BSJ Game report: Wizards 115, Celtics 112 (2 OT) - Another frustrating loss

Everything you need to know about the Celtics 115-112 double-overtime loss to the Washington Wizards with BSJ insight and analysis.

The Celtics and Wizards engaged in a basketball contest that will not be featured in any of the DC area’s many fine museums. The Washington Wizards shot 36.5% and somehow won the game, mostly because Boston shot 2-26 on 3-pointers.

Two. For. Twenty. Six. 

Jaylen Brown had another great game but also played a career-high 47 minutes in the two overtimes. The Wizards tried to give the game away multiple times and the Celtis took advantage to force the first overtime, but after scoring the first six points of overtime, they scored three the rest of the way to drop another tough game and fall to 2-4 on the season.

Box Score

HEADLINES

There is a lot of work to do: This team just simply has no idea how to play together yet. They show it in spurts, but it’s very clear there is a long way to go before they can consistently score and play well. 

...The offense, especially: 23 assists is better than the 18 the other night, and the number certainly would have been higher if some shot had fallen so it’s not totally indicative of the way the ball moved for stretches.

However, it didn't move as well as it could. The glass-half-empty version is that there was too much iso. That glass half full version is from Josh Richardson: “I just know I’ve seen flashes of us showing great offense, so hopefully we can just get past those flashes and get to a night-to-night basis.”

But the defense was a lot better: “The big picture overall is that we defended extremely well,” Ime Udoka said. “Night and day effort-wise from the other game. They scored less in double overtime than they did in regulation the other night. We played well defensively.”

TURNING POINT

With 1:16 left, Jayson Tatum drove and seemed to draw a foul that would have put him at the line. A coach’s challenge overturned the call, and Washington scored the next two baskets

SECOND GUESS

With the clock winding down in the first overtime, Ime Udoka let the team bring it up without calling a timeout. With Dennis Schroder dribbling the clock down, Brown made two attempts to come up for the ball and Schroder waved him off twice before just giving the ball to Tatum, who took a tough turnaround jumper. 

At some point, Udoka should have recognized this was not going well, called his final timeout, and drawn up an actual play to be followed. Who knows how it would have gone, but it would have probably had a better chance than that mess. When asked about it, he said, “We knew they had certain guys on the court we wanted to attack. And whether it was Jayson, Jaylen and Dennis, we felt good with all those guys attacking."

THREE UP

Jaylen Brown: His season point totals have been 46, 9, 30, 13, and now 34. The ups and downs just roll on for Brown, who topped his career-high 46 minutes against New York with 47 tonight. I asked him if this means he might have to dial it back on Monday versus Chicago and he said “I’ll be there Monday. I’ll be ready.”

Josh Richardson: Finally some life from Richardson, who dropped 18 points on 7-15 shooting. He was also one of the two players (Payton Pritchard was the other) to hit a 3-pointer. After a migraine and back spasms this past week, Richardson says he feels OK. 

“Hopefully I can put some games together where I feel like myself.”

Al Horford: A monster defensive night with 5 blocks and 10 rebounds and a steal. Add 5 assists to that mix he was a fiend on defense

“Al’s looked great, especially the defensive side of the basketball,” Brown said. “Teams are trying to come at him every night and he’s taken that challenge on every single night. So I commend him. Al’s been doing a fantastic job.’

THREE DOWN

Enes Kanter: He played 4:32 in this game and it didn’t take long to show that he is basically unplayable unless it’s against very specific matchups where his strength is a plus and his pick-and-roll failures won’t be highlighted. Playing him against a mobile Montrezl Harrell was a bad idea.

Dennis Schroder: I’m torn on where to put him after this game. He did have 9 assists, but the wave-off of Brown at the end of OT was bad. He shot terribly but he did end up with 3 steals. 

Jabari Parker: If he’s not hitting shots, he’s not going to help. He didn’t hit shots tonight.

PLAY OF THE GAME

ONE TAKE KARALIS WILL PROBABLY REGRET LATER

I’m fine with the 3-point shots they took in this game. Well, most of them, anyway. 

I can hear the “at what point do they stop settling for jump shots?” question. Here’s the reality: 

They took 26 3-pointers in a double-overtime game. They took 107 shots overall. Here’s a look at the shot chart:

That's a lot of shots at the rim. And in 2021, 26 3-pointers is not a lot. The team averages 43 per game. A lot of these shots were decent shots that just missed. A few were not, which is how every game goes. 

“We just missed some shots,” Brown said. “We make a couple of 3s, we win this game by 5-10 points.”

He’s not wrong. This was the extreme end of “some nights that shots don’t fall,” but some nights, the shot just don’t fall. 

When we go back and look at this game and why they lost, the choice of shots shouldn’t be that high on the list.