The Washington Wizards spent the majority of their regular season among the Eastern Conference’s bottom seven teams, but that all changed Sunday thanks to a comeback win over the Charlotte Hornets. The victory clinched the No. 8 seed and a play-in matchup with the Boston Celtics on Tuesday night at TD Garden.
The Celtics were the superior team throughout the year from a record standpoint, but each team had its series of dramatic ups and downs. After going 3-8 over their first 11 games, the Wizards were sidelined for two weeks due to covid-19 absences. When it returned to action, Washington lost four consecutive games and suddenly sat at 3-12 five weeks into the regular season. In early April, the Wizards were 15 games below .500. We all know about Boston’s ups and downs, but Washington’s current trend is a concerning factor from the Celtics’ perspective.
It took just over one month for the Wizards to charge from a 17-32 record all the way up to the Eastern Conference’s No. 8 seed. Winning 17 of its last 23 games behind Russell Westbrook and Bradley Beal, Washington comes into Boston on an absolute tear. In his last nine games, Westbrook has averaged 26.3 points, 13.8 rebounds and 16.1 assists. Bradley Beal, who played through a hamstring injury Sunday, finished second in the NBA’s scoring race at 31.3 points per game. So yes, the Wizards are trending upward, and their offense presents a pretty serious challenge for any opponent.
“Obviously Washington is rolling,” Brad Stevens said after Sunday’s loss to the Knicks. “They’re a heck of a basketball team. They’ve got great size, they’ve got a lot of different ways they can play. They can go way bigger with shooting, with posting. They’re a handful. Tuesday night will be a heck of a challenge, so we’ll start getting ready for that (Monday).”
That challenge becomes significantly minimized if Beal’s hamstring injury causes issues for him Tuesday night. He struggled in Sunday’s first half and seemed to be bothered by the hamstring strain that had kept him sidelined for the previous three games. Despite the noticeable ailment, Beal played through the second half, scoring 20 of his 25 points to help Washington lock up the No. 8 spot. The Wizards will need a complete performance from him on Tuesday night, however. Like Boston, Washington’s depth is a legitimate weakness, and an injured Beal would force some Wizards reserves to play well above expectations. Getting just one half from Beal due to his hamstring strain may be enough for the Celtics to capitalize if they’re clicking. That particular “if,” however, has been the biggest question in Boston all season long.
Boston has not responded well to early energy from opponents this year, but that trend has been especially apparent of late. The Celtics need to come out and swing first, otherwise, they could find themselves in an early hole (a situation all too familiar for Brad Stevens and his staff). Washington can score in bunches in the blink of an eye. Over the last 15 games, the Wizards have the sixth-best offensive rating in the NBA — if Boston allows that group to get rolling early, it may be unable to crawl back into the game late.
The trends certainly are concerning from Boston’s side. Dropping five of its last six games is a tough way to head into the playoffs, although it is important to keep the context in mind. The latest loss to the Knicks comes with an asterisk, as the Celtics were without their top seven players. There are some undeniably bad losses within this stretch outside of Sunday’s defeat, however. Losing Jaylen Brown in the thick of the playoff race adds a serious layer of difficulty in a number of ways, but if Boston wants to find any postseason success, it is going to have to adjust moving forward. Two consecutive horrendous defensive efforts against the Miami Heat were not encouraging, and losses to the Chicago Bulls and Cleveland Cavaliers were just about as ugly as they come.
“We have not been perfect. That’s been well-documented,” Stevens said Sunday. “We’ve dealt with a lot of negativity, and we’ve stayed together. I think that’s the most important thing you can do. We have to just stay together and reset now.”
On paper, the Celtics are the better team, but if paper played the games, Boston wouldn’t be in the play-in tournament. Washington and Boston are trending in opposite directions entering postseason play, and Tuesday’s matchup will present an interesting test for an unpredictable Celtics team. Boston’s defensive engagement cannot be subpar early on, or else Washington may capitalize even faster than Miami recently did.
If the Celtics beat Washington, they will be the No. 7 seed and face the No. 2 seed Brooklyn Nets in round one of the Eastern Conference playoffs. If they lose, the Celtics will face the winner of the Charlotte Hornets — Indiana Pacers play-in game in a single-elimination scenario for the No. 8 seed on Thursday night.
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