The NBA regular season is fast approaching its conclusion. So far, neither Kristaps Porzingis’ Washington “Wizards” nor Dāvja Bertāns’ Dallas “Mavericks” have secured a place to continue the season, the portal “Sportacentrs.com” reports.
Both teams haven’t won much since the All-Star break, being among the worst in the entire league. Since its end, the Wizards have won just 33.3% of their games (fourth-worst), while Dallas has only won 37.5% (sixth-worst). Will they manage to continue the season after the end of the regular season?
“Wizards” nine matches at home, Porzingis has a chance to repeat the game record
The Washington “Wizards” have currently experienced three losses in a row – two of them against the Atlanta “Hawks”, and the last one also against the Philadelphia “76ers”. The Wizards have 14 more games to play before the end of the regular season. Nine of them are planned at home, and five away.
So far, the club plays relatively evenly both at home and against opponents – 15 wins in 32 games have been won in Washington, and 16 successes have been achieved in 36 matches away from home.
Five of the 14 games are against the bottom teams of the Eastern and Western Conferences. Already on Wednesday night, it will host the weakest team of the Eastern Conference, the Detroit “Pistons”, on March 24 it will fight against the San Antonio “Spurs”, and it will end the regular tournament with a match against the Houston “Rockets”.
Two more battles are expected against Orlando “Magic”, which has three victories less.
Two games are coming up against their closest rivals in the Eastern Conference. On March 26, it will play away against the Toronto “Raptors”, who currently occupy eighth place with 32 wins in 68 games.
On the other hand, on April 5, another match is expected against the “Hawks”, who have lost the last two matches between them. Its record is currently 34-34 and eighth in the East.
The penultimate game of the season is planned for the club against the owner of the seventh place, Miami “Heat”.
The remaining six games will be against teams currently ranked in the top six in their conference.
On March 17, the “Wizards” will visit the Cleveland “Cavaliers” (4th place in the East), and a day later they will host the second place owner of the Western Conference, the Sacramento “Kings”, whose team Domants Sabonis plays effectively. On March 22, Nikola Jokic and the Denver “Nuggets” will visit Washington, and on March 28, Jason Tatum and the Boston “Celtics”.
On April 2, Porzingis expects to return to New York with his former team, the Knicks, while on April 4, the club will host Janni Adetokunbo and the Bucks.
The Toronto “Raptors” (32-36), the Chicago “Bulls” (31-37) and the Indiana “Pacers” (31-37) can be considered Washington’s main competitors for the play-in spot. ‘
“Raptors” have to play eight of the 14 remaining games at home, where they will compete against “Nuggets”, “Thunder”, “Timberwolves”, “Pacers”, “Pistons”, “Wizards”, “Heat” and “Bucks”. It will play against Milwaukee one more time on the road, visiting the “76ers” twice, the “Hornets” and the “Celtics” twice.
The Bulls have a difficult remaining schedule with matches against the Kings, Timberwolves, 76ers (twice), Heat, TrailBlazers, Lakers (twice), Clippers, Hornets “, “Grizzlies”, “Hawks”, “Bucks”, “Mavericks” and “Pistons”.
Indiana doesn’t have the easiest schedule either, with only three games coming up against lower-ranked teams.
Kristaps Porzingis, who is having the best season of his career in the NBA, has also played the most games since 2016/2017. season, when he played in 66 matches. He has played 58 matches so far.
His career record in this indicator was achieved in 2015/2016. in the season when he played 72 games in the regular season.
Since 2016/2017 he played 48, 57, 43 and 51 games in 2018/2019. In 2008, he treated a cruciate ligament injury.
If Porzingis plays in all of the final 14 games, he will match his career high of 72 appearances.
For now, Kristaps is achieving career bests in points (22.9), assists (2.6) and steals (0.8). Also, the player shows the best “true shot percentage” indicator, which is 62.3% this season. Previously, he had achieved the best in the previous season, when he had 57.7%.
