BSJ Game Report: Wizards 130, Celtics 111 - C's fall flat against another bad opponent

Everything you need to know about the Celtics' loss to the Washington Wizards, with BSJ insight and analysis

IN A NUTSHELL

The Celtics came out strong, moving the ball well early and attacking but that went away after the Wizards started getting hot. The game was close through the first quarter but Washington got hot in the second and Boston seemed to get caught up in answering. They fell behind by 13 at the half but it got worse in the third. The defense was non-existent, and they fell behind by as much as 23. Joe Mazzulla emptied his bench with more than 9:00 to go. They made a little push, but Washington quickly pushed back.

Box Score

HEADLINES

Sigh: Just when I thought they were back … just when I thought they were getting it and they understood what was at stake … They give us this game. This is a classic “I’m not mad, I’m just disappointed” moment because I really believed that they were going for that top seed and they understood what it took to get it. Charlie Brown … football… blah blah blah

No defense: The Celtics gave up 130 points. They gave up more than 30 in all but the first quarter and in that one they gave up 29. They were off offensively and they still managed to score 111. That actually should have been enough. They couldn't get any stops, though. 

Goodbye top seed (probably): We can probably forget the top seed at this point unless the Indiana Pacers do Boston a favor and upset the Celtics tomorrow night. It’s not out of the question, but it’s still asking a bit much at this point. Boston had to play perfectly throughout this final seven-game stretch and I guess we should have known that was asking too much. 

TURNING POINT

The Celtics went into the half down 13 and really couldn't cut into it out of the half. The Wizards went on a 13-5 run to push the lead to 22 and aside from the fourth-quarter run by the bench to get it back down to 12, the Celtics never threatened. 

SECOND GUESS

Mazzulla ran a double-big lineup with Robert Williams in the dunker spot in the first quarter and it allowed the Wizards to keep Kristaps Porzingis tight on Williams and deter the Celtics from driving. The Celtics started hunting 3-pointers at that point, and when they started missing it really impacted them defensively. The Celtics did ultimately adjust out of that alignment, but it felt like that early stretch triggered something in Boston that they never shook off. 

ZERO UP

Some guys played well in stretches. Jaylen Brown had some really nice drives. Jayson Tatum did as well. Tatum finished 28/9/5 in this game but I think he was one of their worst defenders on the floor. Brown shot poorly and I think the lack of foul calls on his drives got into his head. Marcus Smart played fairly well, hitting 4-7 from deep putting up 14 points, 5 assists, and 2 steals, but he disappeared in the third quarter, ceding most of the playmaking duties to Tatum. 

Actually, wait …

FOUR UP - The four bench guys who got in at garbage time: I’ll give Luke Kornet, Mike Muscala, Payton Pritchard, and Sam Hauser some love here. They made a bit of a push late in the game to cut it to 12 and make Washington nervous. I’ll get into it more in a minute, but maybe Mazzulla should have expanded his rotation a little in this game once it was clear what was happening. 

FOUR DOWN

Robert Williams: Where was he tonight? Zero shots, 4 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal, 2 blocks. 

Al Horford: A really off night for him, shooting just 2-10 (1-7 3pt) and finishing with 5 points and 4 rebounds. 

Derrick White: Sensing a pattern here? These are all the guys who do the intangible stuff and none of them had anything going. White finished 2-5 from the floor to put up 7 points, 3 rebounds, and just a single assist. 

Grant Williams: Just like everyone else, he couldn't hit a damn thing. But what’s worse is that when Boston had a tiny sliver of hope late in the game, he threw just a terrible pass for a turnover and then played some horrible defense to allow the Wizards to erase any Boston hopes for a miracle. 

TOP PLAYS

ONE TAKE KARALIS WILL PROBABLY REGRET LATER 

- Joe Mazzulla really needs to develop his feel for the game

This is something I’ve been saying for a while now, and it was evident in this game. 

The Celtics have their patterns, and it was obvious this game was falling into one in the second quarter. They went into the half down 13, unable to turn off the spigot of scoring by Porzingis and the Wizards. 

When the Celtics came out in the third and couldn't close the gap, Mazzulla should have gone with an energy substitution to try to change the flow of the game. They needed someone like Pritchard to change the pace of their game. They needed someone like Kornet to crash the boards and maybe keep some possessions alive. 

Despite the overreactions to his coaching, I think he mostly does a good job. But I strongly believe his lack of experience leads him to clutch the analytics tightly, rely on the matchups to a fault, and not react well to his team’s lulls in situations like this. 

Feel comes from experience, and Mazzulla doesn’t have it yet. He will undoubtedly look back on games like this a few years from now and think he could do things differently. The question now is, is there any way to fast track that kind of awareness to today? 

This game needed a jolt. The team needed to be shaken awake and Mazzulla didn’t go to the guys who could do it. Sometimes the numbers and matchups need to be thrown out the window. 

Five energy-changing minutes in the third quarter might have done the trick to wake up the rest of the guys. If it didn’t, then at least he tried. It would have gone down as a desperate search for energy. Instead it goes down as a missed opportunity, and what I hope is a learning opportunity. 

Next Up: The Celtics visit Milwaukee on Thursday night