John Wall showed his growth as a point guard and picked apart the Cavaliers

The Cleveland Cavaliers may be the prohibitive favorite to three-peat as Eastern Conference champions, but they had no answer for John Wall and the Washington Wizards on Saturday.

Wall scored 37 points and dished out 11 assists to lead the Wizards to a 127-115 victory. He used a combination of his speed in transition and deftness on screens to obliterate Cleveland’s second line of defense in the paint.

He was even hitting his shots beyond the arc, shooting a perfect two-of-two on threes. The Wizards’ guard orchestrated his team’s 71-point first half like he has done much of the season. He made each of his first eight shots.

Wall is averaging career-highs across the board. His 22.9 points per game at a 44.5 percent clip is the best in his seven-year tenure, as are his 10.8 assists and two steals per game. The league has witnessed the maturation of a Wizards point guard, whose game has slowed down even though he has not.

No one knows what the playoffs hold in store for Washington. If the postseason started today, the Wizards would have a tough first-round matchup against the Milwaukee Bucks. And if they made it out of that series, Washington would have a rivalry showdown against the Boston Celtics.

But what we do know is that John Wall is playing career basketball right now, and his play has lifted the Wizards to new heights. They took down the defending champs at 100 percent power, and Washington’s floor general got everyone involved with seven players scoring in double digits.

If Wall keeps playing at this level, it won’t be Milwaukee or Boston he’s worried about. It’ll be an Eastern Conference finals showdown against Cleveland.

And if Saturday night was indicative of what that potential playoff series could look like come May, the Cavaliers will need to shore up their interior defense for the dynamic Wizards’ guard.