Bradley Beal Says Cavaliers 'Didn't Want to See' Wizards in Playoffs

The Washington Wizards couldn't beat the Boston Celtics in the second round, but guard Bradley Beal thinks they would have posed a problem for the defending champion Cleveland Cavaliers.

"Cleveland didn't want to see us," he said in a Thursday interview with CSN's Chris Miller, via Chase Hughes of CSN Mid-Atlantic. "I felt like that's the reason they didn't play us in the second round. They didn't want to see us in the second round. If they were going to go down, they were going to go down in the conference finals. They didn't want to go down in the second round."

The Wizards may have earned the right to play Cleveland had Beal been more consistent against Boston. He scored 27 or more points in four games and 16 or less in the other three and missed a game-winner in regulation of Game 2.

The Cavaliers are probably fine seeing anyone in the Eastern Conference since they are 9-0 in the playoffs with four of their last five wins coming by double digits. LeBron James is also playing like a man possessed at 34.8 points, 9.0 rebounds, 7.1 assists, 2.1 steals and 1.3 blocks per game.

Cleveland went 2-1 in the regular season against Washington, but the regular-season version of the Cavaliers finished with the East's No. 2 seed. The postseason version is steamrolling through competition.

All Beal and Washington can do now is rue what could have been as James and Co. strive for a second straight title.