Washington played competitively, but it wasn’t enough to avoid a 10th straight loss.
If you were hoping that the Washington Wizards would put up a fight against the Boston Celtics tonight, you got that. If you were hoping that the Wizards would come into this game wanting to win this game more than the Celtics, you got it too. Unfortunately, since the Wizards are still in “deconstruction mode,” they still lost, 108-96.
The first half was promising for the Wizards because they held the Celtics to 42.9 percent shooting. Jayson Tatum wasn’t on his game and Jaylen Brown had to shoot 14 times for 14 points. Meanwhile Malcom Brogdon and Kyle Kuzma shot well above 50 percent from the field.
Of course, when the NBA’s lottery doormats play the defending champs who have a legitimate chance to repeat, things will regress to the mean. Boston continued to shoot poorly in the third quarter but forced the Wizards to commit 8 personal fouls and made 10-of-12 free throws to head into the fourth quarter with a 75-72 lead.
From there, the Celtics controlled the game. Washington’s efforts just weren’t enough, despite holding the Celtics to 42.4 percent shooting from the field and 23.9 percent shooting from the three point line.
For Washington, Jordan Poole scored 23 points and Kuzma had 21 for the game. And for Boston, Brown led with 31 points.
The Wizards’ next game is on Sunday when they play the Indiana Pacers. Tip off is at 5 p.m. ET. See you then.