Washington Wizards: 3 matchups that will decide first-round playoff series vs. the Philadelphia 76ers

#2 Washington Wizards matchup to watch: Bradley Beal vs. Ben Simmons

Bradley Beal was so close to his first-ever scoring title, but unfortunately, Stephen Curry was just on fire this year. Even though Beal didn’t get the scoring crown, he still averaged a career-high 31.3 points in 36 minutes per game. The NBA’s second-leading scorer is entering this series a little banged up as he continues to play through a slight hamstring strain. But regardless, he’s still a threat to go for 30 or more on any given night if he finds his rhythm. For that reason, I envision the 76ers putting Ben Simmons on him early and often to try and slow him down.

Simmons was just named a Defensive Player of the Year finalist along with Rudy Gobert and Draymond Green. His ability to guard all five positions makes him the ultimate weapon on the defensive end. He’ll most likely draw the assignment of guarding both Beal and Westbrook at different points during the series, but Philly knows that stopping Beal is the bigger priority. We’ll probably see Danny Green matched up against Beal as well but he’s not the defender he once was.

It would be smart for the Sixers to only put Danny Green on Beal in short spurts and make Simmons the primary defender because Beal torched them in the regular season. In their three regular-season meetings, Beal averaged 36.7 points on 55.7 percent from the field and 55.0 percent from beyond the arc. The Wizards weren’t able to pull out any wins against the Sixers (0-3) but Beal was pretty much unstoppable! Ben Simmons has the chance to prove he’s truly deserving of the Defensive Player of the Year award by going toe-to-toe with the NBA’s second-leading scorer in round one. If he locks him up, then kudos to him. But we all know that’s easier said than done because Beal is a scoring machine!