On a Sunday afternoon, Washington dominates the Celtics. It was an extremely ugly game for the Celtics. Against a team with the 2nd worst defense in the entire NBA, Boston managed to score 91 points on 35% from the field, 25% from 3, and a horrid 18-30 from the free throw line. Jaylen Brown and Kemba Walker were the only bright spots today. They combined for 50 points on 20-39 shooting. Outside of those two, the next highest scorer was Jayson Tatum with 6 points. Tatum had one of the worst games of the year for Boston today. The funny thing is Washington did not shoot that great from the floor either. The big difference was Washington was 31-36 from the free throw line. Boston is now 13-13 on the season and are in 5th place.
STAR OF THE GAME
In my opinion, Bradley Beal was snubbed from the all star game last year. This year, he is the leading the Eastern conference backcourt in voting and deservedly so. He leads the NBA in points per game and today he was amazing. He had 35 points on 10-18 from the field, 4-9 from 3, 11-11 from the free throw line, 7 rebounds, 5 assists, and 2 steals. That is an all star worthy stat line right there. The Celtics just did not have an answer for him today and he was by far the best player out on the court this afternoon.
BIGGEST CONCERN
In what seems to be a season long problem for the Boston Celtics, Boston leaves a lot of points at the free throw line almost every single game. Entering today, Boston was 21st in the league in free throw percentage and today did not help them move up in the rankings whatsoever. They shot a miserable 18-30 from the free throw line which is good enough for 60%. Washington hit 31-36 from the free throw line and guess what? Washington won by 13, the difference in free throws made. Now, free throws weren’t the lone reason as to why the Celtics lost, but it did play a factor. Yes, I understand that no team ever will shoot 100% from the free throw line every game, but shooting 60% and missing 12 free throws is just unacceptable.
SURPRISE CONTRIBUTION
Moritz Wagner was a pretty popular name in college and has had a decent career in the NBA. This season, his averages are down on almost every single category. Today, he played a huge role in the Wizards win. He was a +11 on the court and had 11 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals, and 1 block and he sparked the Wizards to lead by as many as 24 points in the 4th quarter. With Thomas Bryant out for the remainder of the season, production like this from Wagner every night could definitely help this Wizards team win more games.
Next Game
Vs Denver Nuggets, Tuesday, February 16th at 4:00 PM
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