Sir Charles in Charge
Fansided

Can The Wizards Knock Off The Celtics?

By Dylan Huberman

facebooktwitterreddit

After the Boston Celtics had major issues with the once-lowly Chicago Bulls, is it too crazy to say that the Washington Wizards can take down the East’s top-seeded team?

The Chicago Bulls had an up and down regular season. However, they managed to squeeze into the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference. They also won the first two games against the top-seeded Boston Celtics. Had Rajon Rondo not suffered a thumb injury and remained on the court, the Bulls may very well have upset the Celtics.

The Bulls have a perennial NBA All-Star in Jimmy Butler and a future hall-of-famer in Dwyane Wade. The team operated quite well with assist-maestro Rajon Rondo feeding them the rock.

John Wall, the fearless leader of the Washington Wizards, who the Boston Celtics now face in the second round, is quite the passer himself, packing a scoring punch and defensive skills Rondo lacks.

More from Sir Charles In Charge

Bradley Beal fits with Wall quite well, forming one of the league’s most formidable backcourts. They have other weapons in Markieff Morris, Otto Porter, Marcin Gortat and Brandon Jennings. They’re a more complete team than the Bulls and match up well against the Celtics.

So, is it crazy to think that the fourth-seeded Washington Wizards can upset the top-seeded Boston Celtics?

Oh, It’s Possible

There absolutely is a great shot that the Wizards take down the top dog in the East. John Wall matches up relatively evenly with Isaiah Thomas, Bradley Beal is more dynamic than Avery Bradley, and Boston doesn’t have a small forward to tame Markieff Morris.

Al Horford has a favorable matchup with Marcin Gortat for the Celts but other than that, Boston doesn’t really have an advantage over their east coast adversary. Jaylen Brown needs to step up big time to give the Celtics another advantage at the four, as his athleticism could create mismatches in the paint.

Isaiah Thomas, otherwise known as Mr. Fourth Quarter, needs to do more than just score. Being defended by John Wall, Thomas will be hard pressed to find his way to the rim. He needs to create more opportunities for his teammates to score. Jae Crowder has to rise to the occasion. Marcus Smart has to keep his head together and produce. Gerald Green, Terry Rozier, Kelly Olynyk and Amir Johnson have to find ways to score.

Unfortunately for Boston, most of those guys aren’t natural scorers. Washington has guys like Brandon Jennings and Bojan Bogdanovic that can come in and score almost immediately. Boston simply doesn’t pack much of an offensive punch behind Isaiah Thomas.

One man can only do so much down the stretch of the postseason. Even legends such as Michael Jordan, LeBron James and Allen Iverson couldn’t close games in the postseason with lackluster supporting casts. Only when Jordan got Pippen and LeBron went to South Beach did they obtain glory.

Thomas has no one near as good as him on that Celtic roster. Yes Bradley and Horford can score but neither man can be relied on to produce 25-30 points per game. Wall and Beal are both capable of doing that, if not a rare outburst for 20 points by Morris as some icing on the cake.

Must Read: Dwyane Wade Will Have Plenty Of Options This Summer

The bottom line is Washington has a very realistic chance of ending the Celtics in this second round matchup. The series tips off Sunday at 1pm on ABC. As Benedict Cumberbatch famously said in Star Trek, “Shall we begin?”

Home/Washington Wizards