances in the 80s, but never made it past the first round.
In the mid-90s, the Bullets/Wizards had a youthful squad that housed Chris Webber, Juwan Howard, Rod Strickland and a very young Ben Wallace, but they decided to sell house and rebuild. Unfortunately, that rebuild led to the Michael Jordan-led era (let’s not talk about that).
However, the most scarring memories come from the mid-2000s, when the Wizards had not one, not two, but three all-stars on one team: Gilbert Arenas, Antawn Jamison and Caron Butler. From 2005-08, the Washington Wizards were legit. They were entertaining and fun – at least on offense – but more importantly, they were contenders. Their only problem was that they weren’t good enough to finish top-four in the regular season…and they played in the same Conference as LeBron James.
Fast forward 10 years, and the Washington Wizards still have a LeBron problem. But, this time, there’s something different about the Wizards. They’re starting to look a lot like the city of D.C.
Mess with this team, guess what you’ll catch…
This season, the Washington Wizards have been as talked about for their on-court incidents as their on-court play. Since the all-star break, they’ve played increasingly physical and have backed-up every bit of talk they put on. Simply put, they fight…a lot.
Washington’s beef with the Boston Celtics this season has arguably been their most recognizable storyline of their year.
It started back in November when John Wall was assessed a Flagrant-2 because of the excessive contact he made with Celtics guard Marcus Smart. The beef then saw a progression when Wall and Jae Crowder got into it a little bit after Crowder poked Wall’s nose. Wall slapped Crowder and chaos (kinda) ensued. A total of five technicals were assessed in response of the incident.
But the cherry on top of the Wizards-Celtics feud came on January 24, when Washington rose to
peak
beautiful levels of pettiness.
Heading into the Verizon Center for this game, the Washington Wizards players did something that set “Basketball Twitter” ablaze. Something absurdly unexpected. Their roster wore all-black, funeral-themed attire, and it was incredible. Thankfully, they backed that move up with a win…but can you even imagine being the Celtics in that situation?
But this wasn’t their only beef of this season.
The Wizards got into an on-court scuffle with the Orlando Magic in November, as well as a heated exchange with the Phoenix Suns in early March. Then, there’s their first round playoff match-up against the Atlanta Hawks.
It’s only two games into the series and Washington is already playing what could be their most physical brand of basketball all season. They’re pushing hard to wear down Atlanta’s biggest stars, namely Paul Millsap. That’s something Millsap hasn’t really seemed to appreciate.
"“The difference in the game was we were playing basketball,” he said following the Hawks’ game one loss, “they were playing MMA.”"
Washington Wizards forward Markieff Morris commented in response to Millsap:
"“If they thought that was MMA, what happens next might be double MMA.”"
The two teams ended up tallying 55 fouls in Game 2.
This Wizards squad, much like the city of D.C., has shown that they are tough, but more importantly, they’re willing to back their attitude. A lot of that is from the evolution of John Wall.
John Wall is here to create and lead
It’s pretty well-known that the success of the Washington Wizards is, in large part, due to the success of John Wall.
Wall has dazzled his way to an astonishing per game stat line of 23.1 points, 10.7 assists and 2.0 steals (all career-highs). He’s paired that with a solid 4.2 rebounds per game and a field goal percentage of .451. This season, he also holds a career-highs in Win Shares, with 8.8; VORP, with 4.4; and PER, with 23.2. Neither his True Shooting Percentage (.542), nor his Usage Percentage (30.6 percent) have ever been higher.
Wiz of Awes
This all helps Wall’s case for being the top point guard in the Eastern Conference. However, what he’s done for the Washington Wizards in this year’s playoffs may put him in a larger argument. John Wall may have a case as the second best player in the East.
Wall’s performance in his first two playoff games has been nothing short of magical.
His general stat line has risen to 32.0 points per game, 11.5 assists and 4.5 rebounds, while shooting .477 from the field and .667 from beyond the arc. He has an Offensive Rating of 124 and a True Shooting Percentage of .601. To add on, Wall also now boasts a PER of 29.1, a Free Throw Attempt Rate of .477 and an Assist Percentage of 50.5 percent.
Yes, two games is an incredibly small sample size, but those numbers are insane.
I can understand why it may be tough to crown Wall as the second best player in the East. Everyone has a right to their own opinions. But, as the postseason continues to progress, it be tougher for anyone to deny him of that title. Especially if he and the Wizards can continue their stellar play throughout the playoffs.
Right now, the Washington Wizards have a legit shot at making it to the Eastern Conference Finals. If that happens, it’d be due to the leadership of John Wall – the player who now has a mural at the famed Ben’s Chili Bowl. In a city that has finally embraced its basketball team, the basketball team has, in turn, embraced the style of that very city that has embraced them…the Chocolate City.
(All stats derived via BasketballReference.com)