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Celtics Wrap: Boston Win Streak Snaps In Yet Another Wild Close Game


NESN by Patrick McAvoy

The Boston Celtics’ win streak snapped Wednesday night.

In a game that bounced around all over the place, the Celtics came out on the losing end 116-107 at TD Garden.

Boston’s record now falls to 2-3 on the young season, while Washington improved its to 3-1.

ONE KEY TAKEAWAY
The Celtics had themselves another close one on Wednesday, but this time couldn’t the job done in the fourth quarter

So far this season, Boston has been no stranger to close games — including two contests that have reached overtime already this campaign — but unlike the squad’s wild overtime win over the Charlotte Hornets on Monday night, came up short in the fourth quarter.

The C’s erupted to the tune of 38 third quarter points, but it would be the Wizards who turned up the defensive intensity in the final quarter holding Boston to just 21 points while pulling away with 29 of their own for the win. Washington also closed the third quarter on an impressive 22-to-8 run to close trim the Celtics’ lead from 15 to one entering the final frame.

It wasn’t all bad for the the Celtics who’s offense continued to look good early on. Boston’s hasn’t scored less than 107 points in a game yet this season and looked locked in on that end of the court. The Celtics have been firing up three-point shots at an unprecedented clip to open the season and although their attempts were down Wednesday, they finished the night shooting 37% from beyond-the-arc.

STARS OF THE GAME
— As is the case most nights, Tatum led the way offensively for the Celtics. The Boston forward finished the night was a team-high 23 points out-dueling fellow St. Louis-native and close friend Bradley Beal, although it ultimately would be in defeat.


— Tatum might’ve led the way in scoring, but Dennis Schröder was no slouch himself. The Celtics guard erupted in the second quarter with 15 points and finished the night with 22 to go along with six assists and two steals. He’s been rock-solid of late finishing with no less than 18 points in each of the last three games.


— Beal is known as the Wizards’ go-to scorer, but it actually was Montrezl Harrell who led the way for Washington on Wednesday night. The big man finished the night with 25 points on the night off the bench to go along with nine rebounds and some solid defensive play.


WAGER WATCH
Tatum’s over/under for points might’ve scared you off because it was a little high at 27.5, and you would’ve been right to hold off. The odds were set at -105 and he has been eclipsing that number regularly and seemed poised to do so again Wednesday, but it wasn’t in the cards.



UP NEXT
The Celtics will look to get revenge on the Wizards as they conclude the early season home-and-home on Saturday afternoon at Capital One Arena at 5 p.m. ET.

Yep. Two things.

1) Just couldn't (can't seem to) get over the hump
2) WAS is a better team than BOS is things currently stand.

And the sad thing is WAS has been completely overhauled except for Beal. Yet we're still bumbling around playing .500 ball after 3-4 years into our J-squared experiment. What gives? Please someone enlighten me.

This was a lot better game against a playoff contender. But WAS didn't make my top 8 in the East I don't believe so someone has to move out. It may be us.

Again, we were in it and in a position to win up to the end. We're just going to have to get to the other side of the mountain.

Linus and Tatum were excellent. What a great pick-up from the Lakers. I don't know what Al is eating but I want some of it!! He has to be the biggest surprise of all. He looks like he's having a blast and has the body of a 23-year old.

I think things will come together and by the 20-game mark we should have a very clear view of what the rest of the season will look like and where we will place. Right now for the next couple of weeks it's going to be choppy waters.

db

Hi,
Unfortunately, Celtics forgot how to play defense. And when they remembered it was for short spurts.
This game was very similar to the game vs NYK. Both teams have very active, hustling PF that basically destroyed us. I think that Udoka should consider such players and how to deal with them before the game, not during.
Other than that, Celtics have 20-30 games to figure out how to play winning and whether they want to.

AK

Jaylen was way off and Smarts offense has been so off, it caught up to us. I know Beal was also off, with Smart being so terrible offensively, 2 J’s can’t have a bad night or we’ll be in a dog fight, I would start playing Nesmith and Romeo more, even if they are also off. Have to get them going, by still not playing Nesmith, you waste another game of getting him going and we need a sniper, or someone in that role. Have to let him play through early jitters to get him going as Josh Richardson also gave us nothing. Too many players off, Jaylen, JR and ofcourse Smart…..he usually has at least one good offensive efficiency game, out of 4 clunkers, but is in the midst of too many duds. I don’t know where we would be without the Schroder pick up, if no Schroder, our PG play would be impossible for 2 J’s to overcome. Smart is terrible at shooting/scoring and can’t initiate enough offense.

Wing depth we were hoping was going to be a strength, AN hasn’t gotten off yet, Romeo is nicked up again, JR and Smart you never know what they will give you on offense, Smart has been so terrible as a starter. 2 J’s have to go for 70 just to keep us competive. Have to figure out a way to get those other wings going ASAP.

Coach Ime is really trying to implement a rotation that will be consistent game to game.  So far it really has not worked.

I figured going into the season that our offense would need that 3rd wing scorer in the lineup.  What I did not expect was the lackluster commitment on defense.  Last night the Celtics lacked execution on both offense and defense.  

I believe that part of the problem is the schemes and the lack of integration between our starters and our bench.

Part of the problem is using a two big lineup with no backup big coming off the bench.  Kanter is one of the best rebounders in the NBA.  When you look at a box score that indicates that their bench had 20 rebounds and our bench had just 2 rebounds, the reasonable solution would be to get a better rebounder in the rotation.

I really do not like the switch everything defense.  The biggest problem with this is that it takes our bigs away from the basket and that is killing us.  That is probably the main reason Kanter is not playing.  He cannot defend on the perimeter.  So he does not play at all.  This is absurd.  I would expect a knowledgeable coach to figure out how to use the strengths of a player and design schemes to reduce whatever liabilities are present when a particular player rotates into the lineup.

We have a big issue with not having a wing scorer in the rotation.  What the hell is going on with Josh Richardson?   Why sign a veteran like him and then add a year to his deal and abandon what he can do on the court?

There are games when one of our top scorers is going to crap all over the sheets.  That should not be an issue if you have an alternative scorer to go to.  

Last night I was watching the game and Marcus was often the point of attack on defense.  Because of the switch everything defensive scheme he has to switch  2 to 3 times at the beginning of every play.  

I'm not sure if the team is 100% behind the defensive scheme.  I would imagine that as repetition increases they would get better at it.  It is something to keep an eye on.

I still do not like the 2 PG lineups.  It does not make us better offensively.  

Ime has buried Pritchard, Nesmith and Kanter on the bench.  Richardson is playing short minutes.  Grant Williams has improved his shot making ability but is  still a BIG liability on the glass.  16 minutes last night and zero rebounds.

Last night was another very winnable game if we rebounded the ball better.  Even with JB having a dreadful night and Marcus going 1-5 from deep and Tatum going 1-7 from deep if we rebounded the damn ball and kept Harrell off the glass we would have won this game.

At this early point in the season I would just like to see some positive consistency.

If I gave an early pop quiz to the coach he would not like the grade.

dboss, the two of us are seeing problems in very different places. I will leave it at that.

Lets hope that the next game will be enjoyable.

I just saw Steven A say he’s not worried about the Nets or James Harden that it’s only been 5 games, so I guess that could apply to us too….lol

“Stephen A, are u ever going to tell us why you’re attending all of those high school games”?

- Kwame Brown