The Celtics came away with a win Friday Night against the Washington Wizards after not having Grant Williams, Robert Williams, and Tristan Thompson due to COVID-19. This came on the strength of Celtics leading scorer Jayson Tatum‘s 32 points. The Celtics defense was quite impressive until about part-way through the 2nd half. At one point the Celtics were up 81-54 on Washington, but then Wizards guard Bradley Beal and his 41 points led a 41-18 run en route to bringing the Wizards back into the game. Boston was able to clean up their act and improve to 7-3 with a 116-107 victory, their 4th straight win. Definitely not pretty. The Celtics can’t allow that type of comeback.
Game Flow
First Half: The Celtics got out to a nice start in the 1st ending with a 5-point lead 33-28. Tatum scored 14 of his 32 points in the first, on 6-9 from the field. There was a back and forth battle between Tatum and Beal as Beal also ended the quarter with 14 on the score sheet. Beal and Tatum grew up playing together in St. Louis, makes sense why. In the 2nd Quarter the Celtics offense exploded outscoring Washington 33-19. Jaylen Brown was quite impressive throughout the 2nd specifically his shot selection and ball movement. Brown ended the night with 27 points and 13 rebounds, another consistent night for him. It was also nice seeing Tacko playing meaningful minutes, since Thompson was out.
Third Quarter: The Wizards started to claw back into the game at this point. Washington outscored Boston 34-30. Bradley started to score at will trying to channel his performance against the Philadelphia 76ers in which he dropped 60 points.
Fourth Quarter: After being up by at least 25 points, the Celtics defense stepped off the gas as their lead was cut all the way down to 4 with 99-95. After two clutch threes from Peyton Pritchard and Jaylen Brown, Boston’s lead became insurmountable for Washington as the Celtics came away with a win 116-107.
Final Thoughts:
The Celtics played great to start, but did not finish pretty. A win is a win though. Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum showed us all once again why they are one of the most explosive duos to start this NBA season. Tatum ended up with 32 pts, 5 rebs, 2 ast. Brown finished the night with 27 pts, 13 rebs, and 5 ast. With the Celtics win last night their record on the season improves to 7-3 and they have won 4 straight after starting the season out .500.
Celts need to work on that consistency! Looking forward to more of your commentary, Mr. Motroni!