Expectations for the Boston Celtics weren’t particularly high ahead of Tuesday’s match against the Washington Wizards, with the team benching a number of regular players ahead of the upcoming postseason.
Thanks to a strong effort from some of Boston’s reserves, however, the Celtics ended up walking away with a 116-110 win over the Wizards. A number of the team’s bench players put up big numbers against Washington, allowing the C’s to end the regular season on a high note.
Celtics head coach Brad Stevens lauded the team’s younger players for their performance and was impressed with how well they matched up against the Wizards.
The Celtics now look to the playoffs, where they will take on the Indiana Pacers in the first round. With the regular season behind them, Stevens said the team will be preparing “appropriately.”
“We’re going to have to play awfully well and awfully hard, awfully smart, awfully together if we are going to have a chance to win any game, let alone any series,” Stevens said, as seen on NBC Sports Boston’s Celtics postgame coverage.
Stevens added that the Celtics have to be “extremely locked in” heading into the postseason.
The Celtics ended the regular season with a 49-33 record.
Here are some other notes from Tuesday’s Celtics-Wizards game:
— Seven Celtics were ruled out for Tuesday’s game against the Wizards. Kyrie Irving, Gordon Hayward, Al Horford, Marcus Smart, Jayson Tatum, Aron Baynes, and Marcus Morris all were unavailable.
— With so many regulars on the bench, Boston’s reserves had the chance to shine in D.C. Brad Wanamaker, R.J. Hunter and Semi Ojeleye all scored 17 points for the Celtics, while Guerschon Yabusele scored 13.
— P.J. Dozier earned the first double-double of his NBA career with 12 points and 12 rebounds.
— Wanamaker had a career evening as well, scoring a career-high 14 points.
— Ojeleye and Dozier both played an impressive number of minutes against the Wizards, racking up 38 and 37 minutes, respectively. Robert Williams III also logged plenty of time — 29 minutes to be exact.
— Terry Rozier led the Celtics in scoring Tuesday evening with 21 points, netting four of his eight three-point attempts. He and Jaylen Brown were the only regulars to play for the Celtics on Tuesday.
