Every NBA team’s greatest playoff moment

Washington Wizards: The lone title (1978 NBA Finals)

Prior to the arrival of John Wall (and even after the fact at times), the Washington Wizards have been known more for creating a tumultuous environment than anything. The Gilbert Arenas saga/incident/experience played a part in that, but so too did a slew of questionable personnel decisions along the way. With Wall now establishing himself firmly as a star, Bradley Beal realizing his potential and the team as a whole starting to come around, there should be more playoff moments to come.

Until that time, though, the Wizards have to go back to 1978 and their time as the Washington Bullets for the best playoff moment in the franchise’s history. That would be the year that Wes Unseld led his team to the lone championship in team history.

During the regular season, the Bullets were certainly nothing spectacular. They finished the year with a meager 44-38 record and were just the third seed in the Eastern Conference. That didn’t matter when the postseason rolled around, though. They started with a 2-0 win in Round 1 over the Cleveland Cavaliers, followed by wins over the top-two seeds in the East in the San Antonio Spurs and Philadelphia 76ers to get to the Finals.

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In the Finals against the Seattle SuperSonics (RIP), it wasn’t Unseld that led the way, but was instead another veteran in Elvin Hayes. Alongside Unseld in the frontcourt, Hayes put up 20.7 points, 11.9 rebounds and two blocks per game to guide Washington to a 4-3 series win and the 1978 championship. It rarely gets better than reaching the mountaintop, and that’s the case for the Wizards franchise.