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Wizards' Scott Brooks 'Confident' Westbrook, Beal Are NBA's Best Backcourt
May 21, 2021
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.
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.
