Celtics - Wizards Post Game PER THE WASHINGTON POST

If you're wondering how the local paper for our opponents saw the game. Courtesy of Steve3344.




Wizards fall to Celtics despite Bradley Beal's 46 points - The Washington Post



The Wizards led 110-109 with 12 seconds to go when Beal was surrounded after collecting the inbounds pass. In the melee, he appeared to slip and fling a foot out of bounds for a turnover.


Wizards fall apart in final minute, wasting another big night from Bradley Beal


By Ava Wallace
Feb. 28, 2021 at 10:11 p.m. EST



It felt almost fitting — or perhaps cruel — that on a night Bradley Beal shouldered his team with his sixth 40-point performance of the season and played some of his best defense of the year, the Washington Wizards’ loss in Boston would ultimately turn on Beal’s foot falling out of bounds.

The Wizards led by five points with less than a minute to play, thanks in large part to a spurt from their all-star guard down the stretch, but the Celtics clawed back for a 111-110 win at TD Garden on Sunday to hand Washington (13-19) a heartbreaking loss.

The Wizards led 110-109 with 12 seconds to go when Beal was surrounded after collecting the inbounds pass. In the melee, he appeared to slip and fling a foot out of bounds for a turnover. During the ensuing review, Boston effectively received a free timeout to draw up a play and got the ball to Beal’s childhood friend Jayson Tatum for the game-winning layup — capping an eight-point burst from Tatum in the final two minutes.

Beal missed an off-balance, contested jumper in the final second to seal the loss.
“That’s some of the goofiest s--- I’ve ever seen in my life,” Beal said on a postgame videoconference, shaking his head. “Slipped out of bounds, gave Tatum three layups at the end of the game.”


Wizards Coach Scott Brooks took responsibility for not calling a timeout fast enough.

“That play [when Beal stepped out of bounds], Brad got open,” Brooks said. “. . . We’ve done a pretty good job with that: Brad gets open, draws a foul. . . . Unfortunately, he slipped on a wet spot. That’s on me. I should’ve called a timeout.”

The loss, though far from a catastrophe given that the Wizards won seven of their previous eight games, frustrated the locker room and resurfaced one of the odder records going in the NBA: Beal has now lost 11 straight games when scoring at least 40 points, the longest such streak in league history.


When asked about the record, Brooks joked that he tried to keep the ball out of Beal’s hands when he hit 39 points, but otherwise he couldn’t offer any explanation.

The lesson Washington took instead from Sunday was that it can’t afford — and is playing too well — to let close games slip through its fingers.

After a rocky first half that left them trailing by only five points at the break anyway, the Wizards toiled to set themselves up for success. Beal was his usual electric self on the offensive end but played noteworthy defense as well, as did forward Isaac Bonga, who came off the bench to play 16 minutes and contributed mightily on the defensive end despite missing all five of his three-point attempts.

Beal led all scorers with 46 points and added seven rebounds. Russell Westbrook, playing his third full back-to-back series this season, had 24 points and 11 rebounds. Davis Bertans added 20 points.


“We gave them the game,” Westbrook said. “. . . I thought we did a good job of getting shots when we needed to, but not in the last minute or so. We know how we need to play to win; we know the level we need to get to to win games. We’ve just got to do it for the whole 48 minutes.”

Boston (17-17), playing without co-leading scorer Jaylen Brown (left knee), leaned on a 31-point night from Tatum instead. He and center Daniel Theis combined for 21 points in the fourth quarter — Beal and Westbrook combined for 23 points in the same stretch, but their haul came at the wrong time.

Kemba Walker added 21 points for the Celtics.

“There’s a reason why [Tatum’s] an all-star,” Bertans said. “Brad’s the same type of player. He can get to the rim any time and draw fouls and finish. He’s a hell of a player.”

Bertans agreed with Westbrook that Washington’s issue on nights such as Sunday is consistency, though the forward focused on the first half rather than the fourth quarter.

The Wizards continued their trend of slow starts. They missed their first eight field goal attempts and had four turnovers in that span but trailed just 33-28 at the end of the first quarter thanks to the Celtics’ persistent fouling.

Washington stepped to the foul line to shoot 17 times in the first 12 minutes, with Beal leading the pack. But the Wizards’ minor successes — though deserving of attention — did little to soothe the sting of a last-second loss.

“We’ve got to close that out. We got to win that game, man. We did everything we could’ve possibly done to put ourselves in position to win,” Beal said before turning his attention to his team’s next battle. “We go home, and we play Memphis next. . . . We can’t have any different approach that we had the last nine. As mad and [ticked] off as I may be, as everybody else may be, we still can take a lot of positives out of this game and apply them to the rest of the year.”


Bob
MY NOTE: I forgot about the double team Tatum and another Celtic threw at Beal with only :12 left that put that pressure on Beal and he slipped. It was luck, to be sure, but the double-team was swift and effective. Without that lucky slip he was going to get fouled and ice the game for them, call time out or make a bad pass. There was no escaping that trap, we were doing a good job of covering the rest of his teammates, and that makes it a good trap.

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Brad Beal is one of my favorite NBA players. He has a great attitude on a losing team. Never complains. Is loyal. Produces.

It would take him an arm and leg to get him here, I'm sure.

db

dbrown4 wrote:It would take him an arm and leg to get him here, I'm sure.

db

dbrown,

Agreed. The sticking point is "whose arms and legs?".


Bob


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