Washington @ Boston preview
TD Garden
Last Meeting ( Dec 15, 2024 ) Boston 112, Washington 98
Reigning NBA champion Boston rolls into the final week of its regular season having won 10 of the last 11 games ahead of Sunday's home meeting with the last-place Washington Wizards.
The Celtics (57-20) rebounded from having their nine-game winning streak ended in a loss to Miami on Wednesday, blowing out the Phoenix Suns on Friday, 123-103.
With its 14 3-pointers made on 39 attempts vs. Phoenix, Boston passed the 2022-23 Golden State Warriors for the most triples made in a regular season. The 2024-25 Celtics are 1,370-for-3,718 (36.8 percent), which accounts for a significant portion of their 116.8 points per game.
Boston coach Joe Mazzulla said on Friday the 3-point record comes from "the versatility of our guys."
"The ability to manipulate matchups and the ability to take advantage of different coverages, everything is designed to the strengths and the versatility of our guys," he said of the Celtics offensive approach. "They're able to create those 2-on-1, they're able to create shots for themselves. But they're also able to create easy shots for each other."
Derrick White, Jayson Tatum and Payton Pritchard all average more than three made 3-pointers per game; Pritchard at 3.2 on 7.8 attempts (41.2 percent).
White is shooting 3.5-of-9.1 per game (38.2 percent), while Tatum connects at a rate of 3.5-of-10.1 (34.4 percent) a contest. For Tatum, the volume of 3-pointers he makes an outing contributes to his 26.9-point per game output, the fifth-highest in the league.
Tatum scored 23 points on Friday despite going 1-of-8 from deep, while Jaylen Brown went for 31 points. Boston's recent run guarantees it no worse than the second-best record in the East.
The Celtics are eight games ahead of third-place New York and five games behind conference-leading Cleveland with five remaining dates for each.
Washington (17-60) begins its final week of the season at risk of a second consecutive season without reaching 20 wins. The Wizards surpassed last year's franchise-worst 15-67 mark, but they limp into Boston having lost 9 of the last 11.
Washington fell to Orlando on Thursday, 109-97, despite a spectacular performance from Bub Carrington. He amassed a career-high 32 points with nine rebounds and seven assists.
"His energy is genuine," Marcus Smart said to the Washington Post of Carrington. "It's definitely a gravitational pull that he has, and we're proud of him, man. He's been through a lot, and yet he comes in, day in and day out, smile on his face and he competes."
A guard, the rookie Carrington has dished at least seven assists in each of the last three games and scored in double figures in 4-of-5.
Fellow rookie Alex Sarr heads into Sunday's contest having scored in double-figures in six of Washington's last seven, despite shooting 0-for-5 from beyond the arc in his 10-point performance on Thursday.
The young Wizards try to avert a season sweep against the Celtics. Boston won each of the previous three meetings by double-digit points.
--Field Level Media