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3. Washington's reactive defense

The rising Wizards rank eighth in points allowed per possession, so it seems a little strange to say their defense feels more rickety than that. They are a great recovery defense, but only because halfhearted work against the initial play forces them into recovery mode. They almost seem to relish the challenge: How deep a predicament can we escape?

They duck under some screens against dangerous shooters. They laze into switches, and sometimes don't talk them out, so that the switch doesn't actually happen -- leaving a shooter with an open window. They switch into mismatches Scott Brooks probably doesn't want.

Opponents can catch them naked in transition defense, with too many guys loitering near the rim. About 31 percent of enemy defensive rebounds turn into fast-break chances, the sixth-highest share in the league, per Cleaning The Glass.

Washington defends from a disadvantage really well. When they sense their own vulnerability, they scramble like hellions. John Wall is an all-time chase-down block artist, and he's rejecting shots in the half court now, too. He battles his ass off against bigger guys in the post after switches, and he can jump high enough from a standstill to bother their shots -- even if they smush him under the rim.

Their core lineups are speedy enough to chase the ball as opponents ping it around. They make up ground, and run startled shooters off the arc. The effort is admirable.

But I can't shake the feeling that their inconsistent habits at the point of attack could come back to bite them in the playoffs. You can't spot good teams a few feet and hope to snuff the advantage often enough to win four times in seven games.

As it is, they are a (slightly) below-average defensive rebounding team, and they may be getting a tad lucky. Opponents are shooting horribly on open 3s, per NBA.com. Opponents have hit just 32.6 percent on corner triples, the lowest such mark in the league by four full percentage points -- equivalent to the gap between the 2nd- and 23rd-ranked defenses by this measure. They allow a decent amount of both 3s and shots at the rim.

Washington is fine. When they shorten the rotation and play at top gear, they can threaten anyone in the East -- at least in one game. But they sometimes wait one or two passes too long before shifting into that gear.

NatP4 wrote:Blowout tonight. This team is rolling

MikeTheKid wrote:Maybe we should trade for Tyreke, playmake and create all day for our 2nd unit