Washington Wizards Schedule 2013-14: Most Anticipated Games of the Season

Now that the NBA draft, summer league and free-agency push have all passed, it’s time for Washington Wizards fans to focus on the regular season.

The 2013-14 NBA schedule was just released last night, showing Wizards fans the path the team has to take if they want to make the playoffs this year.

In a Southeast Division that features two of the worst teams in the NBA (the Orlando Magic and Charlotte Bobcats), Washington will be challenged by two others: the Miami Heat and Atlanta Hawks.

If John Wall and company are ready to prove they can make a run for the playoffs and bring basketball back to the forefront of D.C. sports, they are going to face a number of big games which could shape the direction of their season.

These games are not only fun to watch, but they will likely hold a lot of weight if the Wizards are at or around a .500 record. Wall had led them to that type of record during the last half of the year after he recovered from a knee injury.

Assuming that the roster stays healthy and Washington is performing like most fans are expecting them to, winning the majority of the following games will almost assure that the team is on the right path to the postseason.

November 3 at Miami Heat

After going 1-3 last season against the eventual NBA champions, the Wizards are hoping to prove that they are a talented team by beating the champs.

Miami should be even better than it was last season after signing center Greg Oden, who, if healthy, will give the Heat the traditional center they lacked last season.

This is only the third game of the season for the Wizards, who will face four playoff teams in their first eight games. Winning this game would give Washington a ton of momentum to start out the year.

Washington was able to hang on to a 105-101 win on Dec. 4 last season against the Heat as Jordan Crawford scored 22 points.

But they are the defending champs, and Miami isn’t the kind of team to start out slow, especially considering every member of the “Big 3” will be starting, barring injury.

Rookie Otto Porter is going to have to improve on defense if he wants to live up to the expectations that come with being the No. 3 pick in the draft. Going up against LeBron James and Dwayne Wade is quite the test.

Playing the Heat early on in this season will help the young Wizards and this game could be close. Winning would be huge for the Wizards, but expect the Heat to take this game even if Washington keeps it competitive. 

November 26 vs. Los Angeles Lakers

One of the biggest moments of the 2012-13 season for the Wizards was a 103-100 victory over the Lakers in L.A. on March 22.

John Wall proved that he was back, scoring 24 points in 44 minutes and adding on 16 assists and six rebounds.

Just 14 games into the season, the Wizards will have an opportunity to deal an early blow to the Lakers’ season, this time in D.C.

If Washington wants to show the national audience that they can make the playoffs, a good start would be taking down the Lakers. Even after a bad season, the Lakers are possibly the most talked about team in the NBA outside of the Heat.

Washington may benefit if Kobe Bryant isn't 100 percent. 

If he plays, Washington should focus on stopping Bryant, and doing so would mean an almost certain win.

The Lakers aren’t the team they used to be, and this will be the point that the Wizards show they can beat playoff teams, even early on in the year.

December 14 vs. Los Angeles Clippers

Seventeen days after the Laker game, the other team from Los Angeles will step foot in the Verizon Center to take on the Wizards on December 14.

“Lob City” has Chris Paul back at point guard, along with the explosive Blake Griffin, which will presumably bring more fans into the arena to see this game.

And in front of a larger crowd, the Wizards can really show off their young talent against the up-and-coming Clippers.

Paul is arguably the best pure point guard in the game right now, and seeing him go up against Wall will be a great opportunity for fans to judge how far Wall has come as a player and what he still needs to improve on.

Los Angeles finished last season with a 56-26 record in the regular season, and with Doc Rivers in as the new head coach it should become an even better team.

Washington isn’t likely to pull this one out, but it will be a good marker to see where the team is at. At the very least, it will be an exciting game for local fans to attend in person.

January 17 vs. Chicago Bulls

Despite being without Derrick Rose for the entire year, the Bulls managed to pick up a No. 5 seed in the Eastern Conference last season.

Chicago caught a lot of attention in the postseason for playing a gritty series against the Brooklyn Nets, and then-backup point guard Nate Robinson caught fire in the fourth quarter of games.

Now, without Robinson, Rose will have to prove to the league that taking a year off from basketball to rehab his injured knee was best for the future of his career.

This will be the second game in a five-game homestand for the Wizards. The showdown with Chicago is two days after the first game against the Heat, and if Washington can dispatch the Bulls, then the next three games against the Detroit Pistons, Philadelphia 76ers and Boston Celtics should be a breeze.

At the halfway mark of the season, going 4-1 (assuming Washington won't defeat Miami) during a stretch of home games would be huge for the Wizards. It would give them momentum going into a difficult section of the schedule when they face the Golden State Warriors, L.A. Clippers, Oklahoma City Thunder and San Antonio Spurs in a five-game span.

Washington showed last year it can defeat a Rose-less Bulls (the Wizards did it twice) and fans can expect their defense to prevail in this game for a big win.

February 7 vs. Cleveland Cavaliers

In the only game that is scheduled to be aired on ESPN thus far for Washington, two young point guards, John Wall and Kyrie Irving, will face off in what could turn out to be a fantastic game.

Cleveland added Andrew Bynum in the offseason and is very similar to Washington in its goals for the season.

A young point guard has a young roster around him, and a few veterans are added to try to build a viable playoff team in both situations.

Besides the Irving/Wall matchup, this game will be a litmus test for the potential of this Wizards team. Last season, Washington had trouble beating teams that they were supposed to beat, the Toronto Raptors and Charlotte Bobcats, especially in the second half of the season.

This will also be a fun game to watch for the rookies, with small forward Otto Porter on the court the same time as No. 1 overall pick Anthony Bennett, who could have ended up a Wizard if Cleveland had passed on him in the draft.

The Cavs were a 24-win team last season and should be taken down by the Wizards even with Bynum and Bennett in the lineup. Doing it on national television would make a win that much sweeter.

February 11 at Memphis Grizzlies

The last time Washington faced the Grizzlies, John Wall went off for a career-high 47 points in a 107-94 win for the Wiz.

Memphis will have to go up against the Wizards prior to this game, but this particular matchup is the last game before a very easy stretch for Washington, when the Wizards face the Toronto Raptors twice and the New Orleans Pelicans, Orlando Magic and Cleveland Cavaliers once each in a seven-game stretch.

If the Wizards were to defeat Memphis and win five games during the next portion of the schedule it could give them a boost in the standings.

The Grizzlies, who made a fairly deep run in the playoffs last season, will be a formidable opponent, and winning this one would prove Washington can make the playoffs with about two months remaining in the season.

March 23 at Denver Nuggets

As the season begins to wind down, the Wizards should be in the playoff hunt if everyone stays healthy and the season goes according to plan.

After all, the Milwaukee Bucks made the playoffs in the Eastern Conference last year with a 38-44 record.

The Nuggets have been consistently one of the best regular season teams in the NBA the past several seasons, but they fired their coach George Karl after falling to the Warriors in the first round. 

With new head coach Brian Shaw on board, the Nuggets are still a powerful team. The Wizards, however, have the ability to take them down as they did in both games against Denver last year.

A win in this game would be huge for the Wizards in the twilight of the season, since the team will have to face potential playoff teams in six of their last 11 games. All of these will be games that would go a long way to securing a spot in the postseason.