DC RISING

There's no secret that the Cleveland Cavaliers are the heavy favorites to come out of the Eastern Conference this June. My next question is who will be their biggest challenge come April and May? While the Boston Celtics are only two games behind the Cavs, there's a team in DC that has been on fire since the start of the new year. The Washington Wizards have the NBA's best record since the start of 2017 going 17-5. Just recently the Wizards had their 17 game home winning streak snapped by the Cavs in what I like to call an Eastern Conference Finals preview.

John Wall is having another All-Star season, and his counterpart Bradley Beal is having an All-Star worthy season himself. If it was up to me Beal would be replacing the injured Kevin Love come this weekend in New Orleans. The dynamic duo are finally starting to get healthy and playing extremely well together. Role players such as Otto Porter Jr, Markieff Morris and Marcin Gortat have also been consistent contributors leading to the team success.

The Eastern Conference playoff picture is shaping up to be an interesting one. Just yesterday, the Raptors traded Terrence Ross and a 2017 first round pick to the Magic for Serge Ibaka. This is a great move for the Raptors who have struggled to fill that PF position all year. The Celtics have a star in Isaiah "Fourth Quarter" Thomas and with Kevin Love to miss the rest of the regular season for the Cavs things start to become much more intriguing in the East.

Once it's all said and done I do believe that the Eastern Conference Finals matchup will be between the Cavs and Wizards. Wall has is having a career year and is establishing himself as a leader on his team. As long as they can stay healthy not only do I believe they can get to the Eastern Conference Finals, but I believe they can make it a competitive series as well against the Cavs.