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Key Moment
It’s unfortunate, but Wednesday night came down to a free throw – a missed one by the Celtics.
Somehow, some way, the undermanned and overlooked Celtics hung with the Wizards throughout Wednesday night despite missing Kyrie Irving, Al Horord, Jaylen Brown, Marcus Smart and Daniel Theis. They went to overtime with the Wizards, and at the very end of that period, they had a chance to seal a dramatic victory.
With Boston trailing by two points, and with the C’s coming out of a timeout with 8.8 seconds left in overtime, Jayson Tatum drove hard to the basket and dropped in a challenging, and-one layup with 3.1 seconds left on the game clock. His bucket tied the game up at 115-115, and he had a free throw still coming.
A make would have almost guaranteed the Celtics a win, as Washington had no timeouts remaining to advance the ball or draw up a play. The Wizards would have needed to have made a lengthy buzzer-beater on the run for the win.
But they didn’t need to enact their Hail Mary, because Tatum couldn’t connect on the free throw.
Boston was battling uphill all night with its undermanned roster, and that free throw attempt by Tatum was its chance to close this one out. It failed to do so, and the Wizards wound up being one point better in double-overtime as they held on for a narrow 125-124 win.
Key Player
Marcus Morris was really, really good Wednesday night. You’ll read more about that later tonight with our feature story. But for now, you’ll have to settle for the raw numbers.
Morris was the leader of a team that was missing Kyrie Irving, Al Horford, Marcus Smart, Jaylen Brown and Daniel Theis. Boston needed someone to carry it offensively, and Morris did exactly that.
The forward scored a team-high 31 points thanks to an efficient 11-for-22 shooting performance. He hit three shots from inside the restricted area, four midrange jumpers, and four 3-pointers to reach the 31-point mark.
Morris also hauled in nine boards during his 44 minutes of action, falling just one board shy of tying Greg Monroe for the team’s high mark.
Box Score Nuggets
- Six players in the game logged at least 42 minutes of playing time.
- Terry Rozier played a game-high 47 minutes and 44 seconds.
- Bradley Beal scored a game-high 34 points.
- Marcus Morris led the Celtics with 31 points.
- Greg Monroe came off the bench to log a double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds.
- Otto Porter Jr. and Ian Mahinmi tied for the game high in rebounds with 11 rebounds apiece.
- Rozier and Beal tied for the game high in assists with nine apiece.
- Boston led by as many as 20 points.
- The Celtics scored nine points during both overtime periods.
- Both teams made 12 3-pointers.
- Both teams scored at least 52 points in the paint.
Quote of the Night
Brad Stevens on what he learned about his team's attitude Wed. night.