The Boston Celtics won their 44th game of the season and the team’s 11th consecutive game against the Washington Wizards with a 111-100 showing on Saturday at TD Garden.
After two tough losses to the San Antonio Spurs and the Oklahoma City Thunder over the past week, Boston could have been at risk of suffering the team’s first three-game losing streak since going 0-3 to start the season.
Luckily, the Celtics were gifted with a matchup against the lowly 16-49 Wizards, the loser of 10 straight heading
into the game.
Washington has not won a game against Boston since March 28, 2023, when Kristaps Porziņģis torched the C’s with 32 points, 13 rebounds, 6 assists and 2 stocks — a game that might have inspired Brad Stevens to trade for the lengthy Latvian.
The Wizards had no such savior on Sunday, as Neemias Queta feasted on Washington’s porous post defense to the tune of 24 points and 10 rebounds, leading Boston to a 3-0 sweep of the season series.
Boston started Derrick White, Jaylen Brown, Sam Hauser, Jayson Tatum and Neemias Queta. Nikola Vučević, who is not expected to return until early April, was the team’s only inactive player.
Washington started Trae Young, Tre Johnson, Bilal Coulibaly, Will Riley and Alex Sarr. Anthony Davis, Kyshawn George, D’Angelo Russell and Cam Whitmore were all inactive.
Neemias Queta got the Celtics started strong by scoring 8 of Boston’s first 10 points. He finished the first quarter with 13 points on 6 makes — his highest-scoring quarter of the season so far — and 3 rebounds over the frame.
While Queta dominated, the rest of the team struggled in the first quarter, especially from the perimeter, where Boston only hit 2 shots. Jaylen Brown was the only other Celtic to make multiple field goal attempts, with 3 makes. Derrick White and Baylor Scheierman each chipped in one three-point make.
Jayson Tatum started the game 0-4 from the field, with one good-looking layup attempt roll off the rim, and 0-2 from three-point range.
On the other end, the Celtics had a hard time stopping the Wizards’ perimeter attack. Washington made 7-16 of its three-point attempts during the quarter, outnumbering Boston’s made threes by five.
Despite the shooting deficit and a missed buzzer beater attempt by Payton Pritchard, the Celtics ended the quarter up 29-27.
The second quarter began with a pair of high effort plays by Luka Garza, who scored Boston’s first two field goals of the quarter and 6 points over the frame’s first three minutes.
The lid also came off the basket a few minutes into the quarter for Sam Hauser. He hit his first three-point shot of the night early in the quarter, then his second less than a minute later.
Behind Garza’s effort, Hauser’s three-point makes, and some beautiful defense, the Celtics went on a 17-2 run over the first half of the second quarter that gave Boston the first big lead of the evening.
Queta also came back in with about 7 minutes left to go in the second quarter and immediately looked as dominant as he did in the first.
He followed his 13-point first quarter with a 9-point second quarter, as he continued to feast on a defense that seemingly refused to guard him. He finished the half with 22 points on 10-12 (83.3%) shooting from the field, 6 rebounds, 1 assist and 1 block.
Much like Hauser, Tatum came alive in the second quarter. He scored his first points on a pair of free throws with 3 minutes left to go in the half. Tatum then hit a three-point shot less than a minute later, and a slick midrange shot a minute after that.
Despite poor efficiency, Tatum finished the half on pace for a triple-double, with 7 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists, as well as 1 steal.
The Celtics went into the half up 64-41 after winning the second quarter 35-14.
Tatum followed up his strong finish to the second quarter with a couple of early makes in the third quarter, and had a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds with more than 20 minutes left to go in the game. He continued to attack the Wizards’ defense and racked up 11 points, 6 rebounds and 1 assist over the quarter.
Queta, Boston’s MVP of the first half, did not attempt a single shot throughout the quarter, but continued to keep Washington’s offense in check during his time on the court.
The Celtics went up by 30 with 4 minutes to go in the third quarter, but finished the frame with a 93-72 lead over the Wizards.
The game was all but over by the time the fourth quarter began, but Washington did not give up.
The Wizards went on a 7-0 run to start the final frame against Derrick and the Whites (Payton Pritchard, Sam Hauser, Baylor Scheierman, and Luka Garza) in a late attempt to narrow the lead.
Garza hit a pair of free throws and a three-point shot, but was subbed out alongside Hauser in favor of Queta and Jaylen Brown with about 8 minutes to go in the game.
Brown immediately scored on a driving layup, but Washington scored the game’s next three field goals to chip the lead down to 14.
The Celtics took a timeout and got Jayson Tatum back on the court, but the Wizards continued to hit shots. With less than 5 minutes to go, Washington was only down by 12.
Nevertheless, a Tatum layup and a fourth Hauser three-pointer brought the lead back up to 17 with 2:31 to go in the game. The starting crew was then subbed out with about 1:33 to go, and the bench was able to finish the game.
Queta finished the game as Boston’s top scorer, with 24 points on 11-13 (84.6%) shooting from the field, 10 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal and 2 blocks.
Tatum finished with the second-most points on the team, with 20 points on 8-19 (42.1%) shooting from the field, 14 rebounds, 7 assists and 2 steals.
Overall, the Celtics shot less efficiently than the Wizards, hitting 44.1% from the field and 26.1% from three-point range, while Washington shot 44% from the field and 38.5% from the perimeter.
Nevertheless, Boston won the battle of the boards, with 62 total rebounds to Washington’s 47, and won the math game, taking 9 more shot attempts than the Wizards.
The Celtics’ next game will be at 7:30 p.m. EST on Monday, March 16, at the TD Garden.
