Washington Wizards Three Takeaways: Wizards Take Care of Business Against Knicks, Thwart Comeback

Washington Wizards came close to dropping a winnable game against the New York Knicks, but managed to sneak out with another win.

With only 4 games left in the season, the Washington Wizards still have many reasons to play hard.

50 wins is still very much attainable, and the team is in a tight race with Toronto for the third seed.  Coming into Thursday’s game in New York, Washington was 0.5 games behind the Raptors, meaning a win would leave the two teams tied with only three games remaining.

The Knicks obviously have nothing to play for, but this is the type of team that has given Washington some issues in the past.  To help, Kristaps Porzingis sat out his second straight game with a sore lower back.

The Raptors have the tiebreaker in the season series, so Washington will need to finish one game ahead to capture the much desired third seed and potentially avoid Cleveland in the second round.

Markieff Morris sat out this one with a sore ankle, opening the door for Jason Smith to add to his recent string of indispensable play.

Return of the Machine?

Much has been made of Marcin Gortat‘s struggles since Ian Mahinmi came back from injury.

For the month of March, he averaged 7.3 points and 8.6 rebounds per game, after averaging 13 points and 11 rebounds in February.

Against New York, Gortat scored 16 points on 7-7 shooting.

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Even more than the perfect shooting, Gortat seemed more comfortable in his role.

We saw some of the return of the patented Wall-Gortat pick and roll.

Gortat also did a good job defending the myriad of Knicks big men thrown his way.  He doesn’t have the rim protection of Mahinmi, but his strength inside still showed on both ends of the court.

Although he only had three rebounds, Gortat seemed to be more focused than previous games.

Washington will need Gortat to keep getting back to his play earlier this year to have its best chance at advancing far in the playoffs

Fastbreak Points Solid Offensive Outing

The Wizards won the fastbreak battle 27-7.  The team’s bread and butter, Washington thrived in the open court as per usual, and impressed many of the fans in orange and blue.

Bradley Beal led the way with 25 points and 4 threes, while Wall had 24 points and hit his first 4 threes.

Besides Gortat’s 16, the only other player in double figures was Kelly Oubre with 13 points.  He continued to show great defensive energy against Carmelo Anthony, and had one possession with three deflections.

Lack of a Complete Game

As we’ve seen seemingly much of the last month, the team struggled to sustain great effort for all 48 minutes.  There have been games where the team fell behind early, only to come back furiously late, and games like this where the team gained a big lead, only to let it slip late.

Basketball is “a game of runs,” but just when the team looked like it could put away the lowly Knicks late, New York went on a 9-0 run, behind the shooting of journeyman Sasha Vujavic.

In the end, the team took care of business scoring on four of its last five possessions, including a huge three from Beal.

Bonus: Looking Ahead

After the win, Washington and Toronto find themselves tied at 48-31, with three games left.  The Wizards finish at home against Miami on Saturday, in Detroit on Monday, and in Miami on Wednesday.

Toronto finishes hosting Miami on Friday, at New York on Sunday, and at Cleveland on Wednesday.  Considering Cleveland owns the tie breaker over Boston it’s very possible the Cavs rest on that last day of the season against the Raptors.

Obviously, the Washington Wizards want to avoid the four seed and Cleveland in the second round, but how the team has played this season, the players won’t back down from that challenge.

Next: Wizards Should Avoid Bucks In Playoffs

It’s more important that the team plays some of its best basketball this last week and takes the momentum into the postseason, which amazingly starts in little over a week.