Brandon Jennings has been a member of the Wizards for all of three weeks, but he already has introduced himself to Washington’s budding rivalry with the Boston Celtics.
In the second quarter of Monday’s game at TD Garden, Jennings baited Celtics guard Terry Rozier into an altercation at midcourt. After hitting a jumper from the baseline, Jennings chest-bumped the second-year Celtics guard multiple times while Boston tried to inbound the ball. He then came to dead stop right in Rozier’s path as both players jogged up the court.
Rozier took the bait and definitely-not-unintentionally collided with Jennings, leading to a brief skirmish.
Jennings and Rozier both were assessed technical fouls on the play, with Jennings also receiving a common foul for impeding Rozier.
The incident was yet another run-in between two Eastern Conference contenders who clearly don’t like each other, but Jennings’ involvement was mildly surprising. The 27-year-old guard was playing in only his 11th game as a Wizard, so he wasn’t involved in any of the meetings that bred the rivalry.
Apparently, the bad blood between these two teams is just that contagious.
Rozier and the Celtics landed the blow that mattered Monday, winning the game 110-102 and earning a crucial leg up in the fight for the No. 2 seed in the East. If the season ended Tuesday, the Celtics and Wizards would be on track to meet in the second round of the playoffs (assuming they took care of business in their respective first-round series), so sign us up for four to seven games between these guys.
Thumbnail photo via Jeremy Brevard/USA TODAY Sports Images
