It's no surprise that the Washington Wizards are currently creeping toward pole position in the East. They won 44 games in 2013-14, but they looked like a far better team than that while nearly sneaking their way into the conference finals.
It also should not come as any shock that they're doing so on the strength of their defense, which ranks as the best of any in the Eastern Conference on a per-possession basis.
Last season, the Wizards defended at a top-10 rate, leaning on the youth and athleticism of John Wall and Bradley Beal to hound their opposite numbers into mistakes and on a sturdy frontcourt, led by Marcin Gortat and Nene, to collect their foes' misfires.
That formula has remain largely unchanged in 2014-15. The same goes for the results—at least as far as the most recent postseason is concerned.
Washington is already well ahead of last season's more-than-respectable pace. The Wizards are now 16-6, a full seven games better than their 9-13 opening from the previous campaign and just a half-game behind the Toronto Raptors for the top spot in the Eastern Conference.
As ESPN 980's Kevi ...
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Article written by Josh Martin
Washington Wizards Use Defense as Calling Card to Rip Through Eastern Conference
December 12th, 2014 by Josh Martin Leave a reply »
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