After escaping the NBA play-in tournament and claiming the 8-seed in the Eastern Conference, nobody thought that the Wizards would stand a chance against the 76ers in the first-round, but they actually played really well in Game 1. The Sixers still came out victorious 125-118, but Game 1 told us a lot about how the rest of the series could play out. 

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If the 76ers thought this would be a “cake walk” series, then they have another thing coming because Bradley Beal and Russell Westbrook are not content with just making the playoffs… they want to beat Philadelphia badly! 

Throughout the first-half of Game 1 and at times in the second-half, the Washington Wizards led the Philadelphia 76ers. Russell Westbrook did not have a good game by his standards and Bradley Beal scored just over his season average, scoring 33 points Sunday, but it was the Wizards’ role players that really made some noise against the 1-seed in the East. 

Davis Bertans, Daniel Gafford, Rui Hachimura and Alex Len were all great in this game and will need to be moving forward if Washington is going to have a chance to extend this series longer than many believe. 

With that said, let’s take a look at the three biggest takeaways from Game 1 between the Wizards and the 76ers and truly see if Washington has any chance to make this series interesting.