The Washington Wizards surprisingly swept the Toronto Raptors in a chippy first round series, marking the second straight season this team has advance to the Eastern Conference Semifinals. Here’s what the sweep taught us about the Wizards going forward this postseason:
3) John Wall seems ready to take "the leap"
Wall has already cemented himself as one of the best point guards in the game, but he's starting to show that he's one of the best players in the entire league. He averaged 17.3 points and 12.5 assists per game against All-Star Kyle Lowry in the first round, and was the engine that drove the Wizards in that series. If he can continue to play at that same level for the rest of the playoffs, Washington could be a serious threat to the top teams in the East.
2) No team is better on the road in the playoffs
The Wizards are 7-1 on the road in the last two postseasons, compared to just 3-4 at home. They've shown they can handle some of the most raucous crowds in the NBA, and now that it looks like they've learned how to win at home (2-0 this postseason), Washington could be extremely dangerous.
1) Maybe Randy Wittman does know what he's doing?
Wittman was on perhaps the hottest seat in the NBA as his Wizards were playing sub-.500 basketball during the second half of the season, but he's turned things around in the postseason by doing things he didn't do during the regular season.
He heavily used a lineup of Wall, Bradley Beal, Otto Porter, Paul Pierce, and Marcin Gortat that killed Toronto, and it was a lineup he used for just over 100 minutes all season. Whether he was saving that lineup for the postseason so opponents couldn't scout it or if it was something he went to in an effort to shake things up, it's doing wonders for the Wizards. Maybe he has something else up his sleeve for the second round?
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