Without All-Star swingman Jaylen Brown (left knee soreness) in the lineup tonight at TD Garden, the Celtics (17-17 overall, 10-5 home) did just enough to come away with a 111-110 victory over the Wizards (13-19 overall, 7-10 away). Boston withstood a standard 46-point eruption from Washington shooting guard Bradley Beal (7 rebounds, 2 assists) who fell to an incredible 0-11 when he scores 40+ for the Wizards. It was not pretty at times but it got the job done as Boston's other All-Star swingman Jayson Tatum (team-high 31 points, eight rebounds & three steals) scored the last six points for the Celts and he helped play defense on his guy Beal who missed a corner jump shot at the buzzer that would have won it. With no Brown, point guard Kemba Walker (21 points, 8 assists, 5 rebounds, 2 steals) and center Daniel Theis (20 points, 9 rebounds) ably picked up the slack while the next highest Celtic in scoring was shooting guard Javonte Green (8 points) who took Brown's place in the starting lineup.
You may laugh at Washington but the fact was that they entered this evening as one of the NBA's hottest clubs (they were 8-2 in their last 10 games). With that said, besides Beal-who is an All-Star as well-the Wizards don't have much in terms of quality players. Point guard Russell Westbrook had a double-double (24 points, 11 rebounds) while their other three starters combined for two points which seems impossible unless your dopey head coach is Scott Brooks. Washington's other sharp shooter-small forward Davis Bertans (20 points in 26 minutes off the bench)-is going to be a Celtic at some point in his career, you know that right? Sideshow Robin Lopez added 10 points off the bench for the Wizards. Celts center Tristan Thompson had a brutal shooting performance (1-for-9) but he still managed to grab 13 rebounds which included six offensive boards.
Boston grabbed 13 more rebounds than Washington (49-36) featuring six more offensive boards (13-7) and seven more defensive boards (36-29). The Celts also handed out nine more assists (25-16) which is always a winning formula at any level of basketball. The C's led by five points (33-28) after the first quarter and both teams scored 27 points in the second quarter so Boston was up by five points (60-55) at halftime. The Wizards outscored the Celtics by two ugly points (21-19) in the third quarter which set up a very intense fourth quarter (won by Washington 34-32). This victory brought the home team back to the .500 mark (I can't believe that is a big deal this far into the season but here we are) while also moving them up to sixth-place in the Eastern Conference-tied with Miami and Toronto.
There are two games left in the first half of the regular season for the Celts and they are both big ones as they host the Clippers (24-12 overall, 12-6 road) on Tuesday (7:30, NBC Sports Boston) followed by the Raptors coming to town on Thursday (7, TNT) before everybody goes their separate ways during the All-Star break. Speaking of that, is there a way to make sure that Brown travels to his hometown of Atlanta for his first NBA All-Star Game but he stays safe health wise and sits out the actual game (thus learning from the mistakes that Kemba and Kyrie Irving have made that weekend in past years)?
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