Four Studs, Two Duds From Celtics Convincing Win Over Wizards
The Boston Celtics continued to dominate the last-place Washington Wizards, winning the first three games of the season series.
The Celtics, who beat the Wizards by 20 and 12 points, respectively, in two previous matchups, made easy work of Washington on Sunday night at Capital One Arena by cruising to a 112-98 win. Boston moved to 21-5 on the season and has more wins in Washington’s home arena than the Wizards this season.
Here are four studs and two duds from a lopsided 14-point win for the Celtics:
STUDS
Jayson Tatum
The Celtics star led all scorers with 28 points on 12-for-26 shooting across 35 minutes. He added 12 rebounds for his fourth straight double-double game. He has 12 on the season.
Payton Pritchard
Off the bench, Pritchard scored 15 points for the Celtics across a team-high 37 minutes. He shot 50% from beyond the arc and collected 11 rebounds for Boston.
Kristaps Porzingis
Even though the big man exited the game in the second quarter, Porzingis scored 11 points in 11 minutes against his former team. He was 5-for-6 from the field and 1-for-2 from downtown.
Luke Kornet
With Porzingis not available for the second half and Al Horford out (rest), Kornet gave the Celtics valuable minutes and points off the bench. Kornet scored seven points and collected 11 rebounds in 27 minutes for Boston.
DUDS
Jonas Valanciunas
Valanciunas has been very solid for the Wizards off the bench in limited playing time this season, averaging 12.4 points per game. However, the center couldn’t get anything going for Washington, knocking down just one shot for two points in his team’s loss.
Wizards Bench
The Washington bench managed just 20 points on 9-for-22 shooting across a combined 58 minutes. Anthony Gill, Marvin Bagley III, Jared Butler, Johnny Davis and Valanciunas combined for just 13 rebounds, one more than Tatum’s solo performance. That certainly is going to lead to a blowout by the Celtics.