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We’re in the middle of March and the NCAA basketball tournaments. But there’s still NBA basketball going on, so let’s catch up on what the Wizards and Mystics have been up to.
Wizards stay in the pack but are losing steam
The Wizards lost last Saturday to the Heat in a 129-102 blowout that I’d rather forget about. There just wasn’t much positive stuff to take away from it. On Tuesday, the Wizards lost to the Timberwolves, 116-111 though they led big early in game that reaks “Go Wizards” with it. They followed that up and won a 125-124 overtime thriller over the Celtics Thursday that didn’t have to be — our shouldn’t have to be — an overtime thriller. Finally, they won a critical 109-102 game over the Pacers yesterday. The win also gives the Wizards a tiebreaker over Indiana, which is huge because both teams have a 40-30 record right now.
At the end of the day, the Wizards are fourth in the East today. They are half a game behind the Cavaliers for the third seed, which is still attainable at this point. Considering that the Wizards were widely expected to be a Top-3 seed in the East in the preseason rankings, ending up in third place after an up and down regular season is like coming full circle in my book.
And here are some more links:
- Ramon Sessions is a Wizard for the rest of this season.
- Jake and Alan discussed which Eastern Conference opponents provide the biggest challenges for the Wizards in the first round of the playoffs.
- Considering that UVA lost in the first round of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament, Jake’s early analysis of the brackets don’t look so bad after all.
- We fronted a couple FanPosts in the pipeline from last week. First, check out this piece about Marcin Gortat’s decline. And check out Rook6980’s latest addition in his series of 2018 NBA Draft prospects.
John Wall gets closer to a return
The Wizards’ franchise player is getting closer to returning. So here are some links around that.
- Zach Lowe of ESPN details on a couple things about the Wizards. First, they still look better without him. And second, they’ll still need him for the postseason.
- And from the AP, Wall is getting closer to returning ... but we don’t know exactly when. The bottom line is that Wall needs to be at full strength when he returns.
Elena Delle Donne compares her situation with the Sky to UConn
The Mystics’ franchise player released a couple new books: “My Shot: Balancing It All and Standing Tall” and “Elle of the Ball” earlier this week where she signed books for young fans.
Last week, Phil Thompson of the Chicago Tribune broke down the synopsis of the book and her time with Chicago, comparing her situation in late 2016 in Chicago to her short summer stint at the University of Connecticut, where she was for a few days before going home back in 2008. While in Chicago, she also admitted to being homesick early in her career. Hopefully, she doesn’t feel that way in Washington.
And finally in WNBA news, the Draft is next month in New York City. We also broke down a range of players who could be first round picks as well.
There are many other links out there, so if there’s a story you’d like to share, feel free to do so in the comments or as a FanPost. Enjoy the rest of your weekends everyone.