The Celtics shook off a slow start on Thursday night to cruise to a 122-102 blowout win over the Wizards in Washington DC. The victory improves Boston to 2-0 on the year with an average margin of victory of 21.5 points.
Jayson Tatum led the way for the visitors with his second straight double-double (25 points, 11 rebounds) while Jaylen Brown added a game-high 27 points, 8 rebounds and 4 steals in 30 minutes. Jordan Poole had a game-high 26 points for the Wizards in the setback.
Boston trailed by as many as eight points in the first quarter after Poole erupted for 17 points in the period. The team righted the ship from there, starting with some timely offense from Tatum and Derrick White (19 points). Boston ultimately broke the game open in the second half, putting together a 58-24 run to put away a rebuilding Wizards squad that lacked offensive firepower outside of Poole. The sensational stretched allowed Joe Mazzulla to rest his starters for the majority of the fourth quarter as no starter played more than 30 minutes.
The Celtics will now hit the road again to wrap up their two-game road trip on Saturday night in Detroit.
Here are four takeaways from the Celtics’ win on Thursday night:
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Celtics defense bounces back from Jordan Poole’s opening punch: The former Warriors guard put on a show against the Celtics in the first quarter, tallying 17 points in the frame including some red-hot shooting from 3-point range. The Celtics were a step slow defensively out of the gate, including in transition but they were able to steady the ship quickly once Poole exited the game. Boston still led by one point after the first quarter despite the outburst and the team ratcheted up their defense considerably in the middle two quarters, holding Washington to just 41 points in the two frames while outscoring the Wizards by 24 points in the two periods. The Wizards’ putrid 3-point shooting outside of Poole led to Boston running away with the game as they shot just 1-of-25 from deep outside of Poole.
Joe Mazzulla goes big off the bench: With Sam Hauser sidelined due to a back injury, the logical replacement for his minutes on the wing was expected to be Jordan Walsh. However, Mazzulla elected to throw a bit of a curveball against the Wizards size off the bench, electing to play three bigs off the pine (Luke Kornet, Xavier Tillman and Neemias Queta) rather than going with the 20-year-old Walsh. The move opened the door for Boston to play several double big lineups and the strategy paid off for much of the contest. Queta did well in his minutes against Jonas Valanciunas, holding up in the post and adding a couple of easy buckets at the rim. Mazzulla was also able to take some pressure off Al Horford and the Wizards’ size with this look. Walsh will ultimately get some chances in the rotation this year when Boston is shorthanded but the Celtics are content to deal with the bigger lineups when the opposition allows for it.
Payton Pritchard bounces back: The reserve good got extra opportunities on Thursday night with Sam Hauser and made the most of it. He shook off a miserable shooting opener (1-of-10 from the field) to hit a team-high five 3s off the bench in his 28 minutes. The reserve guard also hit a three-quarter court heave to end the third quarter but it was waved off after he released it just after the buzzer. All things considered, it was just another night where Pritchard took a lot of the scoring onus off the starters and did so efficiently in an uptempo affair. His second half production helped give the starters the majority of the fourth quarter off.
Neemias Queta emerges as a bright spot: The big man is on the 15-man roster this year but started the year at the back of the center depth chart. He made the case for more minutes in this one though after an energetic effort on both ends of the floor. Queta posted 12 points and seven rebounds in 14 minutes including a team-high four offensive rebonds. He held his own against the Wizards’ physical bigs in the post and looked extra springy with his hustle up and down the floor. Queta has always been a great weapon on the offensive glass but the remainder of his game is progressing well in his fourth NBA season. This time of improvement should make it very easy for Al Horford (20 minutes) to keep his minutes down despite the absence of Kristaps Porzingis.
