Washington Wizards: 4 stats that show the Wizards are better than their record
By Ethan Smith
14-20 never looked so good. Despite a losing record at the halfway point, there’s reason to be hopeful about the Washington Wizards over the second half of the season.
Well, we’ve made it halfway through the 2020-21 NBA season, and I don’t think many are happy with the state of the Washington Wizards. Heading into the season, this was supposed to be the year that the Wizards returned to playoff glory. However, they have not made good on that promise just yet.
If the playoffs started after the All-Star break, the Wizards would not be among the postseason teams. But the playoffs don’t start after the All-Star break, and there’s reason to believe in the Wizards despite a slew of early-season struggles and a winning percentage on the wrong side of .500. Don’t give up just, yet, folks.
Here are four stats that prove the Washington Wizards are better than their 14-20 record suggests.
The Washington Wizards are 11-8 since January 31
January 31 may seem like an arbitrary date, but it truly was a turning point in the season for the Washington Wizards. Before January 31, nearly everything had been going wrong. Russell Westbrook suffered a quad injury. Davis Bertans was out of shape. Rui Hachimura had an intense case of pink eye. Thomas Bryant tore his ACL. COVID-19 exposure jeopardized the team and led to six postponed games. But by January 31, most of that had died down.
Hachimura’s eye was healed. The entire team had returned from health and safety protocol. Davis Bertans was healthy, and so was Westbrooks, who let us know with a 41-point triple-double against the Brooklyn Nets on the final game day of January.
Looking at the season, you have three major chunks. The (battered and bruised) beginning, the COVID-19 crisis, and the healthy stretch. Here’s how they’ve fared during those times:
- Beginning (11 games): 3-8
- COVID-19 crisis (4 games): 0-4
- The turning point and beyond (19 games): 11-8
Like a fine wine, the Wizards are getting better with age. They have a 0.556 winning percentage over the last 19 games, which represents more than half of their season thus far. Had they been maintaining it since the end of December and not the end of January, that winning percentage would have the Wizards fourth in the Eastern Conference standings behind the Philadelphia 76ers, Brooklyn Nets, and Milwaukee Bucks.