Category: Wizards

This week the #dcFamily saw what no one was expecting. The Wizards allowed their domination of the Atlanta Hawks completely slip. The Wizards dropped 2 straight at Philips arena. It wasn’t even a 2 close games where the Hawks were able to close, it was 2 dominating performances by the Hawks. This has caused panic all over the DMV! Anyone notice how tense the dcFamily was today? Notice how all Wizards fan were in a horrible mood today? We sure did! We had heated discussions amongst the DTC crew to the point where some of us almost uninstalled WhatsApp, the unofficial DTC group chat tool, while discussing this series! While on twitter during the game yesterday I read comments from fans that read, “I wish we still had Nene”, “Keef is garbage”, and even some suggesting we should turn to Trey Burke! I think the whole fan base can agree that emotions were high and a lot of nonsense was talked about yesterday. None of those things are true or should even be considered. 24 hours after the Hawks tied up the series 2-2, we can all calm down and come back down to reality. The reality is that the Wizards struggled mightily and there is certainly cause for concern, but its now a best of 3 that the Wizards can and should take. Here are a couple thoughts that could turn this series back into the Wizards favor.

Enough of the theatrics

The series started with the Wizards playing physical ball. In games 1 and 2 the Wizards were the better team by leaps and bounds, but maybe the game within the game back fired and got into the Wizards heads. It’s time to stop worrying about “MMA”, “Cry babies”, “stare downs” and worrying about the refs clearly calling lopsided games. The Wizards are averaging 10.2 more fouls than the Hawks this series, which is actually the biggest foul difference in any post season series. At this point the refs are not going to change the way they’re officiating the game and the refs aren’t going to let the Wizards play physical, so its time to change the game plan. The Wizards have to find a way to win despite the refs. The Wizards are the better team, and when the Wizards can play the game they know, moving the ball around, getting Gortat involved on the offensive end, crashing the boards and playing sound defense the Wizards can and will win.

Get Wall and Beal some help

The offensive game has been lopsided most of the series with maybe the exception of game 1. Wall and Beal have certainly been putting in the work to get their points but the rest of the team has to get more involved on offense. We saw Otto Porter and Bojan Bogdanovic get a little bit more involved in game 4 and this has to continue. The Hawks had 7 players in double digit scoring in game 4 where the Wizards only had 4. This has got to change and in order for this to change this all starts with staying out of foul trouble. At this point I look to Markeiff to change his defensive game up and get back to the game 1 Keef. Balanced scoring is a must.

Defense wins the series

This has probably been a struggling point of the team all season, but at this point it comes down to will, Wizards will over the Hawks will. Maybe this means more time for Oubre, maybe this means more energy and more effort from the front court. Whatever it is, it needs to happen ASAP. The Wizards have their backs up against the wall now and the series momentum has shifted in favor of the Hawks, the Wizards need to come out and shut down the Hawks by playing defense.

The series is sitting at 2-2 but the Wizards still have the home court advantage. A win tomorrow night where tip is at 6PM and the phone booth will likely be half full (We all know how bad traffic is in this area making it very difficult to make a 6PM tip) will define the series. As fans lets give the team some energy and come out with a win!

The 2016-2017 NBA season has come to an end and in just over 12 hours the Washington Wizards embark on their post-season run. In this post we are going to dive deeper into the season stats for both the Washington Wizards and the Atlanta Hawks, and give our 5 keys to the series then finally make our official Defeating The Curse prediction.

First, lets take a look at the season stats. As you can see in the graphic above the Wizards are a better team in almost every statistical category with the exception of rebounds per game, and even then the Hawks are less than 2 boards per game better than the Wizards. This is going to be an extremely important category for at least the first half of the series as the Wizards are going to be missing probably their best rebounder on the team in Ian Mahinmi. If you have been following our blog or our podcast you know that I, LP, has been specifically high on Ian. Mahinmi has only averaged 4.8 rebounds per game and 5.6 points per game in his 31 games this season. However, in his only game against the Hawks, on March 22, he racked up 10 boards. 5 on the offensive glass, and 5 on the defensive glass. Mahinmi is surely going to be missed, let’s just hope his calf can heal sooner rather than later. He is scheduled to be re-evaluated this week. With Mahinmi out that surely doesn’t mean the Wizards are doomed so lets look at 5 specific things that could propel the Wizards to the second round.

1. Calling on all centers, surprise! This is on the top of my list with Mahinmi out. 19, 10, 13 and 15. Those are the number of boards that Dwight Howard has put up against the Wizards in 4 games this season. Dwight hasn’t had much success scoring against the Wiz, only having 1 good scoring game. However, the centers specifically Gortat and Smith (likely the only 2 to play) need to do a better job of boxing Dwight out and being physical with him. Dwight surely isn’t the player he was in Orlando or even Houston but he can still play. The Wizards have to keep him in check. The hack-a-Howard tactic likely won’t be used since he isn’t the scoring threat he once was so the Wizards centers just have to out physical him and get him into foul trouble.
2. Back court duo – No surprise here, the Wizards are as good as John and Brad make them. I have little to no fear here as I am fully confident in these guys. These guys are still young but this is their 3rd post season, and John probably has extra incentive (not that its needed) to beat out Dennis Shroeder since being injured in the 2014-2015 playoffs.
3. Holding the Hawks to under 100 – The Wizards and 3-1* against the Hawks this season. There is an asterisk by the 1 because that was the first game of the season. We all know that the Wizards team game 1 and the Wizards team November and on is a completely different team. Anyone who says different clearly knows nothing about basketball or just hasn’t watched this team. In all games except the one marked by the asterisk the Wizards held the Hawks to at or under 100 points. In the playoffs teams usually don’t score as much as they do in the regular season so this matters even more. Defense, defense, defense! The Wizards can be a great defensive team it just all comes to effort and leadership. Again this is where John and Brad can lead the team.
4. Keef – Markieff Morris has to keep Paul Milsap in check. John Wall spoke some strong and encouraging words saying that this is going to be a good matchup for Morris and he has full confidence in Morris. This is Keef’s first playoff appearance and we all know as he has said many times he’s just ready for the playoffs to start. Keef has had some success scoring against the Hawks and I look forward to continued success in the playoffs.
5. Bench scoring – Generally in the playoffs the bench plays less, but in this series I look to the bench being effective. Bo-Buckets has cooled off a bit in the last 8 games but when it comes to bench scoring it starts with Bojan. He has got to get back into the form he was in before this slump. Maybe a few days off is exactly what he needed. Jason Smith, Kelly Oubre, Brandon Jennings can all help in this category as well but look to Bojan Bogdanovic to get back into form, the catch and shoot has to be lethal again. After all that IS why we call him Bo-Buckets.

We all have full confidence in this team, and I think the last month of the season wasn’t a plateau but more of a temporary slump. Scott Brooks has instilled an energy and excitement in this team and I think the slump ends in less than 12 hours. I have the Wizards winning this series 4-1, as a matter of fact all the members of DTC have the Wizards winning this series. Lets fill the phone booth! DC Family lets get this done!

The Wizards beat a desperate team in the Hornets, who is playing as well as any team in the East at this point. Does that mean the Wizards are back? Back to playing at a high level like they were in December and January? Does that even matter?

The beauty of the NBA is that the playoffs is not a single elimination game, but rather a 7 game series, which is going to be of benefit to the Wizards this post season. Any given game I think any team in the Eastern Conference playoffs can beat any other team in the East. Where I think the Wizards have an edge is I don’t think many teams can beat the Wizards in a 7 game series. If you go back and look at the Wizards record by month they aren’t as bad as some fans have made them out to be. Sure they have dropped a few games that they should have won, but that is not to say they peaked too early or they are slipping as a team. The Wizards are 1-1 in 2 games this month, 11-7 in March, 7-3 in February, and 12-4 in January.

Sure, if you just look at the records the Wizards are on a slight decline, but if you look at what the Wizards can do when they put all their pieces together they can be a dominant team.

I was very encouraged by what I saw last night from a few key players, not named John or Brad(ley). The Wizards front court starters and key bench players finally had a great game. The front court only had 31 points but you saw Marcin play some exceptional defense and block a couple of shots. You saw Markieff with a positive performance scoring, and you saw Otto hit a clutch 3 at the end of the game. The bench scored 45 led by Jason Smith’s 17 point, season high in 3 pointers, performance. I said this on our DTC Podcast earlier this week that the Wizards are going to need players other than John and Beal step up. I specifically called on Otto porter to return back to 2015 playoff form, that seems like it’s starting to take place.

In addition, the Wizards weren’t necessarily flying high into the 2015 playoffs where they swept Toronto, and probably would have beaten Atlanta if it wasn’t for the John Wall hand injury. My point is that I don’t think its a big deal that the Wizards aren’t flying high into the playoffs on a 10 game win streak, or a long home win streak. This team has proven that they can play and win against any team, especially in the east. I am more encouraged by the little things that I saw in yesterdays game, like Kelly Oubre’s play, the team defense, and Keiff getting back on track. Besides, if the Wizards get to 50 that is probably all the mental confidence, momentum you can ask for.

Let’s get 50!

The Washington Wizards are standing at 42-26 with 14 games remaining in the 2016-2017 season. With only 4 games left at the phone booth. The Wizards are hitting a critical point in the season. The Wizards hit a little road bump this week losing back to back games against the T-Wolves and the Mavericks this week, but I would still consider this team in good shape. Currently in 3rd place in the East but can they really catapult into the top 2 seeds? Here are 5 observations I have come to from this week:

1. Scott Brooks knows how to motivate his players. We have seem time and time again with multiple players Scott Brooks knows how to light a fire under his players. Just a over a week ago Jason Smith was keeping the bench warm but when called upon he stepped up to the plate and knocked it out the ballpark. (Nats season is quickly approaching, so excuse the cliché.) Jason Smith started last nights game and scored 17 points and 7 boards playing 37 minutes. Scott has kept bench players ready, and when they are ready they can come out and contribute when called upon. You can say the same about Kelly Oubre. It seems like Scott recipe for sparking the bench is sitting key bench players out for a couple games. Let’s see if this works for Tomas Satoransky. At least for Jason Smith, I think he’s shown he deserves more minutes.
2. John Wall is racking up the T’s. To my count John Wall racked up 2 technical fouls this week. He is only 3 technical fouls away from having to sit a game. This is a big story line that we will have to monitor. John is too valuable to the team to have to sit a game, especially down the stretch. After picking up technical number 16 he then has to sit another game after every 2 techs, so it’s not going to get any easier. John has to keep his emotions in check down the stretch.
3. Bogdanovic is a still stud. It seems like the guy just doesn’t miss! Bojan or Bogie as he is called by the great announcers, Buck and Phil, has been an awesome spark off the bench. He is a killer from 3, has been better in the paint, and hasn’t been the liability on defense as we all feared when he was signed. The one game that stands out the most is in the desert where he scored 29 and had a +/- of 20. His ceiling is high and his shot is lethal. What a great addition to this bench, exactly what was needed. Thank you Ernie!
4. The Wizards need to be more consistent. The Wizards went 4-1 on their last west coast road trip, but they built themselves big holes in the first quarter of many of those games. The Wizards need to find it within themselves to start off strong and play a full 48 minutes.
5. Defense is key. Defense is the key to consistency. The Wizards have been letting teams rack up points on them. At this point this is the most concerning thing about this team. The Wizards haven’t held a team to under 100 points since before the all-star break. That is very concerning. Reports are that Coach Brooks had to cuss this team out earlier this week due to lack of effort on defense. This goes 2 fold, the starters are probably playing too many minutes and are fatigue, and the Wizards seem to play to the level of competition. Both the T-Wolves and the Mavericks are not top tier teams, probably barely middle of the pack. They should not have scored 104 and 107 points respectively. It’s crunch time and you can overlook any team.

Let’s fill up the phone booth for the last 4 games at home, and ride into the playoffs exerting energy into OUR Washington Wizards. Besides, its time to stop putting our energy into our struggling football team.

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