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Washington Wizards (16-49) at Boston Celtics (43-23)
Saturday, March 14, 2026
6:00 PM ET
Regular Season Game #67 Home Game #32
TV: NBCSB, MNMT2, NBA-TV
Radio: 98.5 Sports Hub, 106.7 The Fan, Sirius XM
TD Garden
Probable Starting Matchups
Point Guard
vs
Derrick White vs Trae Young
Shooting Guard
vs
Baylor Scheierman vs Tre Johnson
Small Forward 
vs
Jaylen Brown vs Bilal Coulibaly
Power Forward 
vs
Jayson Tatum vs Will Riley
Center 
vs
Neemias Queta vs Alex Sarr
Celtics ReservesPayton Pritchard
Hugo Gonzalez
Luka Garza
Amare Williams
Jordan Walsh
Sam Hauser
2-Way PlayersRon Harper, Jr
Max Shulga
John Tonje
Injuries/OutNikola Vucevic (finger) out
Derrick White (knee) probable
Jayson Tatum (injury available
Baylor Scheierman (ankle) probable
Head CoachJoe Mazzulla
Wizards ReservesBub Carrington
Anthony Gill
Jaden Hardy
Tristan Vukcevic
Jamir Watkins
Justin Champagnie
2-Way PlayersLeaky Black
Sharife Cooper
Juju Reese
Injuries/OutSharife Cooper (ankle) questionable
Anthony Davis (finger) out
Kyshawn George (elbow) out
D'Angelo Russell (not injury related) out
Cam Whitmore (shoulder) out
Head Coach Brian Keefe
Game Notes The Celtics host the Washington Wizards for the 3rd, and final, meeting between these two teams this season. The Celtics beat the Wizards 136-107 in Boston on November 5 and hey beat them 146-101 in Washington on December 4. The Celtics won the series 4-0 last season winning 1 game at home and 3 games on the road. The Celtics are 208-120 overall against the Wizards all time. They are 109-44 all time in games played in Boston. The Celtics have won their last 10 games against the Wizards.
The Wizards made significant changes at the trade deadline. They traded Corey Kispert and CJ McCollum to the Atlanta Hawks for Trae Young. They also traded Khris Middleton, Malachai Branham, Marvin Bagley III, and AJ Johnson to the Mavericks for Anthony Davis, D'Angelo Russell, Jaden Hardy and Dante Exum. They then waived Dante Exum.
The Celtics are 2nd in the East, 4.5 games behind 1st place Detroit. They are 1.5 games ahead of 3rd place New York , 3 games ahead of 4th place Cleveland, 5.5 games ahead of 5th place Orlando and 6th place Miami and 6.5 games ahead of 7th place Toronto. The Celtics are 28-14 against Eastern Conference opponents. They are 21-10 at home and 6-4 in their last 10 games. They have lost their last 2 games. (The Pistons, Knicks, Cavs, and Raptors are playing as I write this so that may change.)
The Wizards are 14th in the East, 31 games behind 1st place Detroit, 17 games behind 10th place Charlotte, 11 games behind 11th place Milwaukee, 10.5 games behind 12th place Chicago, and half a game behind 13th place Brooklyn. They are 1.5 games ahead of 15th place Indiana. They are 11-30 against Eastern Conference opponents. They are 5-27 on the road and 0-10 in their last 10 games. They are on a 10 game losing streak.
After this game at home against Washington, the Celtics will host Phoenix and Golden State. Then they will play one game at Memphis before a 3 game home stand against Minnesota, Oklahoma City and Atlanta. Then it's back on the road for a 4 game trip through Charlotte, Atlanta, Miami and Milwaukee. They will then play two games at home against Toronto and Charlotte before one game on the road at New York. They will finish the season with 2 games at home against New Orleans and Orlando.
The Wizards are playing in the 4th game of a 4 game road trip. After this, they will have a 4 game home stand where they will host Golden State, Detroit twice, and Oklahoma City. Then, they have a 5 game road trip through New York, Utah, Golden State, Portland and the LA Lakers. After one game at home against Philadelphia, they play at Miami and at Brooklyn.
Jayson Tatum missed Thursday's game due to injury management for his Achilles. He is expected to play in this game. Derrick White also missed Thursday's game with knee soreness and is probable for this game. Baylor Scheierman has been playing with a fractured thumb but is listed as probable for this game with ankle soreness. Nikola Vucevic remains out due to surgery on his injured finger.
For the Wizards, Anthony Davis is recovering from ligament damage in his left hand and, although he has been cleared for some individual on court activity, he is out for this game. Kyshawn George is out with a partial tear of the UCL in his left elbow. Cam Whitmore is out for the season with a diagnosed venous condition. D'Angelo Russell has not played for the Wizards since he was traded but it is not injury related and he is not with the team. Sharife Cooper is questionable with an ankle injury.
Key Matchups vs
Derrick White vs Trae Young
Young is averaging 18.2 points, 1.8 rebounds and 8.4 assists per game. He is shooting 43.9% from the field and 32.9% from beyond the arc. He has not played against the Celtics this season with the Hawks or with the Wizards. He has averaged 25.6 points, 3.3 rebounds, and 7.5 assists in 15 games against the Celtics in his career.
vs
Neemias Queta vs Alex Sarr
Sarr was the 2nd overall pick in last year's draft and is playing well for the Wizards. He is averaging 17.2 points, 7.6 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 2.0 blocks per game. He is shooting 49.9% from the field and 34.6% from beyond the arc. In one game against the Celtics this season, he finished with 31 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists, and 3 blocks. The Celtics need to stay with him on defense and also keep hm off the boards as well as be aware of his ability to block shots.
Honorable MentionBaylor Scheierman vs Tre Johnson
Johnson is averaging 12.5 points, 2.9 rebounds, and 2.0 assists. He is shooting 42.9% from the field and 37.7% from beyond the arc. In one game against the Celtics this season, he finished with 7 points, 1 rebound, and 1 assist while shooting 40% from the field and 50% from beyond the arc,.
Keys to the GameDefense - Defense is always the key to winning games. The Celtics are now 5th with a defensive rating of 111.9. The Wizards are 29th with a defensive rating of 120.5. Although the Wizards have an offensive rating of 109.6 (27th), they can get hot at any time if they are not being defended. They beat the Pistons on the road and so the Celtics need to take them seriously and play lock down defense from start to finish and not allow them to get their offense going.
Rebound - Rebounding is also one of the biggest keys to winning. The Wizards are 23rd with 42.9 rebounds per game while the Celtics are 5th with 46.3 rebounds per game. They simply have to fight harder to grab rebounds than the Wizards. Much of rebounding is effort as evidenced by Payton Pritchard being the shortest guy on the court most nights and averaging over 4 rebounds per game. Every Celtic has got to crash the boards and fight for every rebound.
Don't Underestimate - The Wizards are next to last in the East and actively tanking. The Celtics can't take the Wizards for granted, even though they beat them handily twice already this season. Even tanking teams want to beat the Celtics. The Wizards wins have come mostly against middle of the pack teams, but they did beat Detroit as well. The Celtics have to take the Wizards seriously and play hard.
Maximum Effort for 48 Minutes - Many of 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 play hard on both ends of the court for the full 48 minutes with no let up.
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 been tanking. The Wizards will have to deal with travel, staying in a hotel, and a hostile crowd and hopefully that will give the Celtics the 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. The ejection of Jaylen Brown and the foulcalled with .8 left against the Thunder are examples of how officiating can be an x-factor. 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.
Topic: Wizards (16-49) at Celtics (43-23) Game 67 3/14/26 (Read 200 times)