For the final stretch of the 2017-18 NBA season, teams are either positioning themselves for the playoffs or draft lottery. In the Eastern Conference, the No. 3 seed (Cleveland Cavaliers) and No. 8 seed (Miami Heat) are only separated by 3.5 games as the Toronto Raptors and Boston Celtics have distanced themselves from the rest of the pack.
Following the Washington Wizards' 109-102 win over the Indiana Pacers, it was potentially a first round preview of the 2018 NBA playoffs. For Bradley Beal, he feels confident about the potential matchup according to Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington:
Bradley Beal on possibly meeting the Pacers in the playoffs: 'Hypothetically, I do like Indiana.' Said Wizards have the advantage in several parts of the game.
— Chase Hughes (@ChaseHughesNBCS) March 18, 2018
As it currently stands, the Wizards would have homecourt advantage against the Pacers after winning the season series. While Washington has been inconsistent, Indiana has been surprisingly competitive following the Paul George for Victor Oladipo and Domantas Sabonis trade.
At 40-30 and 12 games remaining in the season, Beal and company are staying afloat in the Eastern Conference as they await John Wall's return from knee surgery. As the 27-year-old continues to ramp up his basketball activity, it will be interesting to see how quickly he can mesh with his teammates again.
As it was earlier reported, there was a conflict between Wall and Marcin Gortat after the former first missed games, but it has since been worked out. With the Wizards needing to rely more on a team effort without their superstar, it is no secret they need Wall completely healthy in order to go deeper in the playoffs.
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