It was a Men In Black dress up contest for the Washington Wizards as they attempted to send a message to the Boston Celtics following the skirmish after their last matchup. They should’ve been more focused on those sleeved jerseys they wore tonight, but that’s none of my business. The message was signed and delivered from the start as Boston never managed to take a single lead in the game. Wizards win 123-108.
THE GAME FLOW
It was an offensive downpour for Washington early on, starting the game 6-6 from the field no thanks to the polarizing point guard John Wall. The perimeter defense for the Celtics was abysmal. They were consistently late on rotations that in turn freed up routine jumpers for the Wizards from mid-range and deep. The league’s fourth best team in terms of field goal percentage shot 73.7% from the floor, a big no-no in the Book of Brad Stevens. Not to mention how ice cold Boston was from beyond the arc. They chucked up a 2-12 stat line, an even bigger recipe for disaster when you can’t make stops on the defensive end.
The streaky shooting continued unfortunately for the Wiz. Stevens must have been speaking Swahili because his team was making the exact same mistakes as the last quarter. Wall and Bradley Beal were on the bench and their offense didn’t skip a beat. The ball ran through Marcus Smart the majority of the first few minutes while Isaiah Thomas was on the bench, and I got to say it was a love/hate affair. Smart kept the Celtics are the same stagnant pace they’ve played thus far, forcing tough layups and passes in traffic at first. Then the former AAU-God reverted to his old ways on the defensive end and initiated the ball movement. The C’s were able to trim the margin but D.C.’s squad finished the half shooting a blistering 65% from the field, responding to seemingly every bucket Boston made. The Brad Stevens facepalms continued to run rampant heading into halftime.
Jaylen Brown was inserted in the starting lineup for Amir Johnson but to no avail. It was the John Wall And1 Mixtape tour in the third as he put Jae Crowder in the spin cycle and threaded the needle on a few dimes to his teammates. The man was an absolute baller and was frankly unfair in the open court, proving to everyone why he deserves to be in the conversation for best point guard in the league. When you mix that with a hot Beal, it makes each offensive possession for Boston even more important. Thomas quietly had a double-double (21 points and 10 assists) leading up to the final 12 minutes, no doubt the only reason why the game wasn’t a blowout so early. The Celtic defense was able to hold Washington scoreless for three minutes near the end of the quarter, but still faced a double digit deficit heading into the fourth.
Stevens’ offense continued to sputter early on but was bailed out from a couple of confident Smart threes (one of which he was fouled on). It was a no factor for John Wall as he easily sparked the fast break once again off a few knuckleheaded turnovers. It didn’t help that the Poor-Man’s Boogie Cousins (Markieff Morris) finished with a double-double to keep the game at arm’s length. It also wasn’t Thomas’ night to lead a fourth quarter comeback, clocking out with a total of four points in HIS quarter. The two-headed monster backcourt of Wall and Beal were too much and closed out the game with a number of clutch shots, regaining the season series lead between the two rivals.
I know these two players have beef, but there was a CLEAR offensive foul from John Wall on Marcus Smart in the third quarter that was called a ridiculously late And1. Wall stared the referee down until he gave in and blew the whistle. Smart was practically assaulted on the play!
Seems like everyone was heaving up prayer rainbows in this game. Crowder happened to be one of the lucky ones with this shot.
Jae Crowder beats the shot clock with a deep, deep trey! https://t.co/AAkYPWV5aM
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) January 25, 2017
Thomas shot an absolute rainbow all the way from Trump’s new address off Pennsylvania Avenue. Somewhere Barack Obama is nodding his head in approval.
Isaiah Thomas from WAY downtown! 🔥 https://t.co/7cjVBU2Niv
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) January 25, 2017
THE GRID
John Wall: A menace on the defensive end and a monster in the open court. 27 points, 7 rebounds, 7 assists and 3 steals.
Isaiah Thomas: The quietest double-double I’ve seen all season out of him. 25 points, 13 assists and 2 steals.
Bradley Beal: He layed on dagger after dagger late in the fourth to hault the Boston comeback. 31 points, 2 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 steals.
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