John Wall: Cavs Tanked Number One Seed Last Year to Avoid Wizards in Playoffs
The way the Cavaliers are playing, earning the Eastern Conference's number one seed will be a nearly impossible task. John Wall thinks that the Cavs had a chance to get that top seed for last year's playoffs, but purposefully didn't to avoid having to play his Washington Wizards until the conference finals.
Wall made the claim on an appearance alongside backcourt mate Bradley Beal on ESPN's "The Jump" with Rachel Nichols.
"I think [the Cavs] understand what we can bring to the table," Wall said. "I think if you look at last year, people might say they did or didn't, but I think they didn't want the number one season for a reason because we would have played them in the second round."
Nichols then asked Wall to clarify if he thinks the Cavs avoided them to avoid playing them in the second round.
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"I think so," Wall said. "I think they wanted to see us in the Eastern Conference finals, and we fell one game short of that."
The Wizards, seeded fourth in last year's playoffs, lost in seven games to the top-seeded Celtics. The Cavaliers then beat the Celtics in five games. The Wizards were 1-2 against the Cavs during last year's regular season.
