For the third time already this season the Celtics headed into Washington DC to face the Wizards, looking to score their third victory of the year in the capital. Boston’s offensive prowess shone brightly in the early exchanges, scoring 67 points in the first half. Despite a more physical and improved defensive display by the Wizards in the second half they could still not put a stop to the juggernaut that is the 2024 Boston Celtics.
Surprisingly the Wizards started the better of the two sides and even led by eight after the opening couple of minutes. It was French wing Bilal Coulibaly that led the solid start for the home team, hitting two threes against the defence of 7’3 Latvian center Kristaps Porzingis. Although as we have come to expect from this Celtics team, they drove themselves back in front shortly after. Jayson Tatum dominated Washington’s second overall pick Alex Sarr in the paint to end the quarter, resulting in an 11-point advantage for the road side.
The second quarter provided no let up for Washington, as Boston continued to bomb away from beyond the arc. The Celtics’ offense has been massively supplemented off of the bench in recent weeks, both Luke Kornet and Payton Pritchard have been massive difference makers. Kornet was a +20 in his minutes of play and Pritchard provided an important double-double (15pts, 11rebs).
Boston held a substantial 15-point lead at half time, but Washington showed a determined effort to restrict their opponents in the second half. Instead of allowing Boston too many fast-break opportunities, they forced the team in green to run plays in the half-court. This resulted in the stagnation of the Boston offense as without Porzingis – who left the game in the second quarter with an ankle injury – they cooled off from three-point range. Jaylen Brown had a poor shooting night for the second time in consecutive games, finishing shooting just 28.6% from the field.
A couple of Pritchard threes at the beginning of the fourth quarter put the final nail in the coffin for Washington, as Boston claimed successive victories 112-98. After the game Porzingis spoke on his injury status for the upcoming games via Bobby Manning: “it happened in the first quarter, but I played through it … in the second, when I started it was pretty sensitive. When I told the medical staff they just pulled me from the game. I don’t think it was anything major”. The Celtics return to the Garden on Thursday night to face the Chicago Bulls.
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