Written by Andrew Lynch at Fox Sports.com
Finally.
Finally, everything came together for the Washington Wizards on Thursday night, as they beat the Boston Celtics 116-89 to trim their second-round Eastern Conference playoff series deficit to two games to one.
Isaiah’s Celts were blown out twice at Wizards during reg season. Now it happened in a playoff game. Not a good sign for him or them.
— Skip Bayless (@RealSkipBayless) May 5, 2017
The Wizards dominated the Celtics for the first two games in Boston — when the starters squared off against each other, that is.
Any time Washington had to rely on its bench, though, the Celtics steamrolled the Wizards. Add in some atypical defensive struggles, and John Wall’s team was on the verge of elimination despite seemingly being the better team.
A funny thing happened in Game 3, though, and we’re not talking about Kelly Olynyk flopping after Kelly Oubre accosted him in the second quarter.
Wall was his amazing self Thursday night, tallying 24 points, eight assists and three steals for good measure, and the starters once again crushed their opposition. The real difference between Game 3 and Games 1 and 2 was that awful Washington bench.
John Wall is on a mission tonight. pic.twitter.com/6301w9FEap
— ESPN (@espn) May 5, 2017
The reserves didn’t light the world on fire — Bojan Bogdanovic was the only Wizards bench player in double figures, chipping in 19 in 29 minutes — but the bench held its own against Boston’s second unit. In fact, all eight reserves had positive plus-minus ratings (although a few padded their numbers in garbage time).
Even Marcin Gortat, who’s not a reserve yet had struggled this series, turned it on at home with 13 points and 16 boards.
Marcin Gortat, who totaled 13 points and 16 rebs during Game 3, says, “If they go small, I have to dominate. I have to dominate the paint.”
— Marc D’Amico (@Marc_DAmico) May 5, 2017
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