Can the Wizards win the title?

[RaptorsLife]

Wizards are the 2nd best team in the east. Also built for the playoffs atleast 5 good starters

[Illmatic12]

The Wizards should be more concerned with trying to stay a top 4 seed with home court in the playoffs. They are 9-14 on the road this season and 18 of their 28 remaining games are on the road.

Most of those losses were accumulated early on while they were still adjusting to the new system and getting healthy. Washington's won 5 road games in a row now

Home, away, wherever the Wiz are flat out a good team.

I also don't get the harping about their post-ASB schedule. Looking at their schedule, the Wizards will be favored in the vast majority of their remaining games , home or away. Only 7 games against opponents with a better record than them, 2 against Toronto, 1 against Atlanta.. and then the rest are against sub .500 outfits:

http://www.espn.com/nba/team/schedule/_/name/WSH/washington-wizards

Washington needs to go 16-11 to hit 50 wins. And I'm not sure if I see 11 guaranteed losses on that schedule

[perempe20]

No team in the East will beat Lebron James until he retires.

so no need to play games.

[Teko]

First we heard Raptors, then Hawks, then Celtics, now Wizards, who's next?

[Scott Hall]

This Wizards team is dangerous as hell. Outside the Celtics the only team giving Cavs problems in the East is the Wizards. Scott Brooks should be in contention for COTY in my opinion.

Wizards would get swept by Cleveland...

Boston I'd say 5 games...6 games best case scenario...

It's Cavs vs. Warriors again and we all know it

[krii]

This Wizards team is dangerous as hell. Outside the Celtics the only team giving Cavs problems in the East is the Wizards. Scott Brooks should be in contention for COTY in my opinion.

Wizards would get swept by Cleveland...

Boston I'd say 5 games...6 games best case scenario...

It's Cavs vs. Warriors again and we all know it

you sure? they played a game just recently and it took the best passing night of Lebron, his crazy-last-second-bank-shot, huge night by Kevin Love and exploding Kylie Irving to win it whilst it was an off / meh night for at least two Wizards starters.

I can't see Cavs sweeping Wizards. It would be much more competitive than that.

[Scott Hall]

This Wizards team is dangerous as hell. Outside the Celtics the only team giving Cavs problems in the East is the Wizards. Scott Brooks should be in contention for COTY in my opinion.

Wizards would get swept by Cleveland...

Boston I'd say 5 games...6 games best case scenario...

It's Cavs vs. Warriors again and we all know it

you sure? they played a game just recently and it took the best passing night of Lebron, his crazy-last-second-bank-shot, huge night by Kevin Love and exploding Kylie Irving to win it whilst it was an off / meh night for at least two Wizards starters.

I can't see Cavs sweeping Wizards. It would be much more competitive than that.

Yeah I'm sure...

What is a 5 man team with zero bench gonna do against the Cavs? They only have a clear cut advantage at SG and
a mild advantage at Center. The regular season means nothing and the Cavs toy with their meat and borderline coast.

You also need a raucous home court advantage to steal games from the Cavs like the Warriors and Raptors were able
to do last year. Washington? usually it's a morgue in there during the regular season don't know if it can get extremely lit
to rattle the Cavs for a game or 2.

[krii]

Wizards would get swept by Cleveland...

Boston I'd say 5 games...6 games best case scenario...

It's Cavs vs. Warriors again and we all know it

you sure? they played a game just recently and it took the best passing night of Lebron, his crazy-last-second-bank-shot, huge night by Kevin Love and exploding Kylie Irving to win it whilst it was an off / meh night for at least two Wizards starters.

I can't see Cavs sweeping Wizards. It would be much more competitive than that.

Yeah I'm sure...

What is a 5 man team with zero bench gonna do against the Cavs? They only have a clear cut advantage at SG and
a mild advantage at Center. The regular season means nothing and the Cavs toy with their meat and borderline coast.

You also need a raucous home court advantage to steal games from the Cavs like the Warriors and Raptors were able
to do last year. Washington? usually it's a morgue in there during the regular season don't know if it can get extremely lit
to rattle the Cavs for a game or 2.

You are saying that Irving is better than Wall? Sure, Lebron is the best player in the world, but neither Otto Porter, nor the rest of the cast are weak. Imagine Wizards starters going crazy, like some of them did in recent weeks: Brad going for 41, Otto Porter hitting five 3p in 1Q and going for .700+ FG%, Wall going for 15+ assists, Gortat rebounding 15+ and finishing easy baskets.
I am not saying they will win the series but I can't say I'm seeing Cavs sweeping Wizards either. Wizards are good.

[Scott Hall]

you sure? they played a game just recently and it took the best passing night of Lebron, his crazy-last-second-bank-shot, huge night by Kevin Love and exploding Kylie Irving to win it whilst it was an off / meh night for at least two Wizards starters.

I can't see Cavs sweeping Wizards. It would be much more competitive than that.

Yeah I'm sure...

What is a 5 man team with zero bench gonna do against the Cavs? They only have a clear cut advantage at SG and
a mild advantage at Center. The regular season means nothing and the Cavs toy with their meat and borderline coast.

You also need a raucous home court advantage to steal games from the Cavs like the Warriors and Raptors were able
to do last year. Washington? usually it's a morgue in there during the regular season don't know if it can get extremely lit
to rattle the Cavs for a game or 2.

You are saying that Irving is better than Wall? Sure, Lebron is the best player in the world, but neither Otto Porter, nor the rest of the cast are weak. Imagine Wizards starters going crazy, like some of them did in recent weeks: Brad going for 41, Otto Porter hitting five 3p in 1Q and going for .700+ FG%, Wall going for 15+ assists, Gortat rebounding 15+ and finishing easy baskets.
I am not saying they will win the series but I can't say I'm seeing Cavs sweeping Wizards either. Wizards are good.

A scorching hot Wizards team playing at their peak still couldn't beat the Cavs without JR Smith last week. What are you
guys 0-2 or 0-3 against them this year? As for for Irving vs. Wall it's about a wash I'm not gonna declare one better then
the other. The Wizards need to desperately bolster their bench to be taken seriously if not they're just fodder for the
Cavs like the Celtics and Raptors.

[Alienware]

No. They could get past Cleveland (like 15-20% chance) if they get to the ecf (which isn't a given by any means) but they're not getting past the Warriors. Not a chance in Earth unless both Curry and Durant are injured.

Inviato dal mio OnePlus 3T utilizzando Tapatalk

[dlts20]

Yeah I'm sure...

What is a 5 man team with zero bench gonna do against the Cavs? They only have a clear cut advantage at SG and
a mild advantage at Center. The regular season means nothing and the Cavs toy with their meat and borderline coast.

You also need a raucous home court advantage to steal games from the Cavs like the Warriors and Raptors were able
to do last year. Washington? usually it's a morgue in there during the regular season don't know if it can get extremely lit
to rattle the Cavs for a game or 2.

You are saying that Irving is better than Wall? Sure, Lebron is the best player in the world, but neither Otto Porter, nor the rest of the cast are weak. Imagine Wizards starters going crazy, like some of them did in recent weeks: Brad going for 41, Otto Porter hitting five 3p in 1Q and going for .700+ FG%, Wall going for 15+ assists, Gortat rebounding 15+ and finishing easy baskets.
I am not saying they will win the series but I can't say I'm seeing Cavs sweeping Wizards either. Wizards are good.

A scorching hot Wizards team playing at their peak still couldn't beat the Cavs without JR Smith last week. What are you
guys 0-2 or 0-3 against them this year? As for for Irving vs. Wall it's about a wash I'm not gonna declare one better then
the other. The Wizards need to desperately bolster their bench to be taken seriously if not they're just fodder for the
Cavs like the Celtics and Raptors.

Cavs can't sweep the Wiz. The lineup is too good. Cavs won but they were really up to break the streak and it still took a miracle play. No JR but Beal always kills him and everyone forgets that the Wiz didn't have Mahinmi who had only played in one game all year at the time. Bench doesn't mean much in the playoffs. There are no back to backs.

[Vee-Rex]

This Wizards team is dangerous as hell. Outside the Celtics the only team giving Cavs problems in the East is the Wizards. Scott Brooks should be in contention for COTY in my opinion.

Wizards would get swept by Cleveland...

Boston I'd say 5 games...6 games best case scenario...

It's Cavs vs. Warriors again and we all know it

you sure? they played a game just recently and it took the best passing night of Lebron, his crazy-last-second-bank-shot, huge night by Kevin Love and exploding Kylie Irving to win it whilst it was an off / meh night for at least two Wizards starters.

I can't see Cavs sweeping Wizards. It would be much more competitive than that.

I agree with the bolded, and believe the Wizards could be tough.

But I disagree with the previous statement. The Wizards had Gortat and Morris play near their averages, and Wall was close to his averages too. The differences are rather negligible.

Whereas Otto Porter played far above his norms and Bradley Beal went nova and performed FAR above his expectations. How many times is Bradley Beal gonna put up 41 points 8 assists and 0 turnovers? I mean sure LeBron had 17 assists but he still had 6 turnovers as well. The entire Wizards starting 5 had no one that played far below their norms.

But the Cavs were missing JR Smith and his replacement (Shumpert) went 0-2 FG and 2 rebounds in 23 minutes. That's a big underperformance for our SG position. Kyrie Irving shot 33% from the field. He played TERRIBLY for the entire regulation and only played well in OT. The Cavs had 2 starters that severely underperformed whereas the Wizards had none.

This is all IN Washington while the Wizards were scorching hot at the time and the Cavs had 20 turnovers in that game (very rare for them). I guess my point is - you can't really use that one game and assume that the playoffs will be a reflection of that.

[Meliorus]

The key to this team's recent success is Markieff Morris. People don't realize how good he's been in the past 2 months. He was averaging 12 and 6 on horrible percentages and no defense in November and December but he's averaged 17 and 9 in January and 19 and 7 in February on great percentages with reinvigorated defense. Literally the 2nd or 3rd best power forward in the East. The Wiz have 4 all-stars with him playing well. His ability to switch on 4 positions on defense/create his own shot/stretch the floor/sneaky good passing makes him a homeless man's Draymond Green.

If he loses his motivation, this team is going to struggle.

[Vee-Rex]

The key to this team's recent success is Markieff Morris. People don't realize how good he's been in the past 2 months. He was averaging 12 and 6 on horrible percentages and no defense in November and December but he's averaged 17 and 9 in January and 19 and 7 in February on great percentages with reinvigorated defense. Literally the 2nd or 3rd best power forward in the East. The Wiz have 4 all-stars with him playing well. His ability to switch on 4 positions on defense/create his own shot/stretch the floor/sneaky good passing makes him a homeless man's Draymond Green.

If he loses his motivation, this team is going to struggle.

Markieff has always had the ability, he just had a lot of trouble being consistent.

He always seemed to destroy the Cavs, though.

[FlatearthZorro]

First we heard Raptors, then Hawks, then Celtics, now Wizards, who's next?

Correction, we didnt hear the Celtics. Raptors nad Wizards and hte Pacers had a shot too.

On topic: anything's possible, its just not very likely. I watched them against the pacers and they shot lights out, that being said the Pacers suck defensively(so do the Cavs tho)..

[TheOUTLAW]

you sure? they played a game just recently and it took the best passing night of Lebron, his crazy-last-second-bank-shot, huge night by Kevin Love and exploding Kylie Irving to win it whilst it was an off / meh night for at least two Wizards starters.

I can't see Cavs sweeping Wizards. It would be much more competitive than that.

Yeah I'm sure...

What is a 5 man team with zero bench gonna do against the Cavs? They only have a clear cut advantage at SG and
a mild advantage at Center. The regular season means nothing and the Cavs toy with their meat and borderline coast.

You also need a raucous home court advantage to steal games from the Cavs like the Warriors and Raptors were able
to do last year. Washington? usually it's a morgue in there during the regular season don't know if it can get extremely lit
to rattle the Cavs for a game or 2.

You are saying that Irving is better than Wall? Sure, Lebron is the best player in the world, but neither Otto Porter, nor the rest of the cast are weak. Imagine Wizards starters going crazy, like some of them did in recent weeks: Brad going for 41, Otto Porter hitting five 3p in 1Q and going for .700+ FG%, Wall going for 15+ assists, Gortat rebounding 15+ and finishing easy baskets.
I am not saying they will win the series but I can't say I'm seeing Cavs sweeping Wizards either. Wizards are good.

I have little doubt that the Cavs can beat the Wiz, but I find it amusing that you talk about Loves big game and Kyrie exploding but you don't mention that Kyrie was actually off all game and didn't start hitting shots until the very end. In fact he was criticized in the game thread for continuing to shoot when he was so off. Heck, he normally outplays Wall head to head. And for some reason you don't mention Beal having a career game and Porter scoring out of his mind. Heck, this was a Washington home game.

http://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=400900174

[RaptorsLife]

Raptors last year had a stretch after January we went 22-4. Hawks in 2015 had a hot streak of I think 21 out of 23 wins. Hot streaks in regular can translate into ECF appearance but cavs will humble everybody I think

[Illmatic12]

Yeah I'm sure...

What is a 5 man team with zero bench gonna do against the Cavs? They only have a clear cut advantage at SG and
a mild advantage at Center. The regular season means nothing and the Cavs toy with their meat and borderline coast.

You also need a raucous home court advantage to steal games from the Cavs like the Warriors and Raptors were able
to do last year. Washington? usually it's a morgue in there during the regular season don't know if it can get extremely lit
to rattle the Cavs for a game or 2.

You are saying that Irving is better than Wall? Sure, Lebron is the best player in the world, but neither Otto Porter, nor the rest of the cast are weak. Imagine Wizards starters going crazy, like some of them did in recent weeks: Brad going for 41, Otto Porter hitting five 3p in 1Q and going for .700+ FG%, Wall going for 15+ assists, Gortat rebounding 15+ and finishing easy baskets.
I am not saying they will win the series but I can't say I'm seeing Cavs sweeping Wizards either. Wizards are good.

I have little doubt that the Cavs can beat the Wiz, but I find it amusing that you talk about Loves big game and Kyrie exploding but you don't mention that Kyrie was actually off all game and didn't start hitting shots until the very end. In fact he was criticized in the game thread for continuing to shoot when he was so off. Heck, he normally outplays Wall head to head. And for some reason you don't mention Beal having a career game and Porter scoring out of his mind. Heck, this was a Washington home game.

http://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=400900174

People still think Porter is some fluky player? He's dropped 20-30+ numerous times this season. Heck he just had 25 & 8 with 6 threes in his last game, check his gamelogs. It's not a fluke.. Otto Porter is an elite shooter in this league. If a team like Cleveland doesn't defend him tightly bc they're worried about Wall and Beal, then Porter will most likely go off. If not him, then Markieff can score 20+ at any time.

As for Beal, that was the third time this season he's dropped 40. And in the other two games he did it in regulation. He currently averages 23 a game on 60 TS%, and for his career averages 20/5/5 in the postseason.. safe to say it won't be the last time he has a big game.

Given that Cleveland has a bottom 10 defense, I wouldn't be so confident about them being able to keep the talent of Washington in check over a 7-game series.. I would still expect the Cavs to be the favorites to win in 6-7 games, but their margin for error/injuries isn't as big as you may think it is.

[bwgood77]

Here are 538's odds for all teams, including projected records.

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[Prokorov]

if lebron gets hurt they can make it. they cant win it.