Celtics Annihilate Wizards in Washington (10/30/23)

After the Boston Celtics had two hard fought victories over two teams in the Eastern Conference that made the second round, people wondered how they'd do against a "bad" team. The answer is completely blow their doors off for three quarters. The Celtics feasted on the Washington Wizards in a game that was a blowout from start to finish. Jaylen Brown had a monster game, going 8 of 13 from downtown with 36 points while Jayson Tatum pumped in 33 of his own. The Celtics had a 51-40 rebounding advantage and it was one of the worst beatdowns Washington has ever seen....until the fourth quarter. The Wizards outscored the Celtics 32-18 in extended garbage time as the Celtics bench didn't play much defense. Still, the Celtics won their first road game of the year 126-107 at Capital One Arena.

                                                              Celtics crush the Wizards

The Celtics broke out to a 10-5 lead when Jaylen Brown buried a 3 with 8:54 remaining in the first quarter. Jrue Holiday stole the inbounds pass and dished it to Jayson Tatum for a dunk. It was 17-7 Celtics when Brown hit another 3 with 6:30 left. With 6 minutes left Derrick White found Krystaps Porzingis for a slam and with 4:43 left, Payton Pritchard found Porzingis for a jump hook two pointer. KP then blocked Jordan Poole and the lead swelled to 32-11 when Tatum threw an alley-oop to Horford for another bucket. With 2:24 left Brown buried another three then another with 1:38 off a dish from Pritchard. Horford got a steal and a bucket with 34 seconds left. The Celtics led 42-19 after the first quarter.

                                                          Brown couldn't miss

Kyle Kuzma tried to start a rally for the Wizards with back to back buckets. With 2 minutes gone, Pritchard passed to Tatum for another three pointer. Kuzma answered with a three on the other end then Poole hit a layup. White then hit a three from downtown to quell the momentum. With 5:22 left in the second quarter Brown hit another three pointer to give the Celtics a 30 point lead up 60-30. Poole hit a layup but Brown did a no-look pass to Porzingis for a three pointer. Tyus Jones hit a three but Holiday passed to a wide open Jaylen for......you guessed it....a three. With 3:09 left Brown passed to Tatum who found Holiday in transition for a bucket. Brown then was up to 25 points with another three with 2:46 left in the half. The Wizards went on a 10-0 run but Tatum hit a baseline layup to stop that. The first half ended with the Celtics up 26 by a score of 77-51.

                                                      Tatum adds to the lead

The Celtics then got back to back buckets to open the third quarter but the lead was still 84-53 with 8:36 left in the third. Tatum slammed home a dunk but Kuzma answered with a jump shot. Brown then dribbled across the lane and finished with a hook for another 2. With the score 88-59 with 6:16 left, Brown hit a fadeaway jumper to put the lead back to 31. With the score 90-61 with 5:39 left in the quarter, Porzingis went over a double-team and scored off the glass. Tatum hit a layup after a Wizards make then hit a 3 to make it 97-63 with 4:29 left. The Wizards scored 5 in a row but Tatum hit another three to to make it 100-68. With the score 103-71, Pritchard dished it to Holiday for another three pointer. Tatum hit a fadeaway to make it 108-71 with 1:23 left in the quarter. The quarter ended with the Celtics ahead 108-75.

                                                          Holiday drives to the cup

Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla put in the bench to play the fourth quarter and it almost came back to bite them. The Wizards led by Eugene Omoruyi and Ryan Rollins went on a 10-2 run. Sam Hauser did hit a put-back jump shot though with 6:55 to make it 112-85. Lamar Stevens hit a shot as well and Hauser hit a 3 to make it 117-94 with four minutes to go. Dalano Banton also hit a basket and the final score read Boston 126 and Washington 107. The Wizards outscored the Celtics 32-18 in that quarter even if it was garbage time.

                                                         Celtics win

Hero of the Night is Jaylen Brown. He was 8 of 13 from three point land and had 36 total points to lead the onslaught.

                                                              Hero Brown

Bawful Report:

Scalabrine Award for DNP-CD - Jordan Walsh

End Rant:

This game was definitely a good news/bad news situation with the good news is the Celtics starting 5 may be the best in the league for the first time since the new big 3 in 2008. The bad news is this game highlights their one weakness is their bench strength is weak. After Al Horford and Payton Pritchard it gets pretty bad pretty quick. I don't know why Mazzulla isn't giving Jordan Walsh a chance but he's going to have to eventually. Guys are going to get hurt, guys are going to need a break, you never know what's going to happen. This could be an 86-87 Celtics situation where the starters may be playing 40 minutes a night, which isn't good. Still, on a night like this where Tatum or Brown can't miss, it won't matter. The other frightening factor for the rest of the league is if you double team Tatum, now you got a wide open Brown or Porzingis. Then if you double team KP in the paint, he can easily outlet pass to a driving Tatum or Brown. That's almost impossible to defend. It was a good win against a team they needed to beat. The Celtics look to make it 4 wins in a row to start the season this Wednesday night against the Indiana Pacers. The game begins at 7:30 PM at TD Garden.