The Boston Celtics attempted to mail another game in and paid for it dearly, avoiding a blowout only by the effort shown by the bench subbed in to mop up the copious garbage time a lack of effort and energy opened up against the Washington Wizards Sunday.
In their second consecutive loss to one of the league’s worst teams, the Celtics simply did not — or could not — execute even basic attention to detail with a few exceptions in star forward Jaylen Brown (25 points, 7 rebounds) and All-Star point guard Kemba Walker (also 25 points and 7 rebounds, oddly). The latter had one of his best games of the season with 9-of-18 shooting from the field and 4-of-7 from beyond the arc, but the other three starters (including Jayson Tatum) scored a total of 13 points.
Ironically, Boston’s deep rotation showed some of the more consistent effort, especially late in the game. Carsen Edwards, Javonte Green, Tremont Waters and Tacko Fall were all a +12 for the contest and rookie wing Aaron Nesmith +10.
If not for their focus at the end of the fourth quarter, it could easily have been a 20-point plus blowout on the heels of close loss on Friday to the Detroit Pistons, Boston now falling to a 13 – 13 record and fifth place in the East.
“If we take anything from this game, we take the last five minutes,” shared head coach Brad Stevens after the contest. And while certainly true, the Celtics are going to need a whole lot more than that to stand a chance against the Denver Nuggets on Tuesday.
