Wizards at Celtics
The momentum has clearly shifted in the Eastern Conference semifinals, and the Washington Wizards now look like the team to beat after a pair of convincing home wins evened the series. The fourth-seeded Wizards still need to earn a win on the road to have a chance of taking the series and will try to keep the thrust in their favor when they visit the top-seeded Boston Celtics for Game 5 on Wednesday.
Washington took Games 3 and 4 by a combined 46 points and used a 26-0 run in the third quarter of Sunday's Game 4 to go from trailing to blowing out Boston for the second straight game. "We played inspired basketball for each other," Wizards coach Scott Brooks, who called the run his team's best stretch of the season, told reporters. "Defensively we were in the right position. ... We didn't make silly mistakes that we made early in the game, and it pays off." The Celtics made plenty of silly mistakes and watched Washington convert 20 turnovers in 34 points in Sunday's romp. "If you turn the ball over against these guys, you'd prefer to drop-kick it into the stands so that at least you could set your defense," Boston coach Brad Stevens told reporters. "Their attack in transition killed us."
TV: 8 p.m. ET, TNT
ABOUT THE WIZARDS: Power forward Markieff Morris overcame an ankle injury and collected 16 points, 10 rebounds and five assists in Sunday's 121-102 win and is not lacking confidence in his team. "For sure it's going to be hard," Morris told reporters, according to the Washington Post, of the prospect of winning in Boston. "They're still a good team. It's Boston, know what I mean? But we feel like we are the better team, even to start the series. This is what we wanted during the regular season when we was chippy and going at it. We wanted Boston in the playoffs. So you go out there and act like that. I think we did the last couple of games." The Wizards go where point guard John Wall takes them, and the All-Star is averaging 27.8 points, 12.3 assists and 2.8 steals in the series.
ABOUT THE CELTICS: Boston All-Star guard Isaiah Thomas scored 53 points in Game 2's overtime win but found points harder to come by in Washington while averaging 16 points in Games 3 and 4. Thomas suggested after Game 4 that he wasn't getting the benefit of foul calls while going without a free-throw attempt in the loss. "The refs were allowing them to hold and grab and do all those things," Thomas told reporters. "I think, especially in the third quarter, I might have hit the ground five or six straight times, and I'm not the one that likes hitting the ground. ... I can't be allowed to be held and grabbed every pin-down, every screen."
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Wall is the first player in NBA playoff history to record at least 20 points and seven assists in 11 straight games.
2. Celtics SG Avery Bradley slumped to five points on Sunday and is shooting 34 percent from the field in the series.
3. Washington SF Kelly Oubre Jr. will return for Game 5 after serving a one-game suspension for shoving Boston C Kelly Olynyk.