Washington Wizards: 5 reasons why the Wizards keep winning

The Utah Jazz may be the first team in the NBA to clinch a playoff birth this season, but they aren’t the hottest team in the NBA. That would be the new York Knicks, who have won nine of their last ten games. Right after that, there’s the Washington Wizards, who have won ten of their last twelve games, a hot streak that has catapulted them into the Eastern Conference’s final play-in spot.

The Washington Wizards — fresh off of their longest winning streak since 2001 — are having their best month of the season. Through their first 15 games in April, the Wizards have gone 10-5. Even if they lose the final two games of the month and finish 10-7, it’ll be their best month this season by winning percentage.

The Washington Wizards are finally winning. But how? And will it matter?

This is the Washington Wizards team that fans have been clamoring for all season. But will it be too little too late? The Wizards do own the final play-in spot…for now. But their lead is not insurmountable. The Wizards are 1.0 game ahead of the Chicago Bulls and 1.5 ahead of the Toronto Raptors. Both the Wizards and Bulls have 11 games remaining. The Raptors have 10.

However, if the Wizards keep up their winning ways, they may be more worried about catching the Indiana Pacers (9th) or Charlotte Hornets (8th) than getting caught from behind.

So what’s the secret to the new success? Here are five reasons why the Wizards are suddenly winning.

Bradley Beal is the best scorer in the league.

The scoring title — which once looked like a foregone conclusion for Bradley Beal — might not end up in Washington when the season’s over. Beal is in a heated race with Steph Curry and currently has a 0.2 point lead over the Golden State star. But even if Beal doesn’t finish first in the points per game average, there’s no stopping him on the court. You can only hope to slow him down. Beal is getting buckets against any team, and he’s been doing it at a high level throughout the Wizards’ stretch of success.

The Wizards are 11-1 over Beal’s last 12 games. During that time, he’s been nearly unstoppable, averaging 30.4 points per game and shooting 49.1 percent from the field. Every night he makes the nearly impossible look routine on the offensive end.

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All of this exceptional play from Beal earned him his first Player of the Week award this season. Given the level that Beal’s been playing at all season long, it’s hard to believe that this is his first time being recognized.

There’s no reason to think Beal won’t keep this up through the remainder of the season. And if he does, Player of the Week won’t be the only award Beal has when things are said and done. He’s a virtual shoo-in for All-NBA (which would be his first selection ever), and hopefully, he can best Curry and bring D.C. its first scoring title.

Russell Westbrook is an unstoppable triple-double machine.

Russell Westbrook has 29 triple-doubles this season, the most by any player. Nikola Jokic is second in the league with 15. It’s not even close.

What Russell Westbrook has been doing recently for the Washington Wizards has been nothing short of incredible. It’s looking more and more likely that he will break Oscar Robertson‘s record of 181 career triple-doubles before the season is over. Westbrook currently has 175 with 11 games left.

But that’s not the only history he’s currently making. Recently, Westbrook went on a triple-double tear that Robertson never matched during his time in the NBA. Additionally, he recently recorded his twelfth triple-double in April, giving him the most triple-doubles in a calendar month in NBA history. Plus, he becomes the first player since Wilt Chamberlain to score 300 points, grab 150 rebounds, and dole out 15 assists in back-to-back months.

Westbrook also leads the NBA in a less impressive category: turnovers. But he leads the NBA in assists, too, so it kind of balances out. Make no mistake. The Wizards are winning because of Westbrook, not despite him. This season, he’s been one of the most effective and productive players in the clutch.

After years of triple-doubles from Westbrook, we’ve all kind of gotten desensitized to it. He’s not the only one doing it, but he’s the best at it. And seemingly nobody can stop him. Let’s not take this greatness for granted.

Davis Bertans can’t miss in the month of April.

Earlier this season, Davis Bertans simply wasn’t making enough shots from beyond the three-point line, especially when you consider the huge contract he signed in the offseason.

But during the month of April, something has changed. And I’m not talking about Bertans becoming a father.

Thus far in April, Bertans has made four or more three-pointers in six of the 11 games he’s played. Over that span, he’s shooting 47.8 percent from three on 8.1 attempts per game. By comparison, Bertans made four or more three-pointers just 10 times in his previous 35 games this season. And when Bertans is hot, it makes a difference. The Wizards are now 11-5 when Bertans makes at least four threes in a game.

There was a myriad of issues that disrupted Bertans’ season. He had visa issues that delayed his arrival at training camp. He was out of shape when the season began. He was part of a devastating team-wide COVID-19 outbreak. Everything was going wrong, and as a result, it took a whole lot longer than expected for us to see Bertans get back to normal. It seems that he finally is, and the Wizards are much better because of it.

The defense has gotten a lot better.

Defense has been an issue for the Washington Wizards for a while. I’m not exaggerating when I say this is a saga that spanned across multiple seasons. But wait! Have the Wizards finally figured out their defensive deficiencies.

As the Wizards approached the trade deadline and the second half of the season, it looked like it would be just another season of piss-poor defense. On March 24, the Wizards ranked 27th in the NBA in defensive rating. Pretty similar to where they had been the last two seasons: 30th and 29th, respectively. Then something changed.

Since the trade deadline, the Wizards have the sixth-best defensive rating in the NBA. Most, if not all of that credit, should go to Daniel Gafford.

Since he was given a chance in Washington, Gafford has been much better than advertised, and it really makes you wonder why the Bulls never used him more. But their “trash” is the Wizards’ treasure.

Gafford has only played 12 games with the Wizards, but his presence has already changed the way this team plays. Gafford is averaging 2.2 blocks per game since the trade. The last time the Wizards had a player averaged over 2.0 blocks for a season, the year was 20111, and the shot-blocker was JaVale McGee. This type of rim protection has been a long time coming, and it’s made an immediate impact.

The opponents have been “easy.”

Through their eight-game win streak, the Wizards did not exactly take on the best of the best. Sure, they started things off with a win over the Utah Jazz (their second this season). But the next seven wins came against the Sacramento Kings, New Orleans Pelicans, Detroit Pistons, Oklahoma City Thunder, Golden State Warriors, the Thunder (again), and the Cleveland Cavaliers. None of those teams are currently above .500.

Looking at the opponents the Wizards have beaten, you could ignore the success or at least downplay it. Those are teams the Wizards should beat. But that hasn’t always been a given for the Wizards.

For most of the season, the teams the Wizards were supposed to beat weren’t the ones they were beating. While they may have been toppling the teams at the top, they faltered against teams at the bottom.

Now, it seems the Wizards have stopped stooping to the level of their competition and are finally taking care of business. Locked into the 10th seed with just under a dozen games left to go this season, they couldn’t be getting hot at a better time.