The Washington Wizards have been up and down so far this season, have they figured it out and will they go on a much-needed run?
Hello everyone! Let me be the last to wish you a happy holiday season from those of us here at Wiz of Awes—and me personally here at the Mailbag. We appreciate the feedback that we get from all of our readers and we couldn’t function without you!
Your Washington Wizards would probably ask for one thing for Christmas—consistency. The Wizards have been maddening to figure out on the young season which has led to their up and down record through 30 or so games this season.
They are struggling with teams that they should beat and not holding serve on their home floor. However, the Wizards didn’t really hit their stride last season until about this time, so here’s hoping that history repeats itself.
Let’s dive in to the mailbag for this week.
Thanks for the question Joe! Normally I’d take a pretty aggressive guess here with these opponents coming up, but as mentioned earlier, the Wizards haven’t played their best against the lowly teams in the league.
Make no mistake about it, this is a pivotal stretch of games ahead. While the Eastern Conference is a jumbled mess. The Wizards with one loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers, dropped from fourth in the standings to eighth. So the opportunity to separate themselves from the pack looms large for Washington.
I think that they can go 7-3 through this stretch, assuming Otto Porter comes back relatively soon. They have already lost to the Cavs and I don’t think they will beat the Celtics on Christmas Day. But I think these games are winnable.
I’ve got my eye on the matchup against the Rockets at the end of the month, as a game where the Wizards can announce their “arrival” if you will. I can see the Rockets still on their winning streak in that matchup, and the Wizards are known to play up to their competition.
John Wall appears to be getting healthier and healthier each game, and that’s a good sign if the Wizards are going to play their basketball heading into 2018. They’ve relied on the scoring of Bradley Beal, but if Wall can return to form, the Wizards become more formidable.
However, if they are going to make a move in the standings, it will start with winning the games they are supposed to win.