NSL Playoff Reviews: 16/05/2023

 

Washington V Charlotte

 

The Washington and Charlotte #1 seed V #8 seed series in the end went about as you might expect with the Wizards making a little splutter out of the blocks, on the back of the news that Paul George would miss the series, but they then found their feet and made the moves required to take the next 4 games and advance to the Eastern Conference semi-finals 4-1. The Wizards had a tune up, and the Hornets did what you would expect, push them to the limits with a talented deep team and a savvy vet GM that rightfully won the 8^th seed during the play ins. Here�s how the series went.

 

Game 1 in Washington and there were no surprises with how the series lined up in regards to the match ups. The Wizards with PG13 and bench phenom Charles Bassey missing were expected to still roll out the dual star big men and start Naji Marshall, rolling an 8 man rotation and they were true to form. Charlotte too lined up exactly as expected and obviously tested to the hilt. The line ups were: Dedmon/Porzingis/Draymond/Doncic/VanVleet V Capela/Embiid/Marshall/Booker/Caruso.
The testing must have paid off for Craig as the Hornets came out and never missed a beat. The game was nearly in hand after quarter 1 went 30 to 16, if not for the fact you�re playing the top seed. Luka came out firing with 10 points, and Conley after checking in with 5:46 to play dropped 10 in the 1^st also. The 2^nd continued along the same way, boosting the lead to 27 at the half. The 3^rd went heavily back to Washington, as you might expect the #1 seed to fight back as it was back to 8 point Charlotte lead at � time, but the last was handed back to Charlotte as they won the game by 13. Key take aways were Luka leading all scorers with 25 and Conley leading bench scoring with 14. The Hornets shot it 44% from the field and 45% from deep compared to 37% and 26%, but the Wiz still lead the rebounds +8 and offensive rebounds +7, but Naji Marshall was completely stifled by Draymond Green shooting 1-13 and it might just have been the difference. Charlotte lead the series 1-0.

 

Game 2 and the move was made by the Wiz to flip Isaiah Joe into the starting SF spot, like he had played a fair amount of time over the year with good success. This pushed Marshall to the bench and that was the only line up change for the game with Charlotte lining up exactly as they were game 1, where they clearly stunned the Wiz and the NSL alike. The line ups for game 2 are: Dedmon/Porzingis/Draymond/Doncic/VanVleet V Capela/Embiid/Joe/Booker/Caruso.
Funnily enough, the way Game 2 started out was nearly an exact mirror image of what we saw in Game 1. The Wiz bounced out to a 33-17 lead after the quarter and the line up change was nearly entirely directly attributed to that. Joe scored 7 1^st quarter points starting, and Naji scored all of his 10 points off the bench in the 1^st quarter, really helping Embiid who scored 9 in the 1^st also. From there the game was an arm wrestle for the next 2 quarters. The Hornets took the 2^nd and 3^rd by 3 and 2 points respectively, but that still meant they were down 11 heading into the 4^th. Luka time was real in the 4^th. He scored 10 of his 28 going 5/7 in the 4^th and nearly willing his team to a massive comeback victory to put the Wizards into a stranglehold. The efforts fell agonisingly short though, as the Hornets went down by 2 points. Luka led all scorers with 28 while the rebounding was again a +3 to the Wiz behind 19 each from Capela and Embiid. The Wiz got over the line despite shooting it even worse at 33% and 29% from deep in this game, but the Hornets dipped to 40% and 26% and a terrible 10/20 from the line to even the series. Series tied at 1-1.

 

Game 3 and if there were changes made, they were only coaching changes in the background as the line ups stayed steady. Maybe the Wiz changed something up again, not happy that they arguably stole the last game by a lucky FT difference, or maybe the Hornets rolled that dice again with the same settings for the same reason? The results though was a massive shift after the first 2 games. Line ups, same as Game 2.
Like game 2, the Wizards started fast bouncing out to a 25-15 lead after 1. Leading from the front were the stars as Booker had 8, Embiid 7 and their line up guy Joe, scored another 7 1^st quarter points. The game never got close from there. The 2^nd quarter was a 31-11 demolition by the Wiz as they took a commanding 30 point lead into the half and the benches started to empty out in the 3^rd as the lead blew to 40 at � time. Even then, the last quarter was all the Wiz as they finally won by 51 with only Zinga reaching double figures with 10 points for the Hornets. The rebounding was a +36 (double) for the Wiz and Booker led the scoring with 22. A game to forget for the Hornets as the series now was in favour of the favourites. Wizards 2-1.

 

Game 4 and the time is now for Charlotte in their 2^nd home game as the series is back on home court. It�s a tough spot to be in here as your settings clearly worked for 2 games, you were unluckily tied by then and everything was probably a 2k game in game 3. As such, no line up change was made for either team again possibly with Charlotte hoping to catch the same tried and tested lightning in a bottle that saw them nearly go up 2-0. The Wiz, they�re now in the box seat where they have a game up their sleeve. Line ups same as Game 2 and 3.
Game 4 was again a Wizard 1^st quarter demo job. Each game has arguably been decided by whoever bounced out of the blocks so far, and in the end, this was no different. Luka did have 10 points but Embiid had 12 and the Wiz went up 31-19 after 1. The 2^nd continued along the way and the Wiz had a 23 point half time lead and the Hornets are well and truly on the ropes staring down a 3-1 deficit. The 3^rd quarter was a tie which wasn�t what they needed and the 4^th only saw it end in a 26 point game 4 win to the Wiz. Luka led all scorers with 26 while Embiid led the Wizards with 22 and 17 rebounds with an added 4 blocks. The Charlotte bench didn�t fire in this one while Damian Jones scored double figures off the bench for the Wiz. Wizards 3-1.

 

Game 5 and now is officially caution to the wind time in Charlotte. After no changes all series, we see a flurry in the hope of sparking something to prolong the series. KP moved to the C spot, demoting Dedmon to the bench and Christian Wood slipped into the 4 spot. Luka demanded to take the reins so flipped spots with VanVleet, Luka now playing PG and Fred SG. A move that had been avoided likely because of the Caruso/Doncic match up and FVV being so small. The line ups now look like: Porzingis/Wood/Draymond/VanVleet/Doncic V Capela/Embiid/Joe/Booker/Caruso.
The changes you�d have to say were a raging success after the way the last 3 games started. The Hornets down by only 1 at � time and the Wiz needing Booker to drop 11 in the 1^st to give them that lead. The 2^nd quarter was tight too, the Wiz leading by 5 at the half and this is the 1^st game of the series where we had it looking like anyone�s game at the half. The 3^rd was again tight, only 2 points added by the Wiz to lead by 7, but the 4^th saw them take control and finish the series by taking game 5 by 14. Luka was everywhere in what will be his final game for the Hornets. He led everyone with 32 points, 8 rebounds and 7 assists as the lead ball handler. Booker also loved the match up with FVV though scoring a series high 30 with Isaiah Joe also dropping 20 on Draymond. The Wood on Embiid thing did probably what Craig was afraid of, allowing Joel to drop 18 but with 23 rebounds, +15 on Wood. And the series trend of Wizard rebounding dominance continued through this game too. Wizards win, 4-1.

 

Congratulations to the Washington Wizards for moving on to the 2^nd round and commiserations to the Hornets for falling short, despite a great 2^nd half of the season claiming a play off spot after it looked unlikely at one stage. The Luka era ends in Charlotte with him leading all scorers in the playoff series with 24 a game but Booker averaging 20, Embiid 18 and an unlikely 15 a night for Isaiah Joe was too much for the Hornets. The Wizards, already a formidable opponent, are due to get PG13 back at some stage of the 2^nd round and that may spell trouble for the rest of the East!

Good luck Josh in the 2^nd round!

 

- NSL Insider News.