BOSTON — The Celtics erased an early 12-point deficit and dominated the final three quarters on Wednesday night to cruise to a 136-107 blowout win over the Wizards.
Jaylen Brown led the way for the hosts with a game-high 35 points as all five Boston starters scored in double figures. Josh Minott added a career-high 21 points while Neemias Queta chipped in with 15 points and 12 rebounds while going a perfect 7-of-7 from the field.
The Celtics came out flat early, letting the Wizards run up 37 points in the first quarter behind 13 second-chance points. However, Boston’s starters fought back in the second quarter, taking control of the game with a 21-4 run to open the period while dominating play on both ends. Boston used the outburst to nearly double up Washington in the second quarter 44-23, turning a big deficit into a 10-point halftime lead.
Washington never seriously threatened in the second half as the Celtics pushed the lead as high as 31 points thanks to a massive 19-6 edge in the turnover battle. Over the final three quarters, the Celtics outscored Washington by 40 points, by a 110-70 margin.
The Celtics improved to 4-5 on the season with the victory and now hit the road for a three-game road trip beginning on Friday night in Orlando.
Here are four takeaways from the Celtics’ blowout win on Wednesday night:
Jaylen Brown remains quite capable as No. 1 option: The All-Star forward had his way with the Wizards early, erupting for 16 first quarter points on 7-of-11 shooting from the field. All of those makes came from inside the arc as Brown attacked the Wizards on drives early and often. Washington lacked individual defenders to keep Brown out of the paint and focused his efforts on attacking the interior with the C’s dealing with a shooting slump from the perimeter. He took just one 3-point attempt in the first half on his way to a game-high 24 points before intermission. Brown ended up scoring 16 of Boston’s 26 points in the first quarter, helping them avoid falling behind by more than 12 points as the rest of Boston’s offense sputtered early. Only two other Celtics besides Brown scored in the first quarter for Boston. Brown ended up with a game-high 35 points in just 26 minutes, sitting out the entire fourth quarter.
Bench offense was an early problem: The Celtics fell behind by as many as 12 points in the first half in large part due to the struggles of the second unit. Boston’s reserves combined for just two first half points on 1-of-10 shooting from the field despite Mazzulla giving six different players a chance. Jordan Walsh provided some good energy with his rebounding and defense, but the rest of the reserves provided little on either end. Washington’s rebuilding roster had a 20-2 edge in bench points in the first half, leading to Mazzulla to play the starters for heavier minutes to spark the second quarter rally.
Starters spark second quarter turnaround: The Celtics nearly doubled up the visitors in the second period with their starting backcourt playing the entire quarter. It was nearly a perfect offensive performance as Boston shot 66 percent from the field as Pritchard erupted for 16 points in the frame. Boston also got to the free throw line 10 times and grabbed offensive rebounds on half of their misses, helping turn a double-digit deficit into a 10-point lead by intermission. Aggressive defense (six turnovers forced) helped set the table for easy looks in transition.
Neemias Queta needs to play more: The Celtics big man situation is dire beyond their starting center, and it was evident in this one as Luka Garza struggled in both his stints. In response, Queta saw more minutes early in this one and surpassed his season average (22.8) early in the fourth quarter despite getting plenty of rest late in the rout. The extra opportunity paid off as the Celtics were a plus-23 in his minutes, helping them put the game away early. Mazzulla experimented a little bit as the game wore on, with Josh Minott playing some backup center minutes as well with an extremely small reserve unit. That may be a better answer at that spot than playing Boston’s other reserve bigs but some of the solution needs to simply be playing Queta more as well.
4 takeaways as Celtics crush Wizards as new starter erupts for career night
