NBA Playoffs: Bradley Beal Says Wizards Have 'Hands Full' With Sixers in Round 1

Washington Wizards star Bradley Beal knows it won't be an easy matchup against the Sixers in the first round of the NBA Playoffs.

The Washington Wizards made quite the comeback this year. After dealing their notable veteran star John Wall in exchange for former Houston Rockets guard Russell Westbrook, it became unclear how the swapping of stars would work out for both teams. At first, it seemed the Wizards didn't get too much of a boost.

When they opened the season up against the Philadelphia 76ers back in December, the Wizards fell short 113-107. A few weeks later, the Sixers and the Wizards met for the second time. After getting off to a 2-5 start on the year, the Wizards struggled to build on a two-game win streak when they fell short in Philly once again.

The first two outings between the Sixers and the Wizards were competitive, but the 76ers came out on top victorious both times. When the two teams met for a third and final time in March, the Sixers picked up a convincing 26-point win for a season's sweep. As it turns out, the March 12th outing between Philly and Washington wouldn't be the last time they face each other, though.

As the Wizards defeated the Indiana Pacers on Thursday night, they locked in the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference. Now, the Sixers and the Wizards will engage in a seven-game series beginning on Sunday, and Wizards star Bradley Beal believes his team has a good shot at making it a tight series.

"We love what we're capable of doing," Beal said following Thursday night's win over Indiana. "We'll stick to our principles and go from there. Probably two out of three times we played them, we felt like we could've won two games."

Beal isn't necessarily wrong. While the Sixers defeated Washington in every game they played against each other this year, the first two matchups were closer than one would expect. However, Beal understands it won't be a cakewalk to an upset.

"It'll definitely be interesting and competitive," Beal continued. "We haven't seen them in a long time. It'll definitely be good to see some different faces, you know, a different team. It's the first of four, so we're definitely excited about it. They're a good team, obviously, number one in the East. We got our hands full, and we realize that but we've been playing really good as of late, so we got a lot of noise to make ourselves."

The first-round series will tip-off on Sunday afternoon. Being that the Sixers own home-court advantage throughout the playoffs, they'll open the series at home for the first two matchups against the Wizards.

Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for Sports Illustrated. You can follow him for live updates on Twitter: @JGrasso_ & Instagram: @JGrassoNBA.