76ers

The Philadelphia 76ers finished first in the Eastern Conference (49-23) and in the first round of the playoffs, they face potentially the weakest playoff team, the Washington Wizards. An interesting series awaits, and although the Philadelphia team won all their head-to-head meetings this season, the Wizards played better and better as the season progressed.

The Philadelphia club was led throughout the season by J. Embiid – the Cameroonian is one of the top 3 MVP candidates, and his stats speak for themselves: ~28 points, ~11 rebounds per game, and the first place in the conference. This season, the stats of the second most important 76ers player, B. Simmons, have somewhat declined – averaging just 14 points, 7 rebounds, and 7 assists in 32 minutes, which is far too little for a player with such potential. This season, other 76ers starters and rotation players have shown better performance compared to previous seasons, notably T. Harris (~20 points/game) and Shake Milton (13 points).

Before the season, there were talks that the 76ers needed to decide around which player to build the team – B. Simmons or J. Embiid, but the organization decided to keep both players and try to win the trophy with the current roster. Both players face additional pressure in these playoffs, as another poor performance would undoubtedly mean one of them would have to say goodbye to Philadelphia.

Wizards

The Washington Wizards (34-38) finished the regular season in 8th place in the standings and had to fight for a playoff spot in an additional tournament. In the play-in tournament, the Wizards were crushed by the Boston Celtics (100-118), but in the decisive match, they defeated the Indiana Pacers led by Domantas Sabonis 142-115, ending the Pacers' season.

This season, the Washington Wizards gradually became one of the more interesting teams in the league – the season started tough, with the Wizards lingering at the bottom of the standings for a while, but as the season progressed, both Westbrook and the entire Wizards team started playing much better. The Wizards are one of the highest-tempo teams in the NBA, and one of the league's most athletic players, R. Westbrook, thrives in this style of play, as evidenced by his stats: averaging a triple-double for the third consecutive season.

Looking at the team's roster, the Wizards don't seem like a team that can challenge one of the strongest teams in the league, but both Westbrook and Beal have been underestimated too many times to pay attention to predictions. The success of the Wizards will essentially depend on these two players, and while it would be naive to expect them to win the series, with good performances from the team's leaders, they could win at least 1-2 games.

Prediction

The 76ers are the undisputed favorites in the series, and it's hard to imagine how they could lose this series. The Philadelphia team has excellent shooters, strength under the basket, demonstrates solid defense, and has an MVP candidate who can take the initiative when needed. Meanwhile, the Wizards' strength lies in their individually very capable guard duo and high-tempo play. However, you can't win in the playoffs with just offense; in the first game of the series, the 76ers should “settle” the Wizards' chaos and win by a double-digit margin.