Field Level Media
Aug 13, 2020
Thomas Bryant scored 26 points Thursday afternoon and the Washington Wizards earned their first win in the NBA bubble, beating the Boston Celtics 96-90 in both teams' regular-season finale near Orlando.
Bryant's two free throws with 6:02 remaining broke the game's ninth and final tie and the Wizards (25-47) held off the Celtics (48-24), who rested all five starters in preparation for the start of next week's playoffs.
Third-seeded Boston opens against the sixth-seeded Philadelphia 76ers.
In a tightly contested game that featured 14 lead changes, the Wizards trailed 85-83 after a Tacko Fall hoop with 7:10 remaining.
Bryant then hit a game-tying jumper, the go-ahead free throws and a layup in a personal six-point run that gave Washington an 89-85 advantage with 5:32 to go.
Ish Smith's jumper at the 4:48 mark and his free throw 27 seconds later made it a seven-point game.
Boston pulled within 94-90 on a three-point play by Semi Ojeleye with 1:18 to go, but the Celtics never scored again. Troy Brown Jr. iced the win with two free throws with 14.7 seconds left.
Bryant's 26 points came on 10-for-15 shooting. He added nine rebounds, four steals and two blocks.
Brown added 17 points, Smith had 11 to go with a game-high eight assists and Jerome Robinson added 10 points for the Wizards, who beat the Celtics for the second time this season.
Johnathan Williams corralled a career-high 16 rebounds for Washington.
Javonte Green had 23 points and Ojeleye 13 for the Celtics, who played without Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Gordon Hayward, Marcus Smart, Kemba Walker and Daniel Theis.
Vincent Poirier collected a team-high nine rebounds for Boston.
The Celtics outshot the Wizards overall 39.8 percent to 38.6, but Washington outscored Boston 30-24 from beyond the 3-point arc. Bryant connected on two of his four 3-point attempts.
--Field Level Media