Are The Washington Wizards For Real?

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In what may be the biggest show out of the NBA Playoffs, the Washington Wizards are proving to the nation that they deserve to be in the playoffs.

So are the Washington Wizards for real or are the Chicago Bulls really that bad?


The Wizards came into the playoffs as the 5th seed out of a weak Eastern Conference. Their 44-38 record wouldn't have even got them into the playoffs if they were in the Western Conference (Eighth seed in the West, Dallas Mavericks, got into the playoffs with a 49-33 record).

 
Now they have a two game lead over the Chicago Bulls and can close out the series with two more wins. The Wizards two wins over Chicago both came at the United Center in Chicago. The next two games will be played at the Verizon Center in Washington, DC. The Wizards have a good chance of closing out this series in the next two games based on the fact that their record at home was the same as on the road this season, 22-19.


In the first game it was a front court domination game where Marcin Gortat and Nene controlled the paint on both sides of the court. John Wall and Bradley Beal played decent games in their first playoff appearances. However, compared to their usual numbers they actually had a sub-par performance when the Wizards shocked the state of Illinois with a 9-point win over the Bulls in game one of the series.

 
The second game is when Bradley Beal stole the show. Beal put up a game-high 26 points, just one over the Bulls leading scorer DJ Augustin who had 25 points on the night. Wall also played a better game than the first and finished with 16 points, 7 assists, 5 rebounds, and 3 steals. 


Don't go counting the Bulls out just yet. There is still a lot of basketball to be played and this is a veteran led team with a lot of playoff experience. They have former coach of the year Tom Thibodeau, who has been able to continually coach his team into the playoffs even though they have been without their star player, Derrick Rose, for just about two seasons now; They also lost their second best scorer when they traded Luol Deng earlier in the season to the Cavaliers. Coach Thibodeau does it every year using a defense first approach, led by defensive player of the year Joakim Noah.


The Washington Wizards have surprised most of the nation so far and will have a chance to prove that they have what it takes to win in this series this Friday, April 25th 5:00pm PT on ESPN for what should be an excellent game 3.