A couple years ago, the Washington Wizards looked like they were ready to finally be contenders. After years of being a horrible-to-semi-decent team, they started their season 22-8. The most-impressive part of this was how they were outplaying the Cleveland Cavaliers.
To make a long story short, the Wizards’ strong play didn’t last. They crashed back down to earth. John Wall still made them a tough out in the playoffs. After they shocked the Raptors in a 4-0 sweep, the Wizards were a Paul Pierce three away from pushing the Hawks to a Game 7.
Last season, the Wizards dealt with injuries. However, they stayed right there in the playoff race. If last year was a typical Eastern Conference season, the Wizards would’ve made the playoffs with their 41-41 record. It wasn’t good enough, though. This season, the Wizards got off to a slow start, but they’re playing well.
The main thing holding Washington back is their road record, which sucks. But, they are 12-6 at home, plus they’ve got wins over some good teams. Their win over Indiana, most-recently was over a playoff team from last season. In addition, they beat the Charlotte Hornets, the current leaders of the Southeast Division.
But, no team is playing better in the Southeast Division than the Washington Wizards. Since Charlotte is 19-14, they lead the division and are tied for third in the East, a position they should be familiar with. Even with Charlotte having a winning record, they haven’t proven they can really step up yet, because they had chances.
Despite it being brief, the Washington Wizards did play at an elite level and they are playing at it now. It is a long shot, but the Wizards can get back into the playoff race, they’re only a half game out, right now. So, with all the talk about making a deal with the Kings for Demarcus Cousins and being snubbed on TV really could be mute.
Not saying it’ll actually go down like that, but the Wizards are silently the best team in the East, outside of the defending-champion Cavaliers, over the past ten games.
