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It's St. Patrick's Day and the Cavaliers will be busting out their green "leprechaun" uniforms and gold shoes for tonight's game. OK, I made that up. The Cavs return home for their third and final game of the season against the Washington Wizards, who are 32-37 overall and 16-20 on the road. The Wizards are in 10th place, clinging to the last play-in spot by a half-game over Chicago and Indiana. The Wizards have lost five of their last seven games, with both wins coming against Detroit.
These teams met in Cleveland in the third game of the season with the Cavs winning 117-107 in overtime. The Wizards were at full strength but the Cavs were missing Garland. The second game was in Washington on Feb. 6 with the Cavs blowing them out 114-91. The Wizards did not have Bradley Beal or Kyle Kuzma for that game.
Jarrett Allen is out for the Cavs and won’t return until March 21 at the earliest, according to CBSports.com, but otherwise both teams are at full strength.
The Wizards feature three established scorers in Beal (23 points per game on 51% from the field), Kuzma (21 points, 7 rebounds), and Kristaps Porzingus (23 points on 49% from the field). Their next highest scorer is point guard Monte Morris at 10 points per game. Center Daniel Gafford averages 9 points and 1.3 blocks in 20 minutes. Forwards Corey Kispert and Deni Avdija average 10 and 9 points off the bench.
The Wizards are basically an average team on both ends of the floor. They rank 16th in offensive efficiency, but 21st in scoring because they play slow, ranking 27th in fast break points and 21st in field goal attempts per game. They’re right around average in every major offensive category.
My assessment is they have three good scorers but not that much offense after that. The one area they excel is shooting percentage at the rim where they lead the NBA, but they only rank 22nd in shots attempted at the rim. They dunk when they get the opportunity but otherwise they prefer the mid-range shot where they rank 3rd in frequency (but 17th in accuracy). They’re average in 3-point shooting at 35.8%.
Defensively they are 19th in efficiency. They do a good job blocking shots (8th) and forcing misses (6th in opponents’ effective field goal percentage). They’re average in most other categories.
I see the Wizards as an average team that doesn’t do anything particularly well or particularly badly. There’s not a lot to say about them. Beal, Porzingus, and Kuzma are good shooters; in 8 games in March they average 25, 23, and 20 points. Kispert in March is averaging 13.4 points off the bench and nobody else on their roster is averaging more than 9 points. As a team they’re averaging 112 points in their last eight games.
Bradley Beal scored 27 points against the Cavs in October. His high this season is 37, so he is always a threat to have a 30-point game. Porzingus has had games of 43, 41, and 38 points this year so he can get hot. At 7’3” he can get off a 3-pointer whenever he wants. Kuzma had a 40-point game this year. Any of these guys can get hot so the Cavs need to focus on them as the rest of the team is not that threatening.
The Cavs need to understand that the Wizards are fighting to stay in the playoffs and need every win they can get. They’re a decent road team at 16-20. Complacency would be a big mistake. This could be one of those games where the Cavs come out overconfident, start slow, and it ends up biting them.
With Allen out the Cavs will have a matchup problem since Porzingus is 7’3” and I assume Mobley will guard him. Okoro or Stevens will have to contain Kuzma despite a height disadvantage. I don’t know who will be guarding Gafford, their 6’10” center if Allen is out. It will probably be Stevens who is too small defend him. Wade might be a better choice but he appears to be out of the rotation. Lopez could see action again since Gafford isn’t a big part of their offense.
With a Wizards’ front line that goes 7’3”, 6’10”, and 6’9” the Cavs could have a problem on the glass with Allen out. But the bottom line is that the Wizards are an average team that has not played well recently and the Cavs should win if they approach the game with the right mind set.
These teams met in Cleveland in the third game of the season with the Cavs winning 117-107 in overtime. The Wizards were at full strength but the Cavs were missing Garland. The second game was in Washington on Feb. 6 with the Cavs blowing them out 114-91. The Wizards did not have Bradley Beal or Kyle Kuzma for that game.
Jarrett Allen is out for the Cavs and won’t return until March 21 at the earliest, according to CBSports.com, but otherwise both teams are at full strength.
The Wizards feature three established scorers in Beal (23 points per game on 51% from the field), Kuzma (21 points, 7 rebounds), and Kristaps Porzingus (23 points on 49% from the field). Their next highest scorer is point guard Monte Morris at 10 points per game. Center Daniel Gafford averages 9 points and 1.3 blocks in 20 minutes. Forwards Corey Kispert and Deni Avdija average 10 and 9 points off the bench.
The Wizards are basically an average team on both ends of the floor. They rank 16th in offensive efficiency, but 21st in scoring because they play slow, ranking 27th in fast break points and 21st in field goal attempts per game. They’re right around average in every major offensive category.
My assessment is they have three good scorers but not that much offense after that. The one area they excel is shooting percentage at the rim where they lead the NBA, but they only rank 22nd in shots attempted at the rim. They dunk when they get the opportunity but otherwise they prefer the mid-range shot where they rank 3rd in frequency (but 17th in accuracy). They’re average in 3-point shooting at 35.8%.
Defensively they are 19th in efficiency. They do a good job blocking shots (8th) and forcing misses (6th in opponents’ effective field goal percentage). They’re average in most other categories.
I see the Wizards as an average team that doesn’t do anything particularly well or particularly badly. There’s not a lot to say about them. Beal, Porzingus, and Kuzma are good shooters; in 8 games in March they average 25, 23, and 20 points. Kispert in March is averaging 13.4 points off the bench and nobody else on their roster is averaging more than 9 points. As a team they’re averaging 112 points in their last eight games.
Bradley Beal scored 27 points against the Cavs in October. His high this season is 37, so he is always a threat to have a 30-point game. Porzingus has had games of 43, 41, and 38 points this year so he can get hot. At 7’3” he can get off a 3-pointer whenever he wants. Kuzma had a 40-point game this year. Any of these guys can get hot so the Cavs need to focus on them as the rest of the team is not that threatening.
The Cavs need to understand that the Wizards are fighting to stay in the playoffs and need every win they can get. They’re a decent road team at 16-20. Complacency would be a big mistake. This could be one of those games where the Cavs come out overconfident, start slow, and it ends up biting them.
With Allen out the Cavs will have a matchup problem since Porzingus is 7’3” and I assume Mobley will guard him. Okoro or Stevens will have to contain Kuzma despite a height disadvantage. I don’t know who will be guarding Gafford, their 6’10” center if Allen is out. It will probably be Stevens who is too small defend him. Wade might be a better choice but he appears to be out of the rotation. Lopez could see action again since Gafford isn’t a big part of their offense.
With a Wizards’ front line that goes 7’3”, 6’10”, and 6’9” the Cavs could have a problem on the glass with Allen out. But the bottom line is that the Wizards are an average team that has not played well recently and the Cavs should win if they approach the game with the right mind set.