Story By: Sol Tucker
Photos By: Sol Tucker
Washington, D.C–
It may seem like a broken record at this point, but the Wizards keep on spinning it trying to find that tune that will play. Except this tune they are looking for is called offense that will play every night and find them a way to beat the Celtics or any of these other teams in the NBA.
Washington thought they might have caught a break after Kristaps Porzingis left the game due to an injury, scoring just 11 points. It was the Jason Tatum show after.
Tatum dropped a game-high 28 points with 12 rebounds. All five Celtics starters scored in double figures, as did Payton Pritchard with 15 points and Sam Hauser with 12 on nine combined 3s off the bench. Pritchard, the NBA Sixth Man of the Year frontrunner, leads the league in games with at least five made 3s this season (13).
Jordan Poole led Washington with 21 points, and Bilal Coulibaly added 19. The Wizards have lost three in a row and 16 of 17.
During much of the fourth quarter the frustration of some of the calls by officials could be seen by Wizards Head Coach Brian Keefe. Many of those came after the Wizards cut the Celtics lead to 103-88 with 3:43 remaining. Keefe was unhappy with some of the Celtics clear turnovers or fouls that would have given the Wizards the ball back on at least two occasions.
The dunk by Tatum at the 3:28 mark in the fourth quarter was decisive difference in this game as the Wizards never regained any offensive ability to pull close the remainder of the game.
The Wizards will have a few days to regroup and see what they can find offensively before Charlotte comes to town on Thursday night. The Hornets have second worst record in the NBA, only ahead of the Wizards by 4 games at 7-18.
