The preview that is written after game 1 has played is not worth its salt, but here we are looking at the rest of the first round matchup between the top placed Wizards and the play-in Hornets, who are having a last roll of the dice with their super-duper star Luka Doncic. 

Washington Wizards

62-20

This team is stacked and is looking unbeatable when fully healthy, they have a starting line-up that features multiple 90+ rated players in Joel Embiid and Devin Booker, who are ably supported by Paul George, Clint Capella and an assorted bunch of role players. The thing is they aren�t fully healthy. We don�t expect to see George suit up till midway through the second round, assuming they push past the resurgent Hornets.

The team crushed the regular season with the 3^rd best record in the league, which was through the 2^nd highest points per game with over 105 each outing, and this is even through multiple injuries to all their key players at one point or another throughout the season.  The other category that they also competed well in was the rebounding, with over 55 per game.

Many games in this league seem to be won on the boards, and with no worry scoring this team has the structure to go deep into the post season.

Charlotte Hornets

35-47

The Hornets on the other hand were making waves for all the wrong reasons at the beginning of the season. Very slow out of the blocks and only really limping through the final 10 games of the season with .500 ball. When .500 ball is still an improvement on the season win rate, its not a good indication of how your season went, especially when we expect to see this team in the upper echelon of the league.

The team made the mooted trade that will see Luka changing shirts at the end of the season and the team nabs Kristaps Porzingas for the corpse of Kevin Love, while also making another move to bolster its defence around Draymond Green.

They�ve compiled a well-constructed team around their super star, which is what Craig always sets out to do, try to find guys that fit the rhythm of the game and play well off each other. So far the approach has worked to get them through two play in games to nab the 8^th spot.

 

The Match Ups

Centre: Capella vs Dedmon

 

An interesting first position to review, as the Wizards have the luxury of playing the undersized Capella at the starting spot, and sliding Embiid from his natural position over to Power Forward. The benefit of this approach is that Capella can use his athleticism to chase rebounds and defend the rim, without having the pressure to step away from the rim to clear space, as Embiid feels comfortable from a bit further away from the hoop. Dedmon does the same for Porzingas, who naturally plays the 5, but as a stretch 5 fits into the 2k script as a power forward.

As both teams are employing this familiar tactic, the match up comes down to who is better in the position. Capella usually has the upper hand in most match ups and this is no different. Dedmon has the reach and height that will at least keep the match up competitive.

Power Forward: Embiid v Porzingas

As mentioned above, both natural centres who can stretch the floor, which makes for an exciting match up. Embiid �out-skills� Zinga easily, but that extra height that Zinga brings helps level the playing field a bit. Embiid has a bit more strength which might help him maintain an edge over Zinga and is also slightly quicker too. While I think Embiid will dominate the 1:1 match up, I think the area of influence Zinga brings will help balance out the net impact that the players bring to the game.

 Small Forward: Draymond v Naji Marshall

Draymond might not fill up the scoresheet in the game, he is another player like Zinga who carries this aura around him that will help the Hornets achieve the goals they have set. The weakness for the Wizards is shown here, which is their depth. Not to say Naji is a bad player, he�s just a big step down from Paul George. I�m going to cheat here and have a look how game 1 actually played out in this match up to see if it is as bad as I would expect.

As predicted, Greens boxscore isn�t anything to write home about, but Naji shooting 1-13 with a game worst -21 in plus/minus looks like he may not retain the starting spot throughout the series. The trouble is who do they turn to? Wizards are out of their depth in this position.

Shooting Guard: Booker v Doncic

Once again the stars align to bring the best and brightest of both teams against each other. Booker is a scoring machine and Doncic is Mr Do-Everything. Both players will be key figures no matter what the playbook looks like. Expect to see both guys stepping up to take every big shot required.

What more can be said about this match up besides these guys are going to dominate the ball and may the best man win, while I think Doncic will have the edge, it is so slight it is barely worth mentioning.

Point Guard: Caruso v VanVleet

Kind of my favourite match up of the night. VanVleet is the perfect running mate for Doncic, he can hit the long shot and he wants to take over whenever Doncic needs a break, he can provide relief to Doncic from being the primary ball handler every time down the court and is just one of those guys with big caj�nes.  Caruso just happens to be the perfect match for Booker, Booker has always been a guy who gives some effort on defence, but he is out there to score. Caruso gives enough effort to compensate for Booker�s lack of. He gets every loose ball and creates many opportunities to have loose balls.

While VanVleet has the ratings advantage, Caruso has the ability to neutralise any advantage that he might bring. Stopping that point of attack can really hamper the oppositions ability to get into the flow of the game. VanVleet stills wins by a whisker.

Bench Mob: Joe, Jones, and Green v Conley, Tucker, and Wood

Who are we kidding? Do we expect the bench to go much deeper than 3 from either side? Now as a completely unbiased observer, Charlotte has this in a landslide because of Mike Conley and he brings a Grizzly attitude with him. Even without Conley the balance of Tucker and Wood with Conley off the bench shows plenty of quality over Damian Jones, Isaiah Joe, and Javonte Green, who are all fine players but that�s about it. None of them are winners or players that will turn the tide for the team.

Prediction

Set aside the first game which Charlotte were able to steal an upset in, we expect to see some tweaks to the bench line up or to the starting Small Forward spot from the Wizards to see them bounce back. They won each of the 4 games this season by significant margins.

I�d expect to see Point Booker come out soon, and Isaiah Joe to get promoted to starting shooting guard. Caruso is small forward eligible and with Draymond being only two inches taller than him, there might be an argument to trial a super small line up.

Of course we could see Charlotte play with their line up in a similar fashion and keep with Wiz guessing on what and who plays where and does it really matter, because Zinga is patrolling the paint and any shorty trying to launch a shot is going to become a statistic for him.

Wizards to come out on top 4-3.