Final: Wizards 115, Celtics 112 (2 OT) - Celtics cold shooting costs them

Game 6: Celtics (2-3) vs Wizards (4-1)
Capital One Arena
5 PM, NBC Sports Boston

STARTERS

BOSTON: Dennis Schroder, Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Grant Williams, Al Horford

WASHINGTON: Spencer Dinwiddie, Bradley Beal, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Kyle Kuzma, Montrezl Harrell

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

- Robert Williams and Marcus Smart (illness - non COVID) are out for Boston. Daniel Gafford is out with the quad contusion he suffered vs. Boston. 

- The Celtics have had a flu-like sickness (no, not COVID) running through the locker room. Aaron Nesmith was one of the players bothered by it recently, but he will play.

- Washington is favored by 2

GOING A LITTLE DEEPER

- The Celtics came out of that Wednesday night loss to Washington feeling like they left a lot on the floor. The effort and energy was questioned strongly by Ime Udoka, and lamented strongly by Horford. 

“We had a very blunt, direct film session,” Udoka said. “Guys responded well, we had good energy yesterday, good focus today ... we have high character guys that want to be coached, don't want things to be swept under the rug.”

Part of that good focus is letting go of some bad habits, like Tatum getting worried about foul calls.

“(He was) getting frustrated with the officiating and he let that get the best of him,” Udoka said. “Something we stressed is don’t take it personal with the referees and do the right thing no matter what, and complaining about calls is not going to make it any better for you or the team in the long run.”

That has been a focus of Udoka’s from the beginning. Tatum’s late stretch of complaints and then drawing a technical foul flies in the face of that approach. 

“You have to address it and be honest about it and just understand habits don’t die easily,” Udoka said. “I’ve spoken to him individually about. During the game we tell him to move onto the next play. But it’s not something that's not as easy ...

“It’s a league-wide thing. And for him just playing through it, and understand that he’s gonna get calls if he keeps being aggressive, but at the same time don’t do it by yourself. So I’m understanding of the habits that some of us have, tendencies we want to break, and I’ll just continue to address those. It’s like parenting to some extent. They’re not gonna just listen to you the first time. Some things have to be broken.”

THREE THINGS TO WATCH FOR

1. Montrezl Harrell: He torched the Celtics a couple of days ago, and only Robert Williams was able to really bother him. With him out, it’ll be up to Grant Williams to handle the job. Grant’s last such assignment was opening night against Julius Randle, who is stronger than Harrell but not by much. If Grant has similar problems, then Boston could be in for a long night.

2. Moving the ball: 18 total assists against the Wizards last game is unacceptable. At some point, they have to buy into what the coach is selling and start doing it.

3. Jaylen Brown up or down?: Brown has alternated between big games and no-shows and has said he has struggled to recover due to the continued side effects of COVID-19. His last game was a dud, will he follow that up with another 30-piece?

GAME THREAD

Stick around for more comments below as the game goes on. Feel free to add your two cents in the comments.