After a tough loss last night to the Raptors, the Boston Celtics were able to once again find their groove and piece together a 117-108 win over the Washington Wizards.
The Celtics came into this game missing five players due to either injury or in Tyler Zeller’s case, due to illness. Marcus Smart started in place of Avery Bradley (Achilles) and Jordan Mickey was in for Amir Johnson. It was a new night for this Boston team as they looked to forget their dismal second half performance just 24 hours earlier. Shooting was off, play looked sloppy, the entire team just looked disconnected.
Tonight was a different story. Isaiah Thomas finished the game with 38 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists. By the near end of the game TD Garden was roaring with chants of “MVP” for the 5’9 power guard. Jae Crowder made his presence felt as he dropped 20 points along with an additional 5 assists. In terms of 3-point shooting, both Thomas and Crowder came alive shooting 5-11 and 4-6, respectively. Terry Rozier chipped in on the offensive end of the court by scoring 11 points and helping out on 4 rebounds.
The Celtics started the game incredibly hot, with crisp passing and efficient shooting throughout the first half. While this all is true, the Celtics actually trailed at halftime 55-59.
Entering the second half, the Celtics looked like a team reborn. Just as the Toronto Raptors had surged and closed Boston out the night before, the Celtics appeared to the very same to their opponent. The Celtics outscored Washington 62-49 in the second half and once again seemed to rely on Thomas to come in the clutch, which of course, he did. Thomas scored 20 of his 38 points in the fourth quarter alone and he was all over the court. Whether it was pulling up for deep 3’s or grabbing rebounds of his own shots, Thomas made the biggest offensive impact (#NBAVote) and his team rallied around him.
Oh, and those self-rebounds happened twice.
https://twitter.com/celticsjunkies/status/819372013341052935
https://twitter.com/celticsjunkies/status/819382394784481280
This Boston team is resilient and just like every other team, the don’t like to lose. Last night everyone looked out of sorts and it made more sense to just change the channel rather continue to watch the level of play on display. Win or lose, each day brings a new opportunity and this team went out and seized it.
Boston moves to 24-15 on the season, still comfortable in third place in the East. They will travel to Atlanta for a Friday night matchup with Al Horford’s former team; which just so happens to also be the team responsible for ending the Celtics season last year. Now there’s a storyline.
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