The NBA has seen a massive shift in the balance between conferences over the last several years. Much of the long-time established talent in the league now plays in the Western Conference, meaning that the East is full of young, up and coming rosters looking to make waves.

Most, if not all of the teams in the East seem to be on equal footing, meaning that the regular season will go a long way to deciding the matchups we see in April and May in the playoffs. The Washington Wizards finished in 8th place in the Eastern Conference last year but will be looking to improve to make a deep playoff run.

The Wizards finished the 2018-19 season with a 43-39 record and played the first seed Toronto Raptors in the first round. They were one game away from finishing in sixth, meaning that they could have avoided the Raptors and perhaps had a more advantageous matchup against a different team.

The small differences between each team regarding playoff seeding show that the regular season is critical to determining the outcome of the playoffs, and that’s especially true for a team like the Wizards.

Here are three games that could have a major impact on their season.

Next Up: Game 3