The Boston Celtics and the Washington Wizards are two Eastern Conference foes with no love lost between them. This matchup has been garnering plenty of attention and is expected to be one of the better series of the second round. While we saw a blowout in Boston’s favor in Game 1, Game 2 proved to be closer to what we all expected: a neck and neck contest in which we eventually saw the Celtics come out on top 129-119, but needed some additional time to do so.
Game 2 in Boston started similarly to their previous battle, with Washington dominating a large portion of the first quarter. Despite sustaining an ankle injury in Game 1 that left his status up in the air coming into the evening, Wizards big Markieff Morris came out with some edge to his game, staying active offensively and even mixint it up with Al Horford on occasion.
Ankle injury? Apparently not a concern for Markieff Morris #DCFamily pic.twitter.com/N3VIS4r8ku
— Def Pen Hoops (@DefPenHoops) May 3, 2017
While the bigs were something to keep an eye on, it was All-Star guard John Wall who dazzled and put Washington firmly in the driver’s seat early. Boston seemed out of sync coming out of the gate for the second straight contest, something that has to raise concerns in Boston. Their offense remained uncharacteristically sloppy and they turned the ball over a whopping nine times in just the first quarter. Wall’s monstrous 19 points in the period led the Wizards to an explosive first quarter and a 42-29 lead.
The second quarter saw Boston tighten things up, starting with an 11-4 run to kick off the period. Once again, it was the Celtics taking advantage of a shaky Washington bench who couldn’t get anything going on offense. While Wall was doing damage for Washington, the Celtics had their own superstar floor general to turn to in Isaiah Thomas who really started to find his rhythm and finished with 20 first half points.
The Celtics also started to assert themselves and ratcheted up the aggressiveness, getting to the line on a more regular basis and converting with regularity. With Thomas doing his thing, the extra contributions of role players such as Marcus Smart and Terry Rozier allowed Boston to whittle down the Wizards lead to just three going into the halftime break, shooting a blistering 61% from the field.
Uh. Marcus Smart?
OK, MARCUS SMART! ? pic.twitter.com/CHDn9gTNgN
— Def Pen Hoops (@DefPenHoops) May 3, 2017
The second half started off with more of the same of what we’ve seen so far in this young series. After being rendered largely ineffective in the first half, wings Otto Porter and Bradley Beal got hot for a stretch and sparked a 14-0 Wizards run, seemingly allowing them to break the game wide open. Wall continued to dominate as well, tallying a 30 point 10 assist performance through just three quarters but the resiliency of this Celtics squad allowed them to weather the storm and head into the final period with a manageable 89-84 deficit.
The fourth quarter was when the scoring machine known as Isaiah Thomas decided to take this game over just as he has done all season. He was almost single-handedly able to will this game into the overtime period, putting up 18 points in the period and pouring in 42 by the time regulation wrapped up.
IT Time pic.twitter.com/gPmAWH4a5r
— Def Pen Hoops (@DefPenHoops) May 3, 2017
The teams exchanged big shots down the stretch from unexpected faces, each registering clutch baskets over the final 2 minutes.
Terry Rozier drains the clutch corner 3! #Celtics pic.twitter.com/1ougZuT795
— Def Pen Hoops (@DefPenHoops) May 3, 2017
OTTO PORTER!!! #DCFamily pic.twitter.com/1nH6nJkBH7
— Def Pen Hoops (@DefPenHoops) May 3, 2017
The final shot was taken by Wall who had a chance to end it in regulation but couldn’t and neither could Beal after corralling the offensive board.
In overtime, it seemed everything went Boston’s way, in particular, Isaiah Thomas just could not miss. The 5’9″ dynamo took the game over, putting up 11 points in the extra five minutes, en-route to a historic 53-point performance. Thomas’ breathtaking scoring display secured the 129-119 win for Boston but more importantly, the Celtics were able to protect their home court and take a 2-0 series lead to Washington.
Isaiah Thomas with 51 points (and counting). NBD. #Celtics pic.twitter.com/s9eHnFb8Ut
— Def Pen Hoops (@DefPenHoops) May 3, 2017
For the Wizards, not much has gone their way thus far this series. While Wall had himself a ball game in his own right, finishing with 40 points and 13 assists, the play of his supporting cast has been shaky. Specifically, Bradley Beal will have to improve on his 14 points on 4-15 shooting if they want a shot at taking down Boston.
Right now, Wall just doesn’t have the help needed to take down an elite-caliber team like the Boston Celtics. A must-win Game 3 for Washington lies ahead on Thursday at 8 PM in the nation’s capital.
