Isaiah Thomas shows up John Wall as the Boston Celtics beat the Washington Wizards, 117-108


The Boston Celtics host John Wall and the streaking Washington Wizards. Coming into this game the Wizards won six of their last eight contests, propelling them to the 6th seed in the Eastern Conference. The key matchup to watch for both teams has to be the point guard battle. John Wall and Isaiah Thomas are both elite for their position, yet the two have very different playing styles. After a tough loss in Toronto the previous night, the C's are looking to bounce back with a quick home victory before they hit the road again.



I.T came out firing with eight early points, possibly wanting to prove something due to the fact he lost the player of the month award to Wall. Starters for each side began the game hot, shooting over 60% halfway through the first quarter. Turnovers were piling up for the Celtics first-unit as they gave the ball away six times.



The Celtics continue to miss their first-team All NBA defender Avery Bradley, as Bradley Beal shot a perfect 4-4 from beyond the arc in nine mintues. Through one quarter Boston leads the shootout against the Wizards, 36-35.





The second quarter began with both bench units bringing the ridiculously high shooting percentages back down to normal. Washington regained the lead, 43-40, with the score going back and forth between the two squads.



With two questionable calls going against Thomas, he was given a technical foul by the officials. Soon after that, the Celtics were then called for their second defensive three-seconds violation. Mental mistakes and turnovers (10) had been killing any type of momentum that Boston was creating.

At the end of the first half the Wizards led the Celtics, 59-55. Beal leads all scorers with 18 points, while Otto Porter Jr. went a perfect 6-6 from the field. Washington has the advantage over Boston in two key areas, turnovers (+6) and assists (+8). Coach Brad Stevens needs to find a way to clean up the sloppy play on both sides of the ball if the Celtics want to win.





Much like how the game started, both first-units came out of halftime shooting the ball well. At the nine-minute mark of the third quarter, Marcus Smart and Beal got into a scuffle after the two were tangled up under the basket. Following the altercation, the Wizards were able to somewhat pull away for their largest lead of the game, 77-69, forcing Stevens to call for a timeout.

After Washington was able to build a double-digit lead, the Celtics answered with a 7-0 run to cut down the lead. With 28 points, Beal picked up a key fourth foul which took him out of the game for the rest of the third. Heading into the final twelve mintues, Boston now trails by only a single possession, 85-83.



Early in the fourth quarter Thomas finished with a key and-one, followed by a Rozier pull-up and Gerald Green lay-up. This put the Celtics up by three points, after trailing for most of the game.





Going into the final two mintues, the Wizards seemed to have cooled off by missing their last six shot attempts. John Wall finished the game shooting 4-21 from the field, as Thomas scored a game-high 38 points.





Photo Credit: Brian Babineau

Twitter: @SWTawes

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