The Washington Wizards have had a disappointing season thus far. The team was billed to be one of the better teams in the Eastern Conference and perhaps the one most suited to battle the Cleveland Cavaliers for the right to be the conference’s representative in the Finals.
That has not been the case as the team now sees itself with an uphill road to the playoffs. The team is currently sitting with a record of 35-35, placing it in tenth place in the East. They are 1.5 games behind the eighth seed Bulls and have a decent chance of catching up.
But according to star point guard John Wall, they should never have been in this position in the first place. Wall has performed incredibly recently, emerging in the MVP discussion (behind obvious front runner Steph Curry) while helping his team overcome a miserable start. But the point guard is not pleased with his play or the position of his team.
Following from Jorge Castillo of the Washington Post:
“I think about it every day, to be honest with you,” Wall said as he strolled to the loading dock at Philips Arena early Monday afternoon following the Wizards’ shoot-around. “I’m thinking, ‘There’s no way in hell we should be in this situation. We should already have a playoff spot. We should be done with that.’ Now we’re fighting for dear life.”
“I don’t like it,” Wall said of the Wizards’ standing. “Don’t matter if I’m averaging 20, 10, and five, and was an all-star. It don’t mean nothing to me.”
“It’s still a failure that we didn’t get a higher seed but it’s never a failure if you get in because our ultimate goal is just get in the playoffs,” Wall said. “We know what our goal was at the beginning of the year, to be a top-four seed, a top-three seed. We failed that part. But just to still be able to get in after the stuff we went through, injuries and then having slow starts and not being defend people, I feel like we can give anybody a run for their money in the playoffs.”
Wall has been a leader on this Wizards team for years now. His early struggles along with injuries and other factors all led to the Wizards’ poor start. But the point guard has done his part in recent weeks to lead his team up to the point where they have a real chance of getting into the playoffs.
The Wizards have real flaws but at this point it is clear that they are playing the best basketball of their season. They are still a talented team and with Wall leading the way, they have a real chance of leading an upset in the playoffs. But that possibility hinges on the team even making the postseason and as it stands now, John Wall and the Wizards have an uphill battle to get there.
