Washington Wizards Bench Is Incredibly Important

By Josh Wilson | May 5, 2015

May 3, 2015; Atlanta, GA, USA; Washington Wizards forward Drew Gooden (90) shoots the ball against the Atlanta Hawks in the second quarter in game one of the second round of the NBA Playoffs. at Philips Arena. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports /

The Washington Wizards came out with a huge win in Game 1 over the Atlanta Hawks. This game was big for many reasons. First of all, getting the upper hand in the first game is always a huge advantage in the NBA playoffs. You have momentum going into the rest of the series that can sometimes be difficult to stop.

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Secondly, this game was played on the Hawks’ home court, and the Wizards were still able to take them down. This now gives them the home-court advantage for the rest of the series, something they need to take advantage of.

There’s lots of things to point our fingers at and say, “this led to the Wizards playing so well against the Hawks.” Only allowing a single Hawk to get past 20 points was huge. Even bigger, limiting the entire team to just 36.2 percent shooting from the field was big. Obviously if the Hawks aren’t making shots, they won’t win.

Watching the game, I noticed something that didn’t seem to be brought up as much as some of the other parts of the Wizards win. Their reserves played a huge role in getting the Wizards back in the game. Sure, they only averaged 6.75 points per player, but several of them had a noticeable impact when they were on the floor.

Otto Porter and Drew Gooden both shot 50 percent from the field. And although Bradley Beal more than doubled Gooden’s points, I was impressed with Gooden’s play when he was given the opportunity.

Gooden works the three-point line very well when he is on the floor. He’ll set a screen near the top of the three-point line, and roll to the side, often leaving him wide open because his man went to cover the screen. Several times I noticed he was able to find himself wide open because of how well he was able to work with setting screens.

In this outstanding performance from last year, I counted five times that Gooden was able to find himself a step or two removed from a defender, giving him open shots. He was able to do this a lot against the Hawks as well, including two of his three-pointers in the game.

Net point ratings are a great way to figure out how much impact a player had offensively on the court. These rating denote net points for the team in the time a player played. The Wizards starters, although finishing averaging 15 points each, were only in the positive net rating for one player, Beal. Marcin Gortat was at a flat zero, but that’s still not fantastic.

Every other starter’s net rating was in the negatives.

On the other hand, every single one of the reserves was in the positive net point rating. What this means is that when the reserves were on the floor, overall, the team scored more. And this wasn’t simply by a measly plus-2 or plus-3, they totaled a plus-35. Comparing that, the starters totaled up with a rating of minus-5.

This very low rating would be something to be concerned about if they happened to lost the game, but they won, so it’s not getting much attention.

I think the bench matchup is truly what ended up winning the game for Washington. Atlanta’s reserves combined for a whopping minus-27 net points. This means that comparing reserves vs. reserves, the Wizards net points were better than Atlanta’s by 62.

Wall has a black bandage around his wrist. Beal walking without a noticeable limp.
— Jorge Castillo (@jorgecastillo) May 4, 2015

Due to the stresses of the playoffs, injuries are going to happen. We saw it right away in Game 1 of this round, on both sides of the court. Wall hurt his wrist, Jeff Teague re-injured his ankle. It’s going to happen, and this is why the bench becomes even more important in the playoffs than they were in the regular season.

If the Wizards can win the bench matchup against the Hawks like they did in Game 1, I am confident that they will win this series. Many have been critical of Hawks’ head coach Mike Budenholzer and his reliance on the bench. The Wizards must take advantage of that, and any other mismatch they can find.

Next: Five Things For The Wizards To Do To Win Round 2

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