That’s right, you read it right! Is Washington D.C. better than both Boston and Atlanta? YES!!! In basketball that is. The Wizards beat both the Celtics and the Hawks this week. Not only did the Wizards beat them but you can say they put a beat down on them.
The Wizards are arguably playing their best basketball of the season right now. Is that what matters right now? Probably not, it matters most in April, May and June. Is it sustainable? That remains to be seen. The Wizards starters are playing a lot, and averaging minutes near the highest in the league. The Wizards bench can be suspect at times, but Jason Smith, Kelly Oubre, Trey Burke, and Tomas Satoransky have been stepping up in key moments. I think you can credit Wizards head coach and coaching staff put together by Scott Brooks for the improvement of players and the improvement of the team, specifically Otto Porter and Kelly Oubre.
We know that the Wizards can win at home, going on a 14 game win streak. The question really remains is that can the Wizards improve on the road at only 7-14? I think its really a tough road with teams like the Cleveland Cavs and Toronto Raptors ahead of them, but I think it’s possible. The Wizards have been playing lights out since December but is it really sustainable??? I believe the Wizards are eventually going to need a little bit more of bench help. The hope that I am holding onto is that players like Oubre, Satoransky, Burke will come through. Over those players I am really hoping that the Wizards rim protector, Ian Mahinmi, who they thought will be able to contribute when they signed him to a 4 year 64 million dollar contract, will be able to play in the second half of the season.
Earlier this week John Wall said the ultimate goal of this season is to reach the Eastern Conference finals. I think John was pretty reasonable with the team goal but the team needs help from the bench and I think Scott Brooks knows that. Whether Grunfeld knows that or not seems to be seen, with the trade deadline approaching.
In my opinion the Wizards can reach their goal of Eastern Conference finals but it will take a total team effort to include the bench. The Wizards need to find bench help at little cost to the team and to the future of the team or they need some improvement from their current bench (Ahem Ian Mahinmi) to reach their goal.
For now let’s just celebrate John Wall’s 4th all star appearance and the Wizards 14 game home win steak.
Defeating the Curse 