Washington (48 - 34)

Expert Pick
100% ····················>< 0%

Milwaukee (58 - 24)

The future is now old man…


WAS (Record: 23-25/9th Seed): I remember a time where the KANGZ flew high to touch the sky. We rode on the back of a spry 36 year old Lebron still in his prime. What happened has since been suppressed and blacked out from my memory… Revisionist history I’m sure. Trauma to unpack at a later date. Promise. Shortly there after; A genius stroke. Trade Lebron NOW for a KANGZ ransom and then fade away, into obscurity. Just how we drew it up, was so sure of it. Fast forward another FIVE GOD DAMN years… Lebron now, with a coveted NSL Championship and of course honoured as Finals MVP for his efforts… To say I wasn’t feeling a sense of deep regret would be an understatement. Still… Those feelings were quickly replaced with one of Pride and affirmation. Even if it wasn’t based off of my own endeavours. Because what the Wizards did finally winning Gold, sticking to their guns and seeing out the long game in full. Was rewarded In the most perfect way, as one of the most elite teams we’ve come to know, in the San Antonio Spurs… Looking for their Third, fell to the hands of the Washington Wizards. The league rejoiced. A victory SO sweet we all celebrated as the era of the Titans, seemingly came to a close… MIL (Record: 36-10/2nd Seed): If you were to look up the word “Loyalty” in the dictionary; Expecting to see a picture of GM Ethan, in all his glory… Then I’m sorry to say you would be sadly mistaken. They say history is written by the victor… Which is true in every case… I guess??? I wouldn’t know any better, because we haven’t heard anything that would say otherwise. As it should be. In this instance GM Ethan finds himself in a sticky predicament as the Milwaukee Bucks have already tasted success, at the highest level. Led by the Mighty Dazman, it was the Bucks who first broke the chains of oppression. He walked so that Josh could run, so to speak… Big shoes to fill for Ole Mate Ethan “The Turncoat” Corndog. All jokes aside… With a season already under his belt at the helm of an Eastern powerhouse out East… Ethan looks to make his mark and restore name, whilst silencing the haters.

WAS (Record: 23-25/9th Seed):

I remember a time where the KANGZ flew high to touch the sky. We rode on the back of a spry 36 year old Lebron still in his prime. What happened has since been suppressed and blacked out from my memory… Revisionist history I’m sure. Trauma to unpack at a later date. Promise.

Shortly there after; A genius stroke. Trade Lebron NOW for a KANGZ ransom and then fade away, into obscurity. Just how we drew it up, was so sure of it.

Fast forward another FIVE GOD DAMN years… Lebron now, with a coveted NSL Championship and of course honoured as Finals MVP for his efforts… To say I wasn’t feeling a sense of deep regret would be an understatement.

Still… Those feelings were quickly replaced with one of Pride and affirmation. Even if it wasn’t based off of my own endeavours. Because what the Wizards did finally winning Gold, sticking to their guns and seeing out the long game in full. Was rewarded In the most perfect way, as one of the most elite teams we’ve come to know, in the San Antonio Spurs… Looking for their Third, fell to the hands of the Washington Wizards.

The league rejoiced. A victory SO sweet we all celebrated as the era of the Titans, seemingly came to a close…

MIL (Record: 36-10/2nd Seed):

If you were to look up the word “Loyalty” in the dictionary; Expecting to see a picture of GM Ethan, in all his glory… Then I’m sorry to say you would be sadly mistaken.

They say history is written by the victor… Which is true in every case… I guess??? I wouldn’t know any better, because we haven’t heard anything that would say otherwise. As it should be.

In this instance GM Ethan finds himself in a sticky predicament as the Milwaukee Bucks have already tasted success, at the highest level. Led by the Mighty Dazman, it was the Bucks who first broke the chains of oppression. He walked so that Josh could run, so to speak… Big shoes to fill for Ole Mate Ethan “The Turncoat” Corndog.

All jokes aside… With a season already under his belt at the helm of an Eastern powerhouse out East… Ethan looks to make his mark and restore name, whilst silencing the haters.

Wizards Star

Jrue Holiday

Whilst Lebron continues to defy all logic and reason. Continuing to dominate for the Wizards on AND off the floor… His also aging counterpart and PG in Holiday is finally back and suited up for the Wizards.

It couldn’t of come at a better time as well, as we round the regular season corner and head into the back half… The Wizards are in desperate need for their “OG Big 3” to hit the burners and save their season.

Normally, Jrue would of course always draw the assignment of defending SGA. THIS time they have the Luxury of being able to slide him onto Kawhi and Co.

The stage is set up about as good as you could expect and it’s up to Jrue and the Wizards to take advantage.

PPG 15.9

RPG 3.0

APG 5.3

SPG 1.3

BPG 0.6

FPG 1.7

TPG 1.5

PPG 28.9

RPG 5.5

APG 5.5

SPG 1.5

BPG 0.9

FPG 1.6

TPG 1.9

Bucks Star

Kawhi Leonard

The Bucks are a team we’ve come to know almost entirely centred around SGA. Shocker I know… Of course the progression of Mobley plays a big part in this seasons success… But the GM made one of the biggest splashes this year on the trade front. In comes Kawhi and while you can sit there and argue about who’s “1A and 1B”… The fact remains this IS SGA’s team.

Don’t get it twisted though… Kawhi doesn’t take a back seat to anyone. Sure there are “question marks” in terms of availability and team buy in… Always has been…

But the funniest part of all this is if Kawhi is somehow, your 2nd option… Then it’s always going to be a bleak outcome for ANY opposition. While SGA sits, “The Boardman” will eat.

X-Factor
Injuries: We’ve all been ravaged by the Injury bug… It’s nothing new. But what IS a crucial part of any “successful” season; Is the ability to take care of business when it matters most. When 2K Lady Luck looks your way… You smile and wave. Like a good little boy, you give a slight curtsey, just like you rehearsed. As she rolls on by you count your blessings… …You realise; That THESE are the type of games you NEED to win. Especially when you have a mountain ahead of you, that you have to climb.

X-Factor

Injuries:

We’ve all been ravaged by the Injury bug… It’s nothing new.

But what IS a crucial part of any “successful” season; Is the ability to take care of business when it matters most. When 2K Lady Luck looks your way… You smile and wave. Like a good little boy, you give a slight curtsey, just like you rehearsed. As she rolls on by you count your blessings…

…You realise; That THESE are the type of games you NEED to win. Especially when you have a mountain ahead of you, that you have to climb.

Injury Report
Injured Players: Evan Mobley () - 12 NBA Games missed this season Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (--) - 7 NBA Games missed this season Jakob Poeltl () - 33 NBA Games missed this season Russell Westbrook () - 4 NBA Games missed this season Returning Players: Derrick Jones Jr. (returning from ) - 32 NBA Games missed this season Seth Curry (returning from ) - 27 NBA Games missed this season	Team is healthy this week Returning Players: Devin Booker (returning from --) - 13 NBA Games missed this season

Prediction
The Wizards send a message… They get there’s back and put their first notch in the win column of their regular season series… At this point in the season and due to the gap between these two on the standings… It most likely will be somewhat “meaningless” just in terms of how the Play Offs shake out. What you CANNOT do… If what you’re doing is “Contending” in any sense of the word… Is allow any sort of mental edge to your rivals. Ethan and his Bucks may have set the bar low this week due to the obvious but trust me when I say; The Wizards have come to play. Washington by 12.

Prediction

The Wizards send a message…

They get there’s back and put their first notch in the win column of their regular season series… At this point in the season and due to the gap between these two on the standings… It most likely will be somewhat “meaningless” just in terms of how the Play Offs shake out.

What you CANNOT do… If what you’re doing is “Contending” in any sense of the word… Is allow any sort of mental edge to your rivals. Ethan and his Bucks may have set the bar low this week due to the obvious but trust me when I say; The Wizards have come to play.

Washington by 12.

		Comments (2)
EthanC21 02/18 10:02 pm	Might need to put a 2 or a 3 in front of that instead of by 12 haha. Thanks for the write up klemm! Be gentle Josh
Joshua 02/18 07:41 pm	Thanks for the write up Klemmy boy. We got lucky to face them this week, hopefully we can live up to expectations

	CLE	98
	NY	159

	MEM	114
	LAL	123

	CHI	117
	NY	144

	NY	126
	CHI	105

	IND	109
	CLE	116