After winning three straight games, the Boston Celtics came crashing back down with an unexpected loss to the Washington Wizards on March 29.
It was a game where the entire Celtics roster struggled to get things going from deep, including star duo Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum; however, according to Brown, their game was thrown-off kilter before it even got started.
“Just keep building good habits,” Brown said. “Not gonna let tonight kind of set the tone for what we’ve been playing. We were playing good ball last couple of weeks. Tonight, we just threw it away. Get ready for the next one, so we’re game. Traffic kind of messed everything up, threw everybody off; I think no excuse we got to be better.”
Brown, who came into the game against Washington having dropped 41 points in his last outing, struggled to make an impact, scoring 18 points, grabbing 3 rebounds, and dishing out 4 assists while shooting 47.4% from deep and going 0-of-4 from the field.
Jayson Tatum Urges Celtics to Bounce Back
The Celtics won’t have time to lick their wounds following their shock loss, as on Thursday, March 30, they will be tasked with facing Eastern Conference leaders, the Milwaukee Bucks.
When addressing the media after the game, Tatum spoke of his team’s need to put the loss behind them and not let it affect their performances moving forward as the Celtics continue to strive for a championship mentality.
“You never want to have these moments,” Tatum said. “But somehow, someway, they tend to happen throughout the course of 82 games. And you know, they count as one whether it’s right now or whether it was in December, it’s still a loss and honestly, you just got to move on”
Tatum was Boston’s top scorer against Washington, knocking down 28 points to go along with 9 rebounds and 5 assists on 57.9% shooting from the field but just 28.6% from three-point range.
Marcus Smart Sounds Off on Playoff Seeding
With their latest loss, the Celtics are now 2.5 games behind the Milwaukee Bucks in the Eastern Conference and are likely to finish the season as the second seed. However, when speaking to the media after the game, Marcus Smart declared that nobody is worried about where they finish in the standings as long as they qualify for the postseason.
“Yeah, I mean, I don’t think nobody worries about, you know, what where they place, the playoffs is what matters,” Smart said. “You still gotta go out there play and win so, wherever we placed, that’s where we at, we deal with it. But for us, we want to be able to go into the playoffs, you know, playing the right basketball. So we got to finish these last six games with that mindset, not thinking anywhere further than where we need to think the next game or game against Milwaukee on Thursday.”
The Celtics will be hoping their performance against the Wizards was nothing more than a blip and that they can rise to the occasion when they face the Bucks, in what could be a prelude to a potential Eastern Conference Finals matchup later in the postseason.
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Jaylen Brown Pinpoints Reason For Celtics Struggles in Loss to Wizards