Do the Wizards play today? A look at Washington’s first regular season game + predictions

The NBA season is finally upon us with the regular season kicking off on Tuesday night. 

As teams across the league continue to play their season opener, fans of the Washington Wizards may begin to wonder when their team will be suiting up. That said, here’s a look at when the Wizards' first game is and who it’s against.

When do the Wizards play?

The Wizards are set to begin their season on their homecourt against the Boston Celtics on Thursday night. This matchup is set to start early at 7:00 PM ET, so fans on the East Coast won’t have to worry about staying up too late while they get their Wizards basketball fix for the day.

Looking ahead, Washington manages to start the season with back-to-back home games before hiring the road to start next week. 

A deeper dive into their opponent

The Wizards start their season against the reigning champion. Not only are the Celtics defending champs, but they showed just how dominant they can be in their regular season opener against the Knicks on Tuesday.

In their 132-109 win, Boston managed to knock down 29 three-pointers while tying an NBA record for most threes in a single game by an NBA team. While shooting 50.5% from the field and 47.5% from three, the C’s are lethal and their high-powered offense will be tough to stop.

For Washington to keep up, they’ll have to prioritize taking the three ball away from Joe Mazzulla’s squad, but even then, that won’t guarantee them a victory. When playing the Celtics, it becomes a game of mathematics on how to keep up with a team that shoots 60+ three-pointers per game.

That said, even if the Wizards do take away the three-ball, they’ll have to be able to live with whatever else they allow the dominant offense to do. In addition, Washington can’t start the season off with a cold start.

Wizards opening night prediction

The Wizards will be catching the Celtics for their second game in three nights. With rest on their side, they may have more of a chance than people believe. However, slowing down Boston may just become too tall of a task for a Wizards team that quite frankly just isn’t as talented as the Eastern Conference favorites.

Ultimately, Washington may keep it interesting in the first half, but in the second half, the Celtics will pull away to end the game with a final score of 113-91.