Terry Rozier says Brandon Jennings is not a factor


The bad blood between the Boston Celtics and the Washington Wizards had been brewing all season long. Every matchup between the two seems to get more physical than the last, and there's been a series of incidents throughout the season/postseason that culminated in three ejections during game 3 at the Verizon Center. Kelly Oubre overreacted to a hard screen from Kelly Olynyk which got him immediately ejected and suspended for game 4 later today, and a fued between reserve guards Terry Rozier and Brandon Jennings reached it's boiling point last Thursday as well resulting in both players be ejected with two technical fouls each:


The following day Jennings addressed the media calling Rozier a "young boy" and saying that he got into his head mentally to gain an edge on him:


For a young boy Rozier has certainly outplayed Jennings these entire playoffs. Rozier's averaging 13.1 points (45% from three), 6.6 rebounds, and 3.5 assists per 36 vs Jennings(11.1% for three) 9.3 points, 3.3 rebounds, and 5.5 assists. While Jennings was acquired midseason after he was waived by the Knicks to bolster the Wizards' thin bench he hasn't lived up to their expectations and in the postseason in particular the Wizards have not been good when he's on the floor - to the tune of a -7.7 plus-minus.

Meanwhile Rozier has upped his game for these playoffs and he's been one of, if not the best player coming off the bench for the Celtics. After an up and down regular season Rozier has played a big role and made some huge plays for Boston in the postseason, including that monster three-pointer to tie the game in the 4th quarter of game 2:


Rozier is +15.8 for the Celtics throughout the playoffs. He responded to Jennings comments yesterday at C's practice:



"I'm not worried about him at all. He is not a factor."

Hopefully Rozier can keep himself composed going forward because he's been much more valuable to us than Jennings has been for Washington. While the double-ejection didn't have huge effect last game as it came in the midst of a blowout it could've been a huge factor had the game been closer.


Photo Credit - CSNNE.com

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