The Boston Celtics have been inconsistent this season, stumbling to a 3-5 record heading into Wednesday night’s matchup against the Washington Wizards.
Fortunately for the Celtics, a home game against one of the worst teams in basketball was just what the doctor ordered. Boston took full advantage of the easy matchup, exploding for a season-high 136 points and routing the Wizards by 29 points.
Coming off an ugly 105-103 loss to the Utah Jazz on Monday where they missed a whopping 40 3-pointers, the Celtics played much better against Washington. Boston got off to a slow start and trailed by 11 points at the end of the first quarter, but turned things around in the second quarter and finished the first half with 70 points, entering halftime with a 10-point lead.
That lead continued to balloon throughout the second half as the Celtics pulled away. They won the second and third quarter in the same game for the first time this season, then won the fourth quarter too for good measure.
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As usual, Jaylen Brown led the way for Boston with 35 points, five rebounds and five assists in just 26 minutes. It was a historic performance for Brown, who became the first player in Celtics history to score that many points in so few minutes. He also became just the third player in NBA history with at least 35 points, five rebounds and five assists in 26 minutes or fewer, joining Michael Jordan and Luka Doncic.
Brown had plenty of help, as five other Boston players scored in double figures. Josh Minott scored a career-high 21 points, while Anfernee Simons contributed 18 off the bench. Neemias Queta had a monster double-double with 15 points and 12 rebounds.
After snapping their two-game losing streak, the Celtics will try to build off Wednesday’s performance and get back to .500 against the Orlando Magic on Friday.
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