The Washington Wizards and Oklahoma City Thunder both made strides to become two of the league's top teams in the offseason and so far it is working. The Wednesday matchup between the two could easily be a preview of the NBA Finals if the Wizards and Thunder continue to improve as they both have win streaks going. The Wizards continue to be a defensive threat while the Thunder are showing strong resilience as they face off in Washington.
The Wizards are looking to make a run and get to the top of the Eastern Conference as they currently sit five games back from the Atlanta Hawks. However, they do rank third in defense in the league as they are holding opponents to just 93.6 points per game on 41.8 percent shooting while being on a two-game win streak.
Marcin Gortat, Kevin Seraphin and Nene are leading the charge while also being scoring threats. Against the Philadelphia 76ers they combined for 46 points going 20 of 27 shooting. The Wizards held Philadelphia to just 32.9 percent shooting in the 111-74 win. The Wizards raised their shooting percentage to 50.5 percent over the past four games while going 55.6 against Philadelphia. Gortat is personally shooting 69.0 percent in his last seven games while Seraphin is shooting 72.5 percent in his last six. The frontcourt of the Wizards continues to be the biggest threat as they average plus-6.4 rebounding margin.
The Thunder are also on a hot streak winning their last three while posting the fifth best record in the league since Thanksgiving. They have gone 18-8 since their 3-12 start to the year and are officially over .500 after beating the Miami Heat on Monday. Oklahoma City only put up 94 points in that game and we 0-13 in games where they scored less than 96 points, but turned things around by capitalizing off turnovers and getting 22 points off 21 mistakes. Durant has been excelling against his hometown team and looks to continue the success.
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