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Can Washington Wizards Inch To 3 Spot In East?

By Blake Rowe

Mar 29, 2015; Washington, DC, USA; Washington Wizards guard John Wall (2) reacts against the Houston Rockets during the second half at Verizon Center. The Houston Rockets won 99 - 91. Mandatory Credit: Brad Mills-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 29, 2015; Washington, DC, USA; Washington Wizards guard John Wall (2) reacts against the Houston Rockets during the second half at Verizon Center. The Houston Rockets won 99 - 91. Mandatory Credit: Brad Mills-USA TODAY Sports /
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On the heels of a four-game win streak, the Washington Wizards are currently in fifth place in the Eastern Conference playoff race. With just four games to go and only one game separating them from the teams tied for third and fourth, the Chicago Bulls and Toronto Raptors, John Wall and the bunch will look to improve their seeding heading into the postseason.

The next four games don’t look to be particularly easy by any means, but they’re winnable games given the circumstances.

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@ Brooklyn Nets

April 10, the Wizards will travel to Brooklyn. Brooklyn has lost two of their last three games in the midst of their attempt to hold on to their playoff hopes, and it looks like they may just continue to fall. In the last two meetings between the teams, Washington is 2-0 with an average margin of victory of 23 points.

The way Washington has played over their last four games, it looks to be more of the same in the teams final meeting of the regular season.

Atlanta Hawks

The Wizards return to Washington on April 12 to take on the East’s top team, the Atlanta Hawks. Though the Wizards are 0-3 against Atlanta on the season, this game isn’t quite the same. On the surface this game looks like it would go in Atlanta’s favor, however the Hawks have the No. 1 seed wrapped up and are now nursing some injured players. So what exactly do they have to play for? Well, the answer is nothing really.

They’ll likely rest their guys while gearing up for the postseason and Washington, who has a reason to play, will give 110 percent effort while trying to improve their spot in the playoff picture.

@ Indiana

Washington will be back on the road to take on Indiana on April 14. The Pacers, much like Brooklyn, are looking to keep their playoff lives intact. Currently on the outside looking in, they will scratch and claw to grab hold of that eighth spot in the East. A big factor in this game will be the play of returning superstar Paul George. Assuming he stays healthy up until this point, the Pacers provide an interesting opponent for Washington.

They were defeated in a playoff series last year by Indy in six games, but that was a different Indiana team. There’s no Lance Stephenson this time around and this will be the first time all year that Paul George will be involved in a game between the two. They haven’t seen this team as it will be constructed this meeting.

Now, Paul George isn’t 100 percent, and probably not close to it, but he is still Paul George and capable of making a big impact. This game will be decided on how well PG13 plays.

@ Cleveland

To close out the year, Washington makes its way to Quicken Loans Arena to take on Cleveland. This game, much like the Atlanta game, looks rather easy to predict simply upon looking at it. But by this point, Cleveland will likely have the No. 2 seed locked up and will also be resting guys.

LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love will likely all rest the last game of the year in order to prevent injury right before the postseason starts, and the Wizards will be coming in full force to take on the secondary players that Cleveland has to provide.

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    • What Toronto and Chicago Have Coming Up

    No matter what the Wizards do, they must have a little help from the guys ahead of them in order to move up. Chicago, trailing Toronto on the tiebreaker for third place, plays two teams fighting for the playoffs–at Miami April 9 and at Brooklyn April 13. They also get Philadelphia April 11 and Atlanta to close out the year.

    The Hawks, as i stated previously, will likely be resting players. Odds are, Chicago drops at least one of their games against Miami or Brooklyn. Toronto has three straight road games against Orlando, Miami–fighting for the back end of the playoffs–and Boston, which will be trying to cling to their playoff spot. To close out the year, they’ll take on Charlotte in Toronto.

    Same case for Toronto, they’ll likely drop at least one game especially considering three of the four are on the road and two are against playoff contenders.

    Washington has an uphill battle ahead of them to improve their seeding, but it’s a winnable battle nonetheless. If they keep up their win streak through the end of the regular season, it’s very likely that they’ll be at least a one place improvement in the playoff picture on April 18.

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