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Boston Celtics (12-9) at Washington Wizards (3-17)
Thursday, December 4, 2025
7:00 PM ET
Regular Season Game #22, Road Game #11
TV: NBCSB, Monumental Sports Network, NBA-LP
Radio: 98.5 Sports Hub, 106.7 The Fan, Sirius XM
Capital One Arena
Probable Starting Matchups
Point Guard
vs
Derrick White vs CJ McCollum
Shooting Guard
vs
Payton Pritchard vs Bilal Coulibaly
Small Forward 
vs
Sam Hauser vs Kyshawn George
Power Forward 
vs
Jordan Walsh vs Khris Middleton
Center 
vs
Neemias Queta vs Marvin Bagley III
Celtics ReservesAnfernee Simons
Hugo Gonzalez
Xavier Tillman
Jordan Walsh
Sam Hauser
Luka Garza
Baylon Scheierman
Chris Boucher
2-Way PlayersRon Harper, Jr
Max Shulga
Amari Williams
Injuries/OutJayson Tatum (Achilles) out
Jaylen Brown (illness) doubtful
Head CoachJoe Mazzulla
Wizards Reserves Malaki Branham
Bub Carrington
Justin Champagnie
Anthony Gill
AJ Johnson
Will Riley
Cam Whitmore
Two Way Players Sharife Cooper
Tristan Vukcevic
Jamir Watkins
Injuries/Out Tre Johnson (hip) out
Corey Kispert (thumb) out
Sharife Cooper (calf) out
Alex Sarr (thigh) out
Head Coach Brian Keefe
Game Notes The Celtics host the Washington Wizards for the 2nd of 3 meetings between these two teams this season. The Celtics beat the Wizards 136-107 in Boston on November 5. They will play the 3rd and final game in Boston on March 14. The Celtics won the series 4-0 last season winning at home and on the road. The Celtics are 207-120 overall against the Wizards all time. They are 85-74 all time in games played in Washington. The Celtics have won the last 9 games against the Wizards.
The Celtics are playing in the first of back to back games and will face the Lakers at home on Thursday. They are also playing in the 4th game in 6 days. Surprisingly, the Celtics have a better record on the second night of back to back games than they do on the first night. They are 1-3 on the first night and 3-1 on the second night. The Wizards had Wednesday off but they are playing in the 3rd game in 4 nights.
The Wizards made a few significant changes in the off season. They traded Jordan Poole, Saddiq Bey and Micah Peavy for CJ McCollum, Kelly Olynyk and Cam Whitmore. They then traded Kelly Olynyk to San Antonio for Malaki Branham and Blake Wesley, who they waived. They also waived Malcolm Brogdon, Richaun Holmes and Marcus Smart.
The Celtics are 8th in the East, half a game behind 6th place Cleveland and 7th place Atlanta. They are 1.5 games behind 4th place New York. They are half a game ahead of 9th place Philadelphia and 3.5 games ahead of 11th place Milwaukee. The Celtics are 9-6 against Eastern Conference teams. They are 5-5 on the road and 7-3 in their last 10 games and they have won their last 2 games.
The Wizards are 15th in the East, half a game behind 14th place Indiana, 1 game behind 13th place Brooklyn, 2.5 games behind 12th place Charlotte and 6 games behind 10th place Chicago. They are 2-13 against Eastern Conference opponents. They are 1-11 on the road, with their only road win early against the Dallas Mavericks. They are 2-8 in their last 10 games and are coming off a loss in their last game.
After this game on the road against Washington the Celtics will play back to back against the Lakers at home on Friday. They then play at Toronto at Milwaukee and then at home against the Pistons. After the Cup games, they host Miami, play at Toronto, host Indiana and then head out on a 5 game road trip through Indiana, Portland, Utah, Sacramento and the LA Clippers.
After this game, the Wizards will host Atlanta and Cleveland befoe a 3 game road trip through Indiana, San Antonio and Charlotte. Then they are back home to hose Toronto, Memphis and Phoenix. Then they have one game on the road at Milwaukee before returning home to play Brooklyn, Minnesota and Orlando.
Jaylen Brown has joined Jayson Tatum (Achilles) on the injury report for this game. Brown is suffering from an illness and is doubtful for this game. They shouldn't need him and a rest would do him good before facing the Lakers on Friday. I'm guessing that Sam Hauser will start in his place. For the Wizards, Tre Johnson (hip), Corey Kispert (thumb), Sharife Cooper (calf), and Alex Sarr (thigh) are all out.
Key Matchups vs
Derrick White vs CJ McCollum
McCollum is averaging 18 points, 3.3 rebounds and 3.4 assists. He is shooting 43.6% from the field and 38.9% from beyond the arc. In the first game against the Celtics, he finished with 3 points, 1 rebound, and 4 assists while shooting 10% from the field with no 3 pointers. He will definitely have a better game than that in this game and the Celtics need to especially defend him on the perimeter.
vs
Sam Hauser vs Kyshawn George
George is averaging 15.2 points, 6.1 rebounds, and 4.8 assists per game. He is shooting 45.8% from the field and 43.9% from beyond the arc. In the first game against the Celtics, he finished with 9 points, 2 rebounds, and 3 assists while shooting 33.3% from the field with no 3 pointers. He is a very good 3 point shooter and so the Celtics need to especially stay with him on the perimeter.
Honorable Mention Jordan Walsh vs Khris Middleton
Middleton is averaging 10.1 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 3.5 assists per game. He is shooting 48.4% from the field and 35.1% from beyond the arc. He missed the first game against the Celtics. When he was with Milwaukee, he was always a Celtics killer. He has lost a step or two, but I have a feeling he will still try his best to beat the Celtics.
Keys to the GameDefense - Defense is always the key to winning games. The Celtics are now 19th with a defensive rating of 115.6. The Wizards are 30th with a defensive rating of 122.4. Although the Wizards have an offensive rating of 108.3 (28th), they can get hot at any time if they are not being defended.
Rebound - Rebounding is also a key to winning every game. The Wizards are 19th with 43.5 rebounds per game while the Celtics are 17th with 44.1 rebounds per game. They simply have to fight harder to grab rebounds than the Wizards. The Celtics are 9-3 when tied or out-rebounding opponents but just 3-6 when out-rebounded. The Celtics must put out extra effort to crash the boards in this, and every, game.
Maximum Effort for 48 Minutes - The Celtics losses this season can be traced back to a lack of effort. Also, at times it seems that they either start off slowly and end up in a hole that they need to dig themselves out of or they jump out to a lead only to let up in the second half and allow their opponent to get back into the game and make it close. The Celtics have to get back to playing hard on both ends of the court for the full 48 minutes with no let up.
Don't Underestimate - The Wizards are last in the East and missing their best player (Alex Sarr) and rotation players. The Celtics can't take the Wizards for granted, even though they beat them handily once already this season. Even tanking teams want to beat the Celtics. The Wizards 3 wins came against Dallas, Atlanta and Milwaukee, all decent teams. The Celtics already lost to the 4-16 Nets and they don't want to add a loss to the 3-17 Wizards to go with it. The Celtics have to take the Wizards seriously and play hard.
X-Factors On the Road and Focus - The Celtics are playing on the road once again after a big win at home over the Knicks. They have to overcome the distractions that come with playing on the road like travel, missing family, an unfamiliar building and a hostile crowd. They have to stay focused on playing Celtics basketball the right way and not on the crowd, the court, or the Wizards' record or missing players.
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. The Celtics need to adjust to how the refs are calling the game and not allow bad calls or no calls to take away their focus on playing the game.
Topic: Celtics (12-9) at Wizards (3-17) Game #22 12/4/25 (Read 220 times)