Wizards (15-66) at Celtics (63-18) Game #82 4/14/24

[FLCeltsFan]

  at 
Washington Wizards (15-66) at Boston Celtics (63-18)
Sunday, April 14, 2024
1:00 PM ET
Regular Season Game #82 Home Game #41
TV: NBCSB, MNMT, NBA-LP
Radio: 98.5 Sports Hub, 980/1500AM, Sirius XM
TD Garden


Probable Starting Matchups
Point Guard
vs
Payton Pritchard vs Corey Kispert

Shooting Guard
vs
Jaden Springer vs Deni Avdija

Small Forward
vs
Svi Mykhailiuk  vs  Johnny Davis

Power Forward
vs
Sam Hauser vs   Patrick Baldwin, Jr

Center
vs
Luke Kornet vs  Tristan Vucevic


Celtics Reserves
Oshae Brissett
Xavier Tillman
Jordan Walsh
Neemias Queta

2 Way Players
JD Davison
Drew Peterson

Injuries/Out
Jayson Tatum (rest) out
Al Horford (toe) out
Derrick White (ankle) out
Kristaps Porzingis (rest) out
Jaylen Brown (rest) out
Jrue Holiday (ankle) out

Head Coach
Joe Mazzulla


Wizards Reserves
Jared Butler
Eugene Omoruyi

Two Way Players
Jared Butler
Justin Champagnie

Injuries/Out
Marvin Bagley III  (knee)  out
Bilal Coulibaly (wrist) out
Anthony Gill (knee) questionable
Richaun Holmes (toe) questionable
Tyus Jones (back) out
Kyle Kuzma (ankle) out
Jordan Poole (illness) questionable
Landry Shamet (calf) out
Tristan Vucevic (ankle) questionable

Head Coach
Brian Keefe (interim)

Game Notes
The Celtics close out the season by hosting the Washington Wizards.  This is the 4th and final game between these two teams this season.  The Celtics are 3-0 against the Wizards so far.  They won 126-107 at Washington on 10/30, 133-129 at Boston on 2/9 and 130-104 at Washington on 3/17.  The Celtics went 2-1 against Washington last season.    Boston is 201-120 overall all time and 106-44 all time in Boston. 

The Celtics are first in the East. They are 14 games ahead of 2nd place Milwaukee, 15 games ahead of 3rd place new York, 15 games ahead of 4th place Cleveland, 17 games ahead of 5th place Orlando, 17 games ahead of 6th place Indiana and 17 games ahead of 7th place Philadelphia. They are 36-4 at home and 6-4 in their last 10 games. They are 40-11 against Eastern Conference teams and they are coming off a win in their last game.

The Wizards are 14th in the East.  They are 48 games behind 1st place Boston and 4 games behind 13th place Charlotte.  They are just 1 game ahead of 15th place Detroit.   The Wizards are 8-32 on the road and 2-8 in their last 10 games.  Their 2 wins were over the Bulls and the Bucks.  They are 11-40 against Eastern Conference opponents.  They have lost their last 5 games. 

Once again, the Celtics have nothing to play for.  They are locked into first place in the league and will have home court advantage throughout the playoffs.   The only team in the league with more losses than the Wizards is the Pistons.  The Pistons are just 1 game ahead of the Wizards in the race for the 1st pick in the draft. The Wizards will likely rather lose this game than win it.

The top 6 players for the Celtics sat out Friday's game with various injuries and all 6 are once again expected to miss this game.  Derrick White (ankle), Al Horford (toe), Jayson Tatum (rest), Kristaps Porzingis (rest) Jrue Holiday (knee) and Jaylen Brown (rest) are all listed as out for this game.   I've listed the same starters as they started on Friday, although Joe may start a completely different lineup or he may even start the Maine Celtics. 

The Wizards also have a long list of players on the injury list.  Marvin Bagley III (knee), Bilal Coulibaly (wrist), Tyus Jones (back), Kyle Kuzma (ankle), and Landry Shamet (calf) are all listed as out for this game.  Tristan Vucevic (ankle), Anthony Gill (knee), Richaun Holmes, and Jordan Poole (illness) are all listed as questionable and will be a game time decision.  I've listed the starting lineup from their last game as well.   If Jordan Poole is able to play, I expect him to return to the starting lineup.

Key Matchups
vs
Jaden Springer vs Deni Avdija
Avdija is averaging 14.8 points, 7.3 rebounds, and 3.8 assists per game.   He is shooting 50.9% from the field and 37.8% from beyond the arc.   In 3 games against the Celtics this season, he averaged 12.3 points, 3.3 rebounds, 1.7 assists and 1.5 steal per game while shooting 52% from the field and 41.2% from beyond the arc.

vs
Payton Pritchard vs Corey Kispert
Kispert is averaging 13.4 points, 2.8 rebounds and 1.9 assists per game.  He is shooting 48.8% from the field and 38.7% from beyond the arc.   In 3 games against the Celtics this season, he averaged 12.3 points, 3.3 rebounds, 1.7 assists and 1 steal per game while shooting 52% from the field and 41.2% from beyond the arc. 

Honorable Mention
Luke Kornet vs Tristan Vucevic
Vucevic is averaging 8.5 points, 3.6 rebounds, and 1.3 assists per game.  He is shooting 43.3% from the field and 27.8% from beyond the arc.  He did not play in any of the 3 games against the Celtics this season.  Vucevic is questionable for this game so he may be out and another player will start here.

Keys to the Game
Defense - Defense is always the key to winning.  The Celtics need to defend the paint without letting up on their perimeter defense.  The Wizards are 3rd in the league, averaging 54.7 points in the paint per game.  The Celtics need to make defense their priority and their identity in order to win every game and to win a championship.  The Celtics are 2nd with a defensive rating of 110.5 while the Wizards are 38th with a defensive rating of 118.8.The Celtics need to continue to make defense a priority and their identity. 

Rebound - It's important for teams to rebound to give themselves extra possessions and to limit their opponents' possessions.  Much of rebounding is effort and hustle and when the Celtics give extra effort and hustle on the boards, it usually translates into the rest of their game. The Celtics are 2nd in the league with 46.3 rebounds per game while the Wizards are 29th in the league with 41.1 rebounds per game.  Each player needs to commit to crashing the boards and going after every rebound on both ends of the court. 

Next Man Up -  Once again, the 5 starters and Al Horford will all be out this game and so the stay ready group needs to be ready to step up once again in their place. Some of them will need to start and others will need to come in and play extra minutes because of the Celtics being short handed. They all need to play hard and to stay focused on both ends of the court.

Be Aggressive - The Celtics need to be the more aggressive team. They have to be more aggressive in going after loose balls, in grabbing rebounds, in defending, and in going to the basket. They need to hustle and be aggressive for 48 minutes every game. They can win a lot of games by playing harder than their opponents and they can lose a lot of games by allowing their opponents to be the team that plays harder.
 
X-Factors
Home Game - The Celtics are once again at home. They should get a boost from the home crowd and from being in familiar surroundings.  The Celtics need to have a sense of urgency at home to protect home court and not expect to win because the Wizards have not been good this season. After all, these Wizards recently beat the Bucks.   Also the Wizards will have to deal with travel, staying in a hotel, and a hostile crowd and hopefully that will give the Celtics an advantage. 

Officiating - Officiating is always an x-factor in every game.  Every crew officiates differently.  Some call it tight, others let them play.  Some favor the home team.  Some favor the road team.  Some just make bad, head scratching calls as we have seen many times. And sometimes, as in the Bucks game, they don't blow the whistle at all.  The Celtics need to adjust to the way the refs call the game and not let bad calls and no calls take them out of the game or affect their focus. 

[Goldstar88]

Let’s go! Last regular season game of the year! TP’s to FLCeltsFan for the game thread!

[liam]

Go Celtics!

[FLCeltsFan]

TP to Goldstar88 and  liam  for being the first to  post in the game thread!!!!

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Celtics!!!!

Beat the Wizards!!!!!

[Silas]

Let's go Stay Ready Group....do it again.

[Celtics2021]

Pritchard got a 30 point triple-double the final game of last year.  I’m hoping this year it’s JD Davison’s turn for such a feat.

[tenn_smoothie]

So we are sitting everyone again - probably the right decision, though I worry a bit about coming out for game 1 of the opening round and being rusty and out of sync. Especially with this mentally weak bunch. However, better to have everyone rested and healthy, I suppose.

I do remember some past years (70's & 80's) when the Celts played crucial games the last week, even last game of the season that were for playoff positioning. Funny looking back on those now because it was all hands on deck, playing tough, physical games for homecourt advantage.

1975 - Played the Bullets for the #1 seed the last week of the season, won the game and then lost to them in the ECF.
1981 - Who could forget. Played the Sixers last game of the regular season for the #1 seed after having lost to them in the playoffs the previous season (Bird's rookie year). So the Celts win that last game, get home court that ended up being crucial during the ECF that year when we famously rallied from a 3-1 deficit to get to Game 7 in the Garden, Bird hits the winning shot in transition, 15' off glass from the wing, Celts go on to beat Houston in the finals. Bird's quote, "I didn't want that ball in anybody's hands but mine for the last shot."

[Surferdad]

Gee, Johnny Davis looks a lot like Deni Avdija.

[SCeltic34]

Have to work today so I'll miss this game.  But I have confidence in PP and the bench unit.

[Vermont Green]

So the bubble wrap is coming out.  I get it I guess.  The starters will not have played as unit since the NYK game (Apr 11) where they played like they were asleep and got out O-rebounded 17 to 10 though.  Hartenstein and Robinson combined for 11 Orebs.

It will be up to the coaching staff to make sure the team is ready for the first playoff game, which could be against PHI.  I see the advantage to the team in the long run, but this will create a disadvantage at the beginning of the first playoff round.  The Celtics should be able to overcome this in any case and hopefully the result will be that they are that much fresher later in the playoffs.
 

[Phantom255x]

So the bubble wrap is coming out.  I get it I guess.  The starters will not have played as unit since the NYK game (Apr 11) where they played like they were asleep and got out O-rebounded 17 to 10 though.  Hartenstein and Robinson combined for 11 Orebs.

It will be up to the coaching staff to make sure the team is ready for the first playoff game, which could be against PHI.  I see the advantage to the team in the long run, but this will create a disadvantage at the beginning of the first playoff round.  The Celtics should be able to overcome this in any case and hopefully the result will be that they are that much fresher later in the playoffs.

After seeing Giannis go down the way he did the other night, I'm perfectly fine with it. It's easy to say but what if we witnessed that happening with Porzingis or Tatum today or a few nights ago. Everyone would be ripping Mazzulla and getting heartbroken about it.

Play it safe. Ensure you enter the postseason healthy. They won 63 games and might end up being 64, they deserve it.

[celticinorlando]

Actually think the stay ready unit is going to get it done again today. Perfectly ok with the top 6 sitting and getting ready for Game 1.

[FLCeltsFan]

Gee, Johnny Davis looks a lot like Deni Avdija.

Fixed.  Thanks for catching that.  TP

[liam]

Win this for Mike!!!!

[Silas]

LIam, just you and me so far.