If there was a great night time for Jaylen Brown to overlook his first sport of the season, Thursday was it.
The Celtics didn’t want their No. 1 choice to get previous the last-place Wizards, coasting to a 146-101 victory at Capital One Enviornment. It was the third straight win and eighth within the final 10 video games for Boston, which improved to 13-9 and climbed to fifth place within the Jap Convention.
Brown was dominated out with an sickness earlier within the day. In his absence, Derrick White delivered his greatest efficiency of the season, ending with 30 factors on 12-of-21 taking pictures, 9 assists, seven rebounds and one steal in 29 minutes.
“JB has clearly completed loads for us this yr, so subsequent man up,” White instructed NBC Sports activities Boston sideline reporter Abby Chin. “We’ve simply acquired to discover a method to get a win.”
Boston additionally acquired one other standout sport from Jordan Walsh, who adopted up his robust outings towards the Cavaliers and Knicks by scoring a career-high 20 factors on excellent 8-of-8 taking pictures. Walsh added seven rebounds, three assists, two steals and one block. Payton Pritchard chipped in 20 factors, eight assists and 6 rebounds because the Celtics blew the Wizards away within the second half.
Washington, now 3-18, entered with the NBA’s second-worst document, a protection that’s on tempo to be one of many worst in league historical past and a few of its high gamers in avenue garments. Six Wizards missed the sport with accidents, together with starters Alex Sarr and Bilal Coulibaly.
Up subsequent for Boston: a marquee matchup with the Lakers on Friday night time at TD Backyard.
Sam Hauser began in Brown’s place on Thursday, and the Celtics performed a lot of the sport with no conventional heart on the ground, persevering with to lean on the small-ball lineups which have served them properly of late. Neemias Queta (17 factors, 7-of-9, 4 rebounds, 4 blocks) performed 21 minutes, and his backups didn’t see the ground till rubbish time.
Seventeen of the Celtics’ first 23 factors got here from Queta or White, who managed play early. The Wizards staged a 7-0 run late within the first quarter, however Hugo Gonzalez — whose swarming protection on Karl-Anthony Cities helped spark Boston’s comeback in Tuesday’s win over the Knicks — acquired the Celtics again on monitor with a chasedown block, a nook 3-pointer and two drawn fouls. White capped the quarter with a buzzer-beating three that put Boston forward 32-26.
Gonzalez’s chaotic tenacity has made him an asset for head coach Joe Mazzulla, but it surely’s additionally led to some ill-advised fouls. The rookie had two of these early within the second quarter, after which Mazzulla lifted him and reinserted Walsh.
Walsh rapidly took over the sport. Over the subsequent two minutes and alter, the breakout wing blocked Will Riley from behind and scored a fast-break and-one layup; drew a foul on a pleasant transfer from the dunker spot; transformed one other layup off a Josh Minott steal; and, after a Wizards timeout, picked off a move and threw down a transition dunk.
Later within the quarter, back-to-back threes by Minott and Walsh put Boston forward 54-37. Walsh scored 15 first-half factors, greater than he’d scored in any earlier full sport for Boston, and White and Pritchard mixed for 31 earlier than the break. However Washington, aided by a 12-0 run that featured a poster dunk by Justin Champagnie over White, stayed aggressive. The Celtics led 66-59 at halftime.
Boston pulled away within the third quarter, with White, Queta and Walsh once more main that effort. Halfway by way of the interval, Walsh drew a foul on a nook three, then skied for a full-speed dunk. A 3-pointer by Baylor Scheierman on the subsequent Celtics possession, off a feed from White, stretched Boston’s result in 19 factors.
Pritchard’s buzzer-beating coast-to-coast layup made it 109-86 coming into the fourth, and the Celtics cruised from there. Seven C’s gamers scored in double figures, with Minott (11 factors), Gonzalez (14) and Anfernee Simons (16) rounding out that group.
White, who’s enormously improved his taking pictures effectivity in current weeks after a dreadful begin to the season, didn’t play within the fourth quarter, getting some further relaxation as his crew started a stretch of three video games in 4 nights. Mazzulla started emptying his bench with eight minutes remaining.
“We’ve simply acquired plenty of guys that stepped up,” White instructed Chin. “(They) proceed to get comfy within the system, what we’re attempting to do, and each sport, we’ve acquired to proceed to get higher. It was an excellent step right this moment, and we’ve acquired one other one tomorrow.”
The Celtics’ encouraging begin to the season with out Jayson Tatum heightens the intrigue round Friday’s conflict with the Lakers, who sit second within the Western Convention behind defending champion Oklahoma Metropolis. However Boston may not see a totally loaded LA squad.
Lakers star Luka Doncic missed Thursday’s sport in Toronto for private causes. LeBron James, who sat out LA’s first 14 video games with a sciatic nerve challenge, suited up towards the Raptors, and he has but to play video games on back-to-back nights this season.
Ex-Celtic Marcus Good additionally was held out Thursday night time for decrease again damage administration. Good has made a number of returns to TD Backyard since he was traded away in 2023, however this will likely be his first time again as a member of Boston’s oldest rival.
Brown’s standing for Friday was unclear as of Thursday night time.
The Celtics will go to Toronto on Sunday, then head to Milwaukee subsequent Tuesday to face a struggling Bucks crew that seemingly will likely be with out ailing celebrity Giannis Antetokounmpo (calf pressure).
