The Boston Celtics’ highway journey to the nation’s capital this week was a matter of enterprise as a lot as leisure. Only a day after the workforce visited the White Home to have fun their championship win with President Joe Biden, the Celtics returned to the court docket in Washington, DC for his or her second showdown with the Wizards of the yr — this one additionally the workforce’s third Emirates NBA Cup matchup. This was, put frankly, not a very thrilling sport — each groups shot within the low-40% vary for the night time — however the Celtics have been in a position to rating a win, 108-96, and bolster their level differential in match play within the course of.
Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown every had nights they’d possible fairly neglect. The famous person duo mixed for 47 factors and shot a fully brutal 17-of-46 from the sector (3-of-23 from three-point vary) within the contest. The Boston bench added some sturdy contributions, together with 13 factors from Sam Hauser and a few impactful second-half minutes from Xavier Tillman. For the Wizards, Jordan Poole and Kyle Kuzma scored a mixed 44 factors.
Boston’s offense acquired off to a very gradual begin on this one. They struggled to crack 40% capturing from the sector for the early minutes of the primary quarter, lacking simple seems to be and committing a number of careless turnovers, together with a steal on an inbounds cross from Tatum. Fortunately, regardless of the Celtics’ struggles, the Wizards have been much more careless with the ball. Their 5 first quarter turnovers prevented them from constructing a considerable lead, and a sizzling begin from the Boston bench (15 factors, 3-of-3 three-point capturing) allowed them to inch forward 29-27 heading into the second quarter.
Outlier capturing from the Boston bench didn’t show to hold them because the second quarter started. The Wizards raced out of the video games within the second body with a 9-0 run, and rapidly established a 10-point lead over a Boston workforce that couldn’t purchase a three-point shot to save lots of its life. And but, a lot as within the first quarter, the Wizards couldn’t capitalize effectively sufficient to place themselves meaningfully forward. The Celtics compiled a 13-0 run because the quarter wore on, and the groups entered the halftime break at a relative stalemate, with Washington forward 51-49.
The collective offensive quagmire carried on into the second half. Scoring tempo remained sluggish, and neither workforce appeared to have the ability to purchase themselves a three-pointer. The Celtics remained inside a possession of Washington’s lead for the majority of the quarter, however their execution appeared significantly poor — a lot to the chagrin of an more and more pissed off Joe Mazzulla. Boston’s lineups appeared disjointed, their protection far lower than disciplined, and Mazzulla picked up a technical foul protesting a non-call on successful on Brown.
Nonetheless, as we’d seen all night time lengthy, the Celtics merely appeared to out-talent the Wizards because the quarter wore on. Washington’s errors compounded on themselves for the third consecutive quarter, and this time, Boston was in a position to declare a lead. They pushed forward as a lot as six factors within the closing minutes of the third, and entered the ultimate quarter with a three-point lead, 75-72.
Derrick White opened the fourth quarter with a splash, connecting on an off-the-dribble three-pointer — his first in seven makes an attempt on the night time. It was not a harbinger of higher issues for the Boston offense, because the basket, frankly, appeared as if it had a lid over it. Each shot the Celtics put up appeared to bounce ignominiously off the rim. Tatum missed his tenth consecutive triple of the night time, because the workforce total lapsed beneath 25% capturing from distance within the early minutes of the fourth quarter.
White, at the least, appeared to discover a relative sizzling streak. His second three-pointer of the sport adopted the primary only a couple minutes later, giving the Celtics a 5 level lead with simply over eight minutes remaining in regulation. A midrange shot from Tatum — eeking him into double-digit scoring for the sport — pushed the Celtics forward by seven, a lead that felt like a landslide relative to the offensive distress of the night.
The Wizards tried to hold robust, with Poole connecting on a three-pointer to chop the lead again to 4, however they didn’t appear to have sufficient within the tank to threaten additional. Tatum and Brown lastly discovered a little bit of a groove — at the least from contained in the arc — and their shotmaking was an excessive amount of for Washington to beat. Brown linked on a tricky fadeaway midrange jumper to revive a seven-point Celtics lead with 46 second remaining in regulation, and mercifully put this sport on ice for good.
Subsequent up, the Celtics will return dwelling to host a Western Convention foe within the Minnesota Timberwolves this Sunday at 3:30 PM EST on NBC Sports activities Boston.
