NBA Playoffs 2017: Who will Washington Wizards play in Conference Semifinals?
By John Buhler
The Washington Wizards have advanced to the Eastern Conference Semifinals in the 2017 NBA Playoffs. So who do they play in the second round?
It took six games, but the Washington Wizards were able to knock off their Southeast Division rival Atlanta Hawks to advance to the Eastern Conference Semifinals. This will be the second time in three years that the Wizards have advanced in the Eastern Conference Playoffs.
The last time Washington advanced in a postseason series, they coincidentally faced the Hawks in 2015, falling to Atlanta in six games. As Washington prepares for their next series, which team will they end up playing?
Washington needs to get ready for a tough battle against team the Wizards don’t really like. That’s right, Washington will have to play the No. 1-seeded Boston Celtics in the 2017 Eastern Conference Semifinals.
Boston knocked off the No. 8-seeded Chicago Bulls in Game 6 just after Washington ended the Hawks’ season in Atlanta. The Celtics have the best record in the Eastern Conference this season, so they have home-court advantage in the first three rounds of the NBA Playoffs depending on how far they advance.
Though Washington and Boston split their regular season series at two games apiece, Boston is a very tough matchup for the Wizards. Washington struggles to win games on the road, while Boston can win on any hardwood.
The Celtics may not have a star player the level of John Wall, but their bench is one of the deepest in basketball. If Washington thought that Atlanta’s depth was hard to handle, then the Wizards need to come to grips with the deep, but promising rotation Brad Stevens will surely throw at them.
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That being said, Boston is coming off the first series victory of the Stevens era. While this is Scott Brooks’ first year with the Wizards, much of the core remains from the 2014-15 team that made it to the Eastern Conference Semifinals two years ago in Washington. It should be an exciting series nevertheless.