The Boston Celtics sent their fans home happy in the team’s final home game of the season, a 144-102 cakewalk over an undermanned and clearly unmotivated Washington Wizards squad.
As a team the C’s dished out a season high 39 assists while shooting a sizzling 61% from the field and 52% from three.
The win propelled the Celtics to 2nd in the East standings a half game ahead of the Milwaukee Bucks. Boston has three games remaining this season including a matchup in Milwaukee this coming Thursday.
Studs & Duds
Studs
Jaylen Brown: Jaylen Brown came out firing and never let up. He started the game with three straight 3s and scored the Celtics first 11 points finishing with 13 in the first quarter aline. He ended the night with 32 points, 7 rebounds, and 5 assists. The 25-year-old is averaging 28.9 points over his last nine games.
Ladies and gentleman, Jaylen Brown pic.twitter.com/lXUzl5E55o
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) April 3, 2022
The Bench: The Celtics’ second unit had another big showing on Sunday led by the Bench Big-3 of Derrick White, Grant Williams, and Payton Pritchard.
White appears to have his shooting woes behind him, poured in 17 points on 6-of-7 shooting going 3-for-3 from deep with five rebounds and three assists in 24 minutes. Williams chipped in 16 points going 4-for-5 from beyond the arc. Payton Pritchard added 14 points while going 4-for-7 from 3.
Heck even Aaron Nesmith got into the act with 11 points in garbage time including 3 of the Celtics bench’s 15 3s on the day
Duds:
The Wizards: Yep all of them. Washington was without Bradley Beal and Kyle Kuzma so they had a built in excuse, but still, this was a 1-2-3 Cancun game if ever there was one. The Wizards can’t defend under the best of circumstance, but when they don’t even try, well this is what you get. Giving up 144 points and 61% shooting to an opponent.
It was Washington’s biggest loss of the season, easily eclipsing its previous largest deficit of 29 points, which was also in Boston in January. In that game, Jayson Tatum erupted for 51 points.
Turning Point
The Celtics only led Washington by 11 points at halftime but came out in the 3rd and blew the Wizards doors off. A 13-3 run stretched the lead to 21 and that’s all she wrote. Boston continued piling on in an almost all garbage time 4th quarter outscoring Washington 40-23 in the final frame.
That’s what he said..
Jaylen Brown declined to comment on his vaccination status after Sunday’s game. Brown cited privacy issues in his role as vice president of the NBA Players’ Association for the reason he would not comment.
“Last year, I missed the playoffs,” Brown said after Sunday’s win over the Wizards when asked about his status. “I had a season-ending injury with my wrist. This year, from a competitive standpoint, I’m excited and ready to play against anybody. As a vice president of the player’s association, it’s a part of my job description to protect our players’ rights and our medical privacy so you won’t hear me comment on my status or anybody’s else’s. That’s how I feel about it.”
Canada has a mandate that all players be fully vaccinated in order to enter the country. Brown had missed Monday’s game in Toronto due to ‘right knee soreness’ though he managed to score 31 points the day before against Minnesota and 28, 32 and 32 point in the 3 games after.
