For The First Time In Over A Month (January 24 & 25), The Celtics Have Won Two Games In A Row

 

    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)?

Covid-19 Hits The Celtics But They Still Managed To Beat The Wizards 116-107 With Three Guys Out

 

    Playing outside of the safety of the Disney bubble this season, it was only a matter of time before the Celtics (7-3 overall, 3-1 home) had their own coronavirus outbreak. This morning we found out that center Robert Williams had tested positive for Covid-19 while center Tristan Thompson and forward Grant Williams will also be out for at least the next seven days since they are deemed to be close contacts of him. There were no excuses because Boston had a game to play tonight at TD Garden and but in truth, they were lucky it was against one of the worst teams not only in the Eastern Conference but in the entire league: the Wizards (2-7 overall, 2-3 away). I don't know if it says more about the pride of the C's that they led by as much as 28 points (77-49) in the third quarter or how hopeless Washington already is in early January. The Wizards showed a bit of professionalism when they cut that huge lead down to four points midway through the fourth quarter but Boston was able to hold on for a satisfying 116-107 win-their fourth in a row. 

    Down three of their top four big guys, all that Celts head coach Brad Stevens had left to choose from at center were Daniel Theis (10 points, 6 rebounds) and Tacko Fall (4 points, 8 rebounds, 3 blocks). Theis picked up two early fouls but he shook that off to play 29 minutes while Fall played a career-high 19 minutes. Boston's top two players forward Jayson Tatum (team-high 32 points, 5 rebounds) and shooting guard Jaylen Brown (27 points, 13 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals) both played very well to make up for their missing teammates. Point guard Marcus Smart (13 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals) is still struggling with his shot (2-for-10 from the field) but he made up for that by going 9-for-11 at the free throw line. Rookie point guard Payton Pritchard (11 points, 2 steals) hit the biggest shot of the night: a 3-pointer that boosted Boston's lead back to seven after Washington trimmed it to 99-95. 

    Wizards superstar shooting guard Bradley Beal (41 points) has scored a combined 101 points (!!!) in the last two games but his awful team has lost both of those. Nobody should blame him when he inevitably demands for a trade at some point soon this season. His head coach is that empty suit Scott Brooks and point guard Russell Westbrook (12 points, 8 assists) looks like a shell of himself. Other than that, who else is on the Wizards? Forward Rui Hachimura (17 points, 5 rebounds, 2 steals) is decent and forward Davis Bertans (13 points) is a nice three-point shooter off the bench (the C's wanted him last season at the trade deadline), but overall yuck. 

    Boston jumped out to a 33-28 lead after one quarter and they blitzed Washington out of the Garden in the second quarter en route to a 66-47 halftime advantage. The Wizards outscored the Celtics 34-30 in the third quarter and Washington took the fourth quarter (26-20) as Boston clearly ran out of gas but they made just enough winning plays to walk away with an impressive effort in tough circumstances (that'll probably happen to every NBA team in 2021). The C's attempted nearly twice as many free throws (30-16) as the Wizards and hit eight more of them (22-14). The Celts also grabbed 12 more rebounds (50-38) including five more offensive boards (12-7). If I were a Wizards fan (not that those exist), I would be pretty depressed about those numbers. 

    Boston is going to have to bring that same type of effort on Sunday night (7, NBC Sports Boston) as they host the Heat (3-4) in a rematch from their thriller on Wednesday in Miami. It'll take something special for the Celtics to beat them once again, this time without those three aforementioned guys. Heat center Bam Adebayo could have a field day against Theis and Fall but that's Brad Stevens' problem to worry about, not mine. Until then, let's be happy that the Celtics have one of the best records in the NBA and they are playing better team basketball in each successive contest.

UPDATE 1/9/21: It's a new year but we still apparently cannot have nice things as this afternoon trusted NBA reporter Shams Charania said that Tatum is "expected to enter quarantine and miss 10-to-14 days due to Covid-19 health and safety protocols." Bravo NBA, a little over two weeks into the regular season and multiple teams already have coronavirus outbreaks. What else did you expect happening with everybody outside of the bubble (which while miserable was also highly effective)?

UPDATE 1/10/21: Tonight's Celtics-Heat game has been postponed (according to Miami's Twitter account) because a bunch of players on both teams would have been out due to Covid-19 or contract tracing so it will be rescheduled for a later date. What a mess. 

UPDATE 1/11/21: You're not going to believe this but tomorrow night's Celtics at Bulls game has also been postponed along with tonight's Pelicans at Mavericks game. The NBA has a full on Covid-19 outbreak on its hands.

UPDATE 1/12/21: Tomorrow night's Celtics vs Magic game has been postponed as well and will be rescheduled for a later date. Lather, rinse & repeat.