The Washington Wizards have started to catch fire, winning 9 of their last 11 games, putting them at 25-20 overall, which is good for 5th in the Eastern Conference. The key to the Wizards success is the fact that everybody is healthy and Otto Porter, Jr. is starting to come into his own.
Otto Porter, Jr., in his fourth NBA season out of Georgetown, has really stepped up his game this season, averaging 14.2 points and 6.5 rebounds per game. Porter took a little while to find his groove, being proclaimed a bust after his first NBA season due to his lowly 2.1 points per game average. Being the 3rd overall pick in the 2013 NBA Draft placed a lot of expectations on Otto Porter, Jr. and after not living up to those expectations early on, he's starting to live up to them now.
John Wall (23.1 points and 10.1 assists) and Bradley Beal (21.9 points) form a very dynamic backcourt while Marcin Gortat (11.3 points and 11.4 rebounds) has no trouble holding his own down low. With Otto Porter, Jr. now playing like a future all-star, the Washington Wizards have one of the better starting lineups in the NBA. They can beat you in multiple ways, whether it be inside or out on the wing. Instead of having two guys that can beat you out on the wing, they now have three guys, which makes them a lot tougher to defend.
So long as the Washington Wizards remain healthy, they have the pieces to do some serious damage in the playoffs. The Cleveland Cavaliers are heads and shoulders above the rest of the Eastern Conference, but the Raptors, Celtics, Hawks, and Wizards are all within striking distance of each other, which means that the Wizards are still very much in play for the #2 seed in the Eastern Conference.
It will certainly be interesting to see how this Wizards team progresses through the all-star break and where they finish in the standings. If given the right circumstances, this could be a team that wins a series and makes a serious push to the Eastern Conference Finals. They're that talented.
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