The Boston Celtics travel to the nation’s capital, as they play the Washington Wizards at Verizon Center on Wednesday.
There were high expectations for Boston (3-3) headed into the season, but injuries have gotten them off to a slow start. Most notably, the absences of Al Horford and Jae Crowder have really hurt, as those are two great starters in this league. The Celtics come into this game losing their last two, with the most recent one being the worst loss of the year. The Denver Nuggets came into the TD Garden and blew out the Celtics in embarrassing fashion. The defense is what’s most disappointing, as they rank 28th in both points allowed and rebounds per game.
The Wizards (1-5) are an even bigger disappointment that the Celtics and it’s hard to pinpoint why. All five starters have played well this season and the bench is what’s really hurting this team. In fact, no bench player is averaging more than seven points or three rebounds a game. It’s putting too much pressure on the starters too, as each one is playing at least 33 minutes a game. A hot streak is inevitably coming though, as this talented core of youngsters has the capability to beat any NBA team on any given night.
While a spread has yet to be released with all of the injury question marks, it should be a nearly dead-even margin with two teams in desperate need of a win.
