John Wall And The Washington Wizards: 3 Keys To Round 1

John Wall and the Washington Wizards stole home court advantage from the Toronto Raptors with an overtime victory in Game 1. It was an ugly game offensively, one that could have been labeled a “rock fight” for the number of bricks masquerading as shot attempts.

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Neither team threatened to break 100 despite the extra period, but the Wizards are up 1-0 regardless of how unseemly the game might have looked.

Paul Pierce expressed the importance of what the Wizards had accomplished after the game. From Ian Harrison of the Associated Press,

“It takes the pressure off us and puts it on them now,” Pierce said of winning on the road to start the series.

Here are three keys for John Wall and the Wizards to win Game 2 and eventually the series, all while keeping the pressure squarely on the Toronto Raptors.

1. Win The Rebounding Battle

During the regular season, the Raptors were 26th in rebounds per game, allowed 11.2 offensive rebounds per game (20th) and had the 25th-lowest defensive rebounding percentage in the league (73.3).

Defensive rebounding has been a weakness for the Raptors all year.

In Game 1, the Wizards took advantage of that by grabbing 19 offensive rebounds and 61 total rebounds compared to the Raptors’ 48. The rebounding battle is always important, but when the teams combine to shoot 38.7 percent for the game, it becomes doubly so.

The Wizards tied for sixth in the NBA in rebounds per game during the season, allowed 10 offensive rebounds per game (sixth) and were third in defensive rebounding percentage (77.3).

The Wizards are a good rebounding team without having any one player stand out much for their work on the boards. Marcin Gortat led the team during the regular season with 8.7 per game, a solid but not spectacular number. The Wizards do their work on the boards by committee with nine different players averaging three or more rebounds per game during the season.

In the three games between Washington and Toronto this season, the Wizards won the rebounding battle in every game, but also lost every game. However, none of those games occurred after the All-Star break and the Raptors have been much worse since the break.

2. Keep The Raptors Off The Free-Throw Line

Through the first 82 games of the NBA season, the Raptors had the third-best offense in the league.  They were solid shooting the ball—12th in field goal percentage and 3-point percentage—but part of what made their offense so effective was getting to the line.

The Raptors were fourth in free throws made per game with 19.3 and were second in free-throw percentage at 78.7 percent. They also have three players in the tp 30 of free throws made per game, no other team has more than two, per Basketball-Reference.com. Those players are DeMar DeRozan (6.0), Louis Williams (4.3) and Kyle Lowry (3.6).

On Saturday, the Raptors attempted 14 free throws, hitting 10. DeRozan (3-for-4), Lowry (3-for-4) and Williams (0-for-0) were all held below their averages in makes and attempts.

To put those numbers in context, the Orlando Magic averaged the fewest free throw attempts (19.1) and makes (13.9) per game this past season. The Raptors were well below those numbers in Game 1. In fact, the Raptors only had seven games all year in which the attempted 14 or fewer free throws in a game.

The Wizards were able to play tough defense without fouling one of the best teams in the league at drawing fouls. The ability to continue to do so will be key in slowing down the Raptors’ offense.

3. Win The Point Guard Battle

While there are many other important players in the series—every player is important to a degree—Wall and Lowry are the leaders of their respective teams. In head-to-head regular season games, Lowry’s team has gotten the better of Wall and the Wizards more often than not.

Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 4/20/2015.

Neither guard was particularly dominant, but the individual matchup would seem to favor Wall statistically. The win-loss record includes four games in which Lowry played with the Houston Rockets. If those four games are excluded, Lowry and the Raptors lead 8-3 in terms of team record versus Wall and the Wizards.

In their first and only playoff game versus each other, neither played a pretty game and both were well below their normal shooting and scoring averages.

Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 4/20/2015.

Lowry had a strong game on the boards and made it to the line more than Wall, but in every other facet of the game was outplayed. The most glaring statistic is probably Lowry fouling out of the game and Wall not picking up a single foul in almost 44 minutes of action. Wall also had eight assists with only one turnover compared to Lowry’s four assists and three turnovers.

The Wizards have to hope that Wall’s block against Lowry at the end of the first quarter becomes symbolic of the series.

If Wall is able to slow Lowry down while remaining effective himself, the Wizards will be in excellent position to win the series and move on to the second round. It will take a team effort and possibly some more clutch play from veteran Paul Pierce, but the Wizards have the tools to succeed against the Raptors.

Right now, the pressure is on the Raptors. Let’s see if it stays that way.

Next: 30 Greatest Point Guards Of All-Time

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