Washington Wizards Three Takeaways: Wizards Beat Boston Celtics, Win 14th Straight at Home
Washington Wizards prepped for a funeral procession on Tuesday night and came away with their 14th straight home victory against the Boston Celtics.
The Washington Wizards certainly set the stage for a big night in the nation’s capital.
Not only were they looking for their 14th straight win at home, they also made the bold statement to wear all black prior to a tilt with their newly minted rival, the Boston Celtics – a “funeral,” they called it. As a reminder, this was a regular season game in late January.
Nonetheless, there is bad blood between these two teams, dating back to last season’s war of words between Jae Crowder and then-Coach Randy Wittman and concluding with the Crowder-John Wall nose picking festival back in December.
There were a lot of skeptics of the Wizards’ bravado (myself included) who felt that nothing good could come from unnecessary showmanship this time of year.
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But as the late, great P.T. Barnum once said, “I don’t care what you say about me, just spell my name right.”
In other words, any publicity is good publicity.
The nation started talking and Washington responded in full force, controlling the entire game and ultimately winning 123-108 behind a combined 58 points from the House of Guards.
The victory moved Washington to 25-20, now just 1.5 games behind Boston for the 3rd seed in the Eastern Conference.
The Wizards had a ton of fun out there on the court, totally backing up their trash talk and sending the Celtics packing.
Here are my three key takeaways:
Beal is an All-Star
The case for Beal making the team is pretty tough.
Both guard spots and one wild card are basically locked up between Wall, Kyle Lowry and Isaiah Thomas.
It’s basically a two-man race between Beal and Kemba Walker for that final spot, but man the Wizards are SO much better with a healthy Beal on the floor.
The fifth-year sharpshooter destroyed the Celtics last time out in a losing effort (35 points) and responded with a similar performance on Tuesday, ringing up 31 and absolutely taking over in the fourth quarter.
The Celtics were once again missing Avery Bradley, while Marcus Smart and Jae Crowder were just not quick enough to keep up with Beal’s inside-outside game. Shooting slump, over?
The bench is coming around
Washington is still without Ian Mahinmi, who would surely provide some much needed rim protection for the second unit but they’re starting to get consistent contributions from a few guys off the bench, notably Trey Burke, Kelly Oubre and Jason Smith.
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They all have their vices (perimeter defense, ball handling and incessant fouling, respectively) but at least being on the floor and not losing a lead instantly is enough for Washington to give the starters a quick blow.
They combined for 17 points on 8-17 shooting and helped control the glass to the tune of a 42-32 rebounding advantage.
Thomas is polarizing
One of the great stories of the year, Isaiah Thomas has been an absolute offensive superstar this year, now second in the NBA in scoring and the highest fourth quarter scoring in the last 20 years.
However, his weaknesses were really exposed tonight and were a clear indication of why his net rating and RPM rate so poorly among peers.
IT is a defensive nightmare and when matched up with either Wall or Beal; he could not hold up on that end.
When the Washington Wizards played Kelly Oubre or Tomas Satoransky, there was a place for Thomas to hide but with the two star guards combined with sweet-shooting Otto Porter, Washington eviscerated Boston’s D.
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Washington will meet the Hawks, the fourth seed, in Atlanta on Friday.