Looking back at Wizards' regular season series with playoff opponent 76ers

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Wizards

/ by Mike DePrisco

Wizards

As the Wizards move on from their play-in tournament victory over the Pacers, they'll have to prepare for a first-round series against a Sixers team they haven't seen in over two months.

The Sixers swept the regular-season series with the first two games coming within the opening two weeks of the year. Then, the third came two weeks before the trade deadline, so Philly hasn't yet seen the new and improved version of the Wizards that went 17-6 down the stretch of the season to earn the No. 8 seed.

Either way, each of the three meetings between these two teams had it's fair share of drama and impressive performances.

December 23, 2020: Sixers 113, Wizards 107

The Wizards went on the road for their season opener and played a great game until the fourth quarter. Russell Westbrook secured his first triple-double as a Wizard, Bradley Beal dropped 31 and Washington had a 10-point lead after three quarters.

Then Washington's issue closing out games reared its ugly head, as the Sixers put together a 40-point quarter to win by six. Joel Embiid went for 29 points and 14 rebounds, with 15 of those points coming in the final frame alone.

January 6, 2021: Sixers 141, Wizards 136

This was the closest the Wizards got to beating the Sixers all year and Bradley Beal dropping a career-high 60 points had a lot to do with it. He went 20-for-35 from the floor, 7-for-10 from three and hit 13-of-15 shots from the free-throw line.

Fortunately for the Sixers, 38 points from Embiid and 28 from Seth Curry answered Beal's explosion to put them over the top. Beal's career night was all for naught, more or less.

March 12, 2021: Sixers 127, Wizards 101

This was an ugly game for the Wizards from start to finish, but the Sixers arguably came away with the worse night. Embiid, who had 23 points in 20 minutes of playing time, landed awkwardly on his knee and was forced to leave the game.

It turned out to be a hyperextension and bone bruise that would cause Embiid to miss roughly three weeks of action. He was debatably the front-runner for MVP at the start of this game, but his extended absence and Nikola Jokic's consistent dominance in the West pulled the Nuggets star ahead.

With the loss, the Wizards fell to 14-22 on the year. They'd eventually go all the way down to 17-32 before turning their season around and finishing the regular season 34-38.

Matchup stats

Points per game: Sixers 127, Wizards 114.7

Field goal percentage: Sixers 54.3%, Wizards 48.3%

3-point percentage: Sixers 47.4%, Wizards 42%

Turnovers per game: Sixers 17.7, Wizards 17

Star track

Bradley Beal: 36.7 PPG, 55.7% FG, 55% 3P

Russell Westbrook: 22 PPG, 11.7 APG, 8.0 RPG

Joel Embiid: 30 PPG, 9.7 RPG, 2.0 BPG

Ben Simmons: 16.5 PPG, 7.5 RPG, 9.5 APG