2 days Ago
BOSTON —The Celtics cruised to their second straight win on Sunday night, crushing an overmatched Washington Wizards team 124-90 at TD Garden. Jayson Tatum (knee) and Kristaps Porzingis (illness) did not suit up for Boston in the victory but it didn’t matter against a tanking Wizards squad that did not play Marcus Smart or seven other roster players due to injury or rest. Boston led from start to finish in the victory, opening the game with an 11-3 run and extending the lead to double digits for the final 40 minutes of the victory.
Payton Pritchard (20 points) led seven different Celtics to finish in double figures while Al Horford (11 points, 11 rebounds) and Luke Kornet (12 points, 11 rebounds) both chipped in with double-doubles in the victory. Jordan Poole had a team-high 15 points in the loss for the Wizards. Boston now hits the road for their final trip of the regular season with visits to New York and Orlando before closing on the year with two games against the Hornets.
Here are four takeaways from the Celtics’ win on Sunday night: Jaylen Brown gets closer to qualifying for All-NBA eligibility: A couple of Boston’s stars got the night off but Brown continues to make progress on his march towards 65 games and postseason awards eligibility. He had a solid performance yet again despite playing with a bone bruise in his knee, posting 15 points and five assists in 21 minutes. Brown only needs to appear in three of Boston’s final four games this week to reach the 65-game threshold.
Celtics offense is in sync: The Wizards defense has been abysmal all year long but the cohesion Boston showed offensively was terrific given they were without two of their top scorers. All five Boston starters took between nine and 13 field goals attempts and the team dished out 33 assists in the victory. A clinic on the offensive glass: The Celtics started with double bigs with Tatum and Porzingis sidelined and feasted on the offensive glass against an overmatched Wizards front line.
Boston ran up 25 offensive rebounds in the victory which led to 32 second chance points. Luke Kornet led the way with a career-high nine offensive rebounds and seven different Celtics players tallied offensive rebounds in the victory. Marcus Smart dresses but gets the night off: The veteran guard was back in TD Garden for the second time this season and first time as a member of the Washington Wizards.
He had been healthy and plenty well in recent days for Washington but the team elected to make him a healthy DNP-CD with tanking being the priority for the franchise as they position themselves with the best lottery odds in the race for Cooper Flagg. Smart did get a nice ovation from the Garden crowd during warmups and fans chanted “We want Marcus” throughout the fourth quarter of the Celtics win. However, Smart angrily had to be held back by his teammates on the bench in the fourth quarter after some remarks from a fan miffed him.
The fan was ejected shortly afterwards by team security. It will be intriguing to see if this will be his only appearance in Boston as a member of the Wizards. The former Celtics enters a contract year this summer with Washington remaining in a deep rebuild.
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