Wizards First Round Shows They Are Playoff Ready

The Toronto Raptors played very well in the regular season. They haven’t had the biggest names or been located in one of the biggest cities to have Spike Lee come and sit front row at their games (although Drake is a decent trade off), but they’ve put an impact on several teams this year.

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They did well enough to clinch the fourth seed in the playoffs, a step down from last year’s No. 3 seed.

The Washington Wizards, who would be matched up with the Raptors in round one, undoubtedly went in as the underdogs in this playoff series. However, this series should have been the most exciting, most evenly matched series in the entire bracket, since the Wizards grabbed the fifth seed, just one back from the Raptors.

Instead, the Wizards stunned a lot of fans and swept the Raptors, and have now moved on to the second round. At first glance, it looks like the Raptors simply gave up, and sat down to take their defeat. One of the NBA meme Twitter accounts puts the view that people had of the playoff Raptors the best:

However, statistically, this is not the case. The Raptors didn’t suddenly become a team that wasn’t capable of winning any playoff games against the Wizards. They didn’t just give up. Their lineup that features some very hard working individuals shows they don’t ever stop working hard. So why would they have simply changed into a non-intimidating team in the playoffs?

When the stats are considered, we see that an incredible defensive effort had to come through for Washington, especially in Game 3. Through this, we can see the Raptors didn’t get any less intimidating, the Wizards were just simply playoff ready.

The biggest part of the stat sheet in Game 3 was the blocks. The Wizards really stepped up as far as blocking goes, getting 13 on the game. Assuming all the blocks were two-point attempts, if the Wizards had just four less blocks, the Raptors would have had enough points to win the game. Again, this is assuming that all of those attempts would have also been completed.

The Raptors slipped in this column, getting just two blocks in the entire game. Wizards’ center Marcin Gortat doubled the Raptors’ entire team blocks.

The defensive trend existed all throughout the series, as they held DeMar DeRozan, who averaged 20 points per game all year, to just 15 in one game. Although he did score 32 in game three, they still did enough to outscore the Raptors and come away with the win.

They also held Kyle Lowry, who averaged 17.8 points per game this season, to single digits in the first two games of the series.

Rebounds were another reason the Wizards got such a huge advantage over the Raptors. In Game 1, they out-rebounded the Raptors 61-48. In Game 2, it was 45-28, Washington. On average during this series, the Wizards got 9.75 more rebounds per game than the Raptors, a huge playoff advantage. Rebounds win series.

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In Game 4, when we would’ve most expected the Raptors team to come out and prove themselves to the world after falling in the series 3-0, the Wizards did not relent at all. They truly showed they are a playoff ready team, and showed the NBA world that they should not have been considered underdogs to the Raptors, in any way whatsoever.

While game three had a huge defensive theme, game four had a huge offensive theme. The Wizards finished shooting 55 percent from the field, and outscored the Raptors 27-11 with fast break points. They absolutely embarrassed the Raptors in this last game, beating them by 31 points. Luckily for the Raptors, it wasn’t on their home floor in Toronto.

All of these stats are quality playoff stats coming from the Wizards. While some expected them to nervously stumble into this series, they came out very boldly, and proved their playoff worth.

Despite talk of Paul Pierce’s age, he averaged 15 points throughout the series, and came through often. His playoff wisdom is something that’s really helped the young Wizards team out a lot, and helped them become this playoff-ready team. He’s a leader to the younger guys, and will help share his experiences, and pass on his knowledge.

He showed Washington that he was a true Wizard, and told the crowd at one point after hitting a crucial three pointer, “that’s why I’m here.”

Despite a doubt that this young team could do well in this playoff series against the Wizards, they did it. Now, they have even more to prove, because they’ll likely move on to face the Atlanta Hawks (as long as they’re able to hold down the Brooklyn Nets), the East’s best team.

They’ve got even more weapons than the Raptors, but if the first round proved anything, it made it clear that the Wizards have no fears, and that they are a team to be reckoned with when it comes to playoff basketball.

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