Celtics at Wizards
The Washington Wizards missed an opportunity to put some distance between themselves and a potential first-round matchup with the Indiana Pacers or Miami Heat on Monday. They will try to keep some separation between themselves and the No. 7 spot when they host the Boston Celtics on Wednesday. The Wizards suffered a 100-94 loss to the Charlotte Bobcats on Monday, tightening the gap between the clubs to just two games with eight left.
The Celtics are in the business of helping out Eastern Conference playoff contenders of late with losses to the Brooklyn Nets, Toronto Raptors (twice) and Chicago Bulls (twice) during a five-game slide. Washington will face Boston twice over its final eight games, a stretch that includes five home games. The Wizards squandered a 16-point lead and missed out on clinching the first postseason berth for the franchise since 2008 with the loss to the seventh-place Bobcats as All-Star point guard John Wall struggled.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, CSN New England (Boston), CSN Mid-Atlantic (Washington)
ABOUT THE CELTICS (23-51): Boston is piling up the losses as it heads toward the draft lottery but is doing just enough every game to make losing tough to take. The Celtics held leads in each of the last two games against the Bulls and went down to the wire in the two against the Raptors as well before falling short. Boston managed 10 points in the fourth quarter of Monday’s 94-80 loss in Chicago after holding a lead in the third and heading into the final period down only a point. “It wasn’t just the fourth,” coach Brad Stevens told reporters. “The first five minutes of the third and the fourth we went into a drought.”
ABOUT THE WIZARDS (38-36): Washington has an offense that can take advantage of scoring droughts from other teams but needs Wall to make things move smoothly. The All-Star slumped to 10 points on 4-of-16 shooting in Monday’s loss to the Bobcats and had nearly as many turnovers (five) as assists (six). “We were selfish,” coach Randy Wittman bluntly put it to reporters. “At this point of the year, that’s what I’m really disappointed about. You’re fighting for playoff positioning, You’re fighting to get into the playoffs, you can’t take shortcuts and don’t do the things you have to do to play winning basketball.”
BUZZER BEATERS
1. The Celtics have taken eight of the last nine in the series, including a 113-111 overtime victory at Washington on Jan. 22.
2. Washington F Martell Webster is 8-of-16 from beyond the arc over the last four games.
3. Boston G Avery Bradley (ankle) left Monday’s game and is unlikely to play Wednesday.