Celts can’t wrap it up
Squander lead in fourth quarter
Bradley Beal has said Washington is the best team in the Eastern Conference — certainly better than the Celtics team that beat his Wizards in seven games in last season’s conference semifinals — and little that happened yesterday will convince him otherwise.
The Celtics dropped their first Christmas home game since 1964 with yesterday’s 111-103 loss to Washington. They were beat on the offensive glass down the stretch, allowing the Wizards extra shots, thus diluting their ability to get stops.
“Yes and no,” Beal said when asked if the rivalry — a passionate stew last season because of the dynamics involving former Celtics like Jae Crowder, Isaiah Thomas and Kelly Olynyk — had lost some of its spice.
But the memory of that conference semifinal loss to the Celtics was more than enough to revive those juices for the Wizards guard.
“This is Christmas Day, anxiety is going, this is a team that beat us last year,” Beal said. “We had every reason in our mind to play with energy and play with focus the right way. We’ve just got to realize that if we play like this every night, we are going to be capable of winning every game.”
The Celtics thus wasted a pair of 20-point performances by Jayson Tatum and Kyrie Irving. Three Wizards broke the 20-point barrier, including Beal (25), John Wall (21) and Otto Porter (20).
Most damning, though, was Washington’s ability to extend possessions on the offensive glass in the fourth quarter, when the Wizards converted seven offensive rebounds into 10 secondchance points.
The Celtics actually led by five points (95-90) with 6:16 left, courtesy of 3-pointers from Irving, Terry Rozier (off an Irving pick) and Tatum in the previous three minutes.
But starting with a Wall 20-footer, and gaining steam from a Kelly Oubre 3-pointer and a Beal three-point play, the Wizards ran off 12 straight points for a 102-95 lead.
The Washington baskets came easier — Wall, Markieff Morris and Oubre all scored off open looks at the rim — and the Celtics had to struggle for everything offensively.
Though Rozier buried his fourth 3-pointer of the night with 1:02 left, it only cut the Wizards lead to five points (108-103).
Marcus Smart failed to inbound the ball on time during the next possession, turning the ball over on a five-seconds violation. The Celtics were done.
“I’m just going to make it clear guys — I know it’s going to come with a lot of questions about the difference in our team and stuff like that. To clear it all up, we’ll be fine,” Irving said. “Things happen within the NBA season where you have to collect yourselves. As professionals, it’s our job, and I know it’s your job to ask these questions for us to fix a story about this team. It happens, and for us, as a young, developing team and as one of the leaders on the team, it’s my job to be unwavering with my approach. Preparation is still the same.
“Obviously, there are some things that we can control out there that we need to become better at: offensive rebounding, making sure that we’re sticking to the game plan, and that right there falls on the responsibility on all of us. As one of the leaders on this team, I’ll continue to demand it, and I know (coach Brad Stevens) will continue to do that as well. It hasn’t been one of the best stretches for us, but we have a resilient group.
“That right there is enough for us to continue to go on and make progress in the right direction of what we want to become. We’re all still developing our relationships and our roles. Obviously, when we won 16 in a row, it was all great, and then now we have all this going on, it’s part of the game. You can’t change your approach or anything about the way you approach it, and everything will be fine.”