Washington Wizards head coach Scott Brooks gave tremendous praise to the team's starting backcourt of Russell Westbrook and Bradley Beal to reporters on Friday (h/t Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington).
"I feel confident...we have the best backcourt in basketball," he said. "When you have that, you have a chance every night."
Westbrook averaged 22.2 points, 11.7 assists and 11.5 rebounds. Beal finished as the NBA's second-leading scorer with 31.3 points per game.
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The Wizards clearly need that dynamic duo to dominate in their upcoming playoff series against the top-seeded Philadelphia 76ers, which starts on Sunday.
The 76ers feature MVP candidate Joel Embiid in the post, and Wizards big men Alex Len and Daniel Gafford face a tough task in slowing him down. Embiid averaged 30.0 points in 30.6 minutes per game in three contests against Washington this year.
Ben Simmons could be a problem on both ends for the Wizards backcourt, and Tobias Harris (19.5 PPG) provides another issue for a Washington defense that allowed the most points per game in the league.
Still, Westbrook and/or Beal are more than capable of taking over games, and Gafford has turned into a shot-blocking machine. The Wizards are also 18-7 in their last 25 games, so they're coming into the playoffs on fire.
Game 1 will begin at 1 p.m. ET on Sunday in Philadelphia's Wells Fargo Center. TNT will televise the game.
