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WASHINGTON – Momentum is a dangerous thing – something the Boston Celtics want to use as a weapon during tonight’s Game 6 against the Washington Wizards.
Momentum has been a difficult thing to find, let alone to sustain, for the C’s during this series. They have had their ups, and they have had their downs.
Their performance during Wednesday night’s 123-101 win, however, built the team’s most powerful wave of the series, one it wants to ride right on through Game 6.
“I feel like we finally had a really good game in this series,” Al Horford said of Game 5. ”We need to carry it over to tonight.”
Doing so might be made a bit easier by the schedule. Only 48 hours and one off day will have passed between Game 5 and tonight’s tip-off. By comparison, 72 hours and two off days passed between Washington’s dominant Game-4 victory and its convincing loss Wednesday night.
Coincidence? Probably not.
Momentum is a real thing, and there has been less time on the clock for it to die down for the C’s as they head into tonight’s game.
On the other side of the ball, there has been less time on the clock for the Wizards to regain momentum through practice and preparation while allowing the sting of Wednesday’s debacle to wear off.
Those are facts heading into tonight’s game, but the Celtics aren’t necessarily taking them into consideration. They believe that they should be able to play well regardless of how many hours separate each game in any particular series.
“I feel like the best teams, it doesn’t matter. Two days, one day, three days,” Avery Bradley said at Friday morning’s shootaround. “You always prepare, no matter what. It’s all about the preparation.”
Isaiah Thomas, for one, is preparing as if Wednesday night didn’t even happen.
“I know the best players always have the shortest memory,” he said. “Whether it’s good things that are happening or bad things that are happening.”
Good things – many of them – happened Wednesday night for Thomas and the Celtics.
They shot 52.9 percent from the field and 48.5 percent from long distance.
Four of their five starters scored at least 18 points.
They limited Washington to 38.5 percent shooting on the night.
They committed only 11 turnovers.
Boston will be well on its way to closing out this series if it produces similar numbers tonight. Wielding that dangerous weapon called momentum gives the C’s a legitimate chance of doing so.