The #8 Wizards and the #7 Celtics are set to battle on Tuesday night. It will be weird to see a 9:00 PM ET start in Boston in a non-finals game, but that’s what we have here. It’s weird enough that the initial game is starting at 6:30. But this is how it’s done. East one day, West the next, and so there will be no doubleheaders.
The big thing for the Wizards is that Bradley Beal is back. He played well in his return against Charlotte on Sunday. Their victory secured their spot as the #8 seed, giving them the opportunity to pick up just one win to advance. The prize for the winner of this game is a chance to battle the mighty Brooklyn Nets. The loser will get a chance to vie for #8 by beating the 9-10 winner.
Boston, on the other hand, should be mostly healthy. They don’t have Jaylen Brown for the rest of the season, which is obviously a huge blow. They did not have a single game this year where every player was healthy. It’s a nightmare scenario. But, here they are. A win away from locking up No. 7. And they still have Jayson Tatum leading a pretty talented bunch. It’s not too late to turn the season around.
ODDS
The spread for Play-In game #2 is set at BOS -2. The over/under is 232.5 points.
DC Seeks to Secure #7 Seed
23 games ago, the Wizards had a record of 17-32. They have gone 17-6 since then, turning the entire thing around. Wins have been coming at a premium, with Russell Westbrook turning back into the beloved star that he was in OKC for many years and in Houston before COVID. He’s now the all-time triple-double leader and is feared by many.
Nobody seems to have the recipe for containing Russ. And even on a roster with talent limitations, they continue to win. Guys like Ish Smith, Daniel Gafford, Davis Bertans, Raul Neto, and Rui Hachimura have been invaluable. Even though the contributions aren’t always huge in the stat column, they are capable of making big plays.
The keys for the Wizards winning will be Beal scoring 35+ and Westbrook getting Marcus Smart into foul trouble.
Boston Seeking Quick Advance
If the Celtics lose to the Wizards at home, they will then play another home game on Thursday. That game would feature them and the winner of #9 vs. #10. The winner of that would then get the #8 seed and play against the impressive 76ers. That is probably a better matchup than Brooklyn, even with Joel Embiid lurking.
But the team wants to win this one. And move on. They will need Tatum to be the best player from St. Louis in the matchup. They need to get good minutes from the centers. And they will need to be shooting it well.
Smart can’t be shooting 3-16 or something along those lines, as he sometimes does.
Celtics Win Narrowly
Washington will fall just short, having to play another game Thursday to secure their spot.
FREE PLAY: BOS -2
OVER/UNDER: UNDER 232.5
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