If you have a basketball mind sharp and attentive enough to criticize the coaching specificities of Scott Brooks then more power to you. I’m happy to admit that there are likely elements to what he implements within the Wizards’ offense that I don’t even notice.

So it’s not a slight when I say that the biggest key to their success is as simple as a straight line.

Any basketball fan is familiar with the basic dynamics of scoring the ball, even if we don’t take the time to discuss them in a rudimentary fashion: The farther a defender is away from you when you are shooting the easier it typically is to make that shot. So how a player uses the allotted space on the court can make a big difference in the probability of their offense’s eventual shot going through the hoop.

To put it in the parlance of modern NBA buzz words, we’re talking about spacing here. 

Steph Curry’s infinite range has reimagined the way we think about spacing. The second half of that sentence is no exaggeration. The guy isn’t being showy when he practices 30-foot jump shots. His ability to pull up from anywhere is as dangerous as a theoretical possibility as it is an executed shot. When a screen is set for him, it is imperative to allow no glimmer of space for him to shoot. The result is often space for the other (great) shooters on the Warriors. Mike D’Antoni’s Rockets emphasizes space by spreading out four (or five) shooters and putting up record attempts of three-pointers. Both teams are essentially making it impossible for one player to even briefly defend two players.

Spacing begets opportunity. It’s simple, and it’s the way of 21st century basketball. The Wizards’ strength is equally simple. It comes from the same line of thinking, but it inverts the formula. Immediate opportunity begets spacing. Or to be more specific: Speed leads to space. 

John Wall is the fastest point guard in the NBA. He’s the second most athletic point guard behind Russell Westbrook. He’s also the best passer in the NBA. The Wizards take advantage of that combination exactly how you might imagine. Wherever Wall gets the ball, he takes a direct path to the basket at full speed. Whether it’s in transition or in the half court, his speed sucks in defenders and he kicks it out to shooters.

Recently, we’ve seen plenty of great scorers with inflated assist numbers because they’ve wisely understood how to take advantage of the space they create. Wall, though, is the rare pass-first point guard with elite speed and athleticism. You ultimately can’t defend him without matching that speed as a defender, because his only plan is to get past you. At that point, he’s just reacting to what happens next, and he usually makes the right play.

A financially savvy wing player in a contract year should force his way to Washington and be prepared to do one thing with constancy: sprinting to the corner. Otto Porter Jr. is shooting a league-best 51.4 percent from the right corner this season. Wall vacuums defenders into the paint in transition and kicking it out to a corner shooter is second nature to him. Before Porter, Garrett Temple cashed in on open corner threes. Before Temple, it was Rasual Butler and Paul Pierce. Before them it was Trevor Ariza. No disrespect to any of them, but the best argument for the case of "Could you score one point in an NBA game?’ is are you fast enough to run to the corner alongside John Wall? If you can run, catch, and release quickly enough, you’re getting an open look.

Wall has always had these skills. He has refined them over the years and become a smarter player, but most importantly, he finally has the teammates to benefit from it all. 

Your response to this straight-line speed argument may be that the same case could be made for Westbrook, and that’s not entirely untrue. Wall and Westbrook both say, “Ready, set, go” in less time than it takes to dribble a ball once. A big difference is that Wall’s teammates are actually ready to come with. There’s an argument to be made that this has more to do with Wall’s ability to communicate, to be less sporadic with his decisions, and his ability to make sharper passes, and less to do with the fact that Westbrook has a flawed roster around him. But we don’t really need to have that conversation because the fact is that Westbrook does have a flawed roster around him. 

So yes, this is to some extent, the Westbrook formula as well, but with the Wizards it’s more refined and with far more Plan B’s and C’s.

If you can immediately gain a head start on your defender then you can remain one step ahead as long as you’re deliberate with your actions. That’s where Brooks has his young team prepared: They all know how to take advantage of a scrambling defense, whether that’s through quick shots, pump fakes, drives, or extra passes.

The Wizards score on 54.1 percent of their transition attempts. Of teams that have been in transition at least 1,300 times that’s best in the league, just ahead of Golden State. With Wall on the floor, the offense is deliberate and deadly. Markieff Morris is a terrific spot-up shooter. So is Beal, who can also step into his own shot. In a pick-and-roll league emphasizing roll and lob centers like DeAndre Jordan, Gortat is seemingly the type of center that is going extinct. But Wall is so good at getting defenses out of position,that with his post moves and ambidexterity Gortat gets off easy shots. His tremendous skill is more valuable than his verticality would be alongside Wall.

The Hawks have a sound enough defense to give the Wizards some trouble, but the difference in backcourt production will be too much. The Cavaliers might face their biggest challenge in the East in the third round of the playoffs.

The Wizards are a nightmare matchup for Kevin Love simply because he doesn’t have the speed to catch up with the chaos Wall can create. Whether that means Washington could get past Cleveland is tough to say. Their bench isn’t much outside of Kelly Oubre Jr. Their defense has been non-existent at times. But players as athletic as Wall, Beal, and Porter are always capable of average defense, and Brooks is a defensive-minded coach who might be able to game plan a decent defensive scheme for a seven-game series. 

The Wizards enter the playoffs with the kind of speed that can kill any team defense. Their path to the Finals is a straight line.