Jordan Walsh had a perfect career-night to lead the Celtics to a dominant 146-101 win over the Wizards on Thursday night at Capital One Arena. It was the biggest margin of victory of the season for Boston and extended their winning streak to three games heading into a showdown Friday night with the Lakers.
Boston never trailed in the matchup but broke the game wide open in the third quarter (43-27) before nearly doubling up the Wizards in the second half (80-42) on their way to a season-high 146 points. The Celtics shot 54.5 percent from the field despite playing without Jaylen Brown (illness) in the win.
Walsh was a perfect 8-of-8 from the field to finish with a career-high 22 points while Derrick White flirted with a triple-double, posting 30 points, 7 rebounds and 9 assists in the victory. Hugo Gonzalez also added a career-high 14 points off the bench with seven different Celtics scoring in double figures. CJ McCollum had a team-high 22 points for the Wizards in the loss.
The Celtics now head back to Boston to host LeBron James and the Lakers on Friday night at TD Garden.
Here are four takeaways from Thursday’s win over the Wizards:
Jordan Walsh plays the best game of his Celtics career: The Celtics have played some of their best basketball of the season since the third-year forward has been inserted into the starting five, thanks to his defense and rebounding. On Thursday, he added some stellar offense to the equation as well. Walsh erupted for a career-high 22 points, going a perfect 8-of-8 from the field including a make from 3-point range. He also added seven rebounds, three assists and two steals in just 30 minutes as Joe Mazzulla gave him the fourth quarter off in the victory. The Celtics improved to 8-2 in games that Walsh has started this season and it’s evident he’s getting far more comfortable offensively with the additional minutes he’s getting.
Derrick White looks like he’s officially snapped out of his early season slump: The veteran guard feasted against an overmatched Wizards defense to put together his best all-around performance of the year. He led the Celtics in points (30), rebounds (7) and assists (9) in the win, showing plenty of needed aggression with Jaylen Brown getting the night off. White also shot a season-best 12-of-21 from the field in the win and has now shot 50 percent or better from the field in three of his last four games, a promising sign that he’s climbing out of his early season shooting funk for good.
A perfect type of win amid a daunting stretch of the schedule: With the Celtics set to play their fifth game in seven nights on Friday against the Lakers, an easy lift was a welcome development for Boston’s regulars in this one. No one outside of Payton Pritchard played more than 32 minutes and Neemias Queta got a very light minutes load (21) coming off a sprained ankle last week with the back-to-back looming. With Jaylen Brown getting some rest in Boston tonight heading into the Lakers showdown, it’s optimistic to think the Celtics will have enough left in the tank to extend their winning streak to four.
The Wizards defense is a disgrace: They were down a couple of their best defenders tonight (Alex Sarr, Bilal Coulibaly) but the Wizards made the Celtics look like the Harlem Globetrotters for late sections of this game. The Celtics hit a ton of shots, dominated the offensive glass and only turned the ball over seven times as the Wizards defense broke down on seemingly every other possession. The Wizards are currently on pace to have one of the worst defenses in NBA history and this performance will only help them in that quest.
