Washington Wizards: 4 games that will haunt the Wizards during their play-in push
By Ethan Smith
Wind the clock back to early April, and the playoff looked like a legitimate pipedream for the Washington Wizards. Looking ahead to the lottery seemed more logical than any possible playoff matchups. However, fast forward five weeks to where we are now, and everything has changed.
April was the best month of the season for the Wizards thus far. They went 12-5, finishing with the most wins in the Eastern Conference during the month of April, and posted the East’s second-best winning percentage and second-best defensive rating. All that success earned Scott Brooks the Coach of the Month award. And it also catapulted the Wizards squarely into the play-in battle.
With seven games left in the season, the Wizards sit at tenth in the standings. With a 3.5 games lead over the eleventh-placed Toronto Raptors, the Wizards seem safely play-in bound, but they may not be done moving up. The Wizards trail the Indiana Pacers by just 0.5 games and the Charlotte Hornets by 2.0 games. The Wizards play each of those teams one more time before the season ends. The seventh-placed Celtics, who would be the top play-in seed were the season over today, have a 4.0 game lead over the Wizards. Realistically speaking, the eighth seed is the best outcome.
If the Wizards make the play-in at all, that will be a small victory given how rough the start of the season was. But a few additional victories along the way would have them sitting a lot prettier as they get ready for the play-in tournament.