Wizards Drop 11th Straight, Despite Celtics Poor Shooting Night

Here’s where the Wizards are at this point: losing by 11 to the Boston Celtics feels almost like an achievement. Most of the relative narrowness of that margin was due to Boston bricking open and wide-open threes they normally make, some working out of kinks related to Jayson Tatum’s return to the lineup, and probably a little Boston slacking off, but being almost kinda-sorta close to being almost competitive towards the end was…umm…something?

There was stuff in this game that I don’t recall ever seeing before. For example, Washington was +15 from three-point range in the first quarter and exited the period trailing by two.

Wizards wing Bilal Coulibaly dunks during the team’s loss to the Boston Celtics. | NBAE via Getty Images

Boston was so dominant on the boards, the broadcast team sent their stats guy to research the biggest single-game rebounding differential in franchise history. The Celtics were “only” =17 on the glass last night — well short of the franchise record (+52 during the Bill Russell era — Boston had 112 rebounds in that one game, believe it or not).

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Washington’s defense was so bad, it revealed the “getting to watch good basketball” privilege enjoyed by Boston fans and analyst Brian Scalabrine. Scalabrine was baffled by Washington “choosing” not to defend Neemias Queta after the center went to help.

Several times, Scalabrine said he’d never seen a defense like the one Washington was playing — with no one cracking back to pick up the big. It was kinda cute that Scalabrine thought that was by design and not simply Washington defenders repeatedly blowing rotations they should be making.

The Wizards largely fixed the issue at halftime, by the way. Presumably the coaching staff reminded players to try a little.

The game revealed the oceanic distance Washington needs to cover to become a contender. Boston out-smarted, out-worked, and out-executed the Wizards all night long. The only thing keeping the final margin under 30 was the Celtics having an off night shooting the ball.

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Thoughts & Observations

The first defensive possession game me some hope…

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Publish date : 2026-03-15 10:00:00

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