Why are the Wizards playing so well?

[heyPlayer]

John Wall is a beast? I mean there are a lot of beast point guards. They're depth and roster isn't that strong compared to some of the worse teams but they are just crushing right now.

What factors make Wizards so good rght now? Can they sustain this insane run? They are confident too. Like dressing in all black on a b2b game and putting the Celts away. It would be funny had they lost the game lol. Dressing in black to one's own funeral lol.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Slump buster broke off all the players?

[long suffrin' boulez fan]

Jason GOAT Smith, ADK, and faith.

[heyPlayer]

who is adk and faith?

[sfam]

Coaching

[Kanyewest]

- Good defense
- Good ball movement, unselfish play
- Players like Porter knocking the 3 at a super efficient rate
- Bradley Beal is healthy, no major injuries for any starters, improved play by Markieff Morris both from the field and on the boards
- Improved play from Jason Smith
- Kelly Oubre looks promising on the offensive end while his defense is already solid
- Trey Burke while not playing defense consistently is knocking down shots
- The Wizards benching Marcus Thornton has also coincided with their run.
- Wizards also seem more locked in since the funeral game against the Celtics.

[milellie111]

Good coaching, good roster, great management.

[long suffrin' boulez fan]

Good coaching, good roster, great management.

Honeycombs in the urinals.

[long suffrin' boulez fan]

who is adk and faith?

Learn the parable of the mustard seed and you'll see the light. And oh yeah, read the Antonio Daniels' knee thread from start to finish.

[papidulo]

John Wall developed a consistent midrange shot, Markieff most versatile 4 we've had since Antwan Jamison, better coaching, Otto Porter automatic 3 pt shooting

[J-Ves]

Our defense has been elite this month and our starters have been somewhere between above average and all star. The bench is still bad but at least Oubre, Sato, and Smith provide solid defense.

[Illmatic12]

Overall talent and coaching/chemistry. Washington has at worst a top 2 starting lineup in the East, with Wall/Beal/Porter/Morris/Gortat who are all very skilled and fit seamlessly as a unit.

Elite playmaking pg with pace +
two athletic, highly efficient wing scorers +
versatile spacing PF who can play inside/outside +
elite PnR big man and screener


They just needed a fully healthy lineup and an offseason to integrate Markieff. I would say that Markieff is the x-factor - he was miscast in PHX as a top option, but here as a 3rd-4th guy he is murder . Dude has serious offensive game and can defend , pass the ball and has other underrated skills

[deneem4]

It's honestly rotations...brooks have perfected our rotations or either he gets a lot of input from wall...but that been a major improvement during the run...we get the right guys in at the right times and get the wrong guys out when needed

[CobraCommander]

- Good defense
- Good ball movement, unselfish play
- Players like Porter knocking the 3 at a super efficient rate
- Bradley Beal is healthy, no major injuries for any starters, improved play by Markieff Morris both from the field and on the boards
- Improved play from Jason Smith
- Kelly Oubre looks promising on the offensive end while his defense is already solid
- Trey Burke while not playing defense consistently is knocking down shots
- The Wizards benching Marcus Thornton has also coincided with their run.
- Wizards also seem more locked in since the funeral game against the Celtics.

This is the perfect post....you know why? Cause you didn't mention JW...because JW has been consistently the same dude. He is better this year but thats not why the team is better. JW is a constant....the rest of this...plus coaching has caused this turn around. BUT remember this....the winning is a house of cards built shifting sand on a thin layer of ice on a lake in spring. In other words this could come crashing down at anytime. The wiz gotta stay disciplined and remember they lost to Detriot the other day on a tip in...when they should have SMOKED that team.

The wiz should expect to beat everyone but be afraid that they can lose to anyone- I think Tomax and Xamot said that

[queridiculo]

Health is probably the biggest factor, that and the fact that Washington's two best players have made a jump along with Porter producing at an absolutely incredible level.

The Wizards rely on their starting unit more than any other team in the league it seems like, but it helps that this group is so incredibly balanced on offense that it's hard for opposing teams to key on any one guy to slow them down.

Washington's starters are all averaging double figures and the starting unit is giving the Wizards a little over 94ppg.

With the bench's play coming around and the Wizards defense starting to really step up Washington is hard to beat most nights.

It also helps that this team seems to have some real camaraderie and that they're taking pride in playing for each other on both ends.

Hard to imagine, but I think the offense can still get better as the team continues to gel.

[ozthegap]

-
- Wizards also seem more locked in since the funeral game against the Celtics.

The Celtics are playing angry since we beat them though. I think we hurt their feelings

[lastemp3ror]

If I had to pick one answer, it is coaching. Wall, Oubre, Porter and Beal are all having career years. Morris is playing better too. If one or two of them were playing better maybe I wouldn't say coaching as much, but when you literally have the whole starting lineup playing better it is coaching.

[dangermouse]

Brooks

Chemistry

Less long twos

[TGW]

Right now, the long jumpers are falling. Against bad defensive teams, the Wizards are cooking them because the shooters have been on fire. Chief Kieff is actually making jumpshots.

It's effective until it's not effective. What I mean is...once the team goes to a team-wide shooting slump (which they will do...no one on this team is consistent really, except for maybe Wall) then we'll see the team struggle again. Unfortunately, there's no inside presence to get buckets when they need it. Crunchtime offense usually involves a heavily contested Wall or Beal jumpshot.

In conclusion, they are playing well because their making their shots. Hope it lasts.

[nate33]

Right now, the long jumpers are falling. Against bad defensive teams, the Wizards are cooking them because the shooters have been on fire. Chief Kieff is actually making jumpshots.

It's effective until it's not effective. What I mean is...once the team goes to a team-wide shooting slump (which they will do...no one on this team is consistent really, except for maybe Wall) then we'll see the team struggle again. Unfortunately, there's no inside presence to get buckets when they need it. Crunchtime offense usually involves a heavily contested Wall or Beal jumpshot.

In conclusion, they are playing well because their making their shots. Hope it lasts.

I don't think the evidence bears this out.

For the entire season, the Wizards have shot 43.5% from 10-21 feet

In November, the Wizards shot 40.4% from 10-21 feet
In December, the Wizards shot 47.5% from 10-21 feet
In January, the Wizards shot 43.4% from 10-21 feet

In January, during their big winning streak, they've been hitting long 2's in line with their season averages. They shot slightly below their season average in November and slightly above average in December. (For every percent deviation from the norm, it costs them an average of .7 points per game for the month. So in November, their poor shooting was costing them about 2.2 points a game, and in December, their good shooting was boosting them about 2.8 points per game.)