Thursday’s game between the Boston Celtics and Washington Wizards in pretty much every way was meaningless.
The Wizards had no shot of making the postseason, while the Celtics already were locked into the third seed. Boston rested six of its regulars, resulting in nothing but reserves playing the 48 minutes in the matinee.
Boston lost 96-90, but one of the things the Celtics undoubtedly wanted was to get through the game without health issues — and they were unsuccessful.
Rookie forward Romeo Langford checked out of the game with 9:58 left in the fourth quarter, and he never checked back in. It was announced by the team later in the game that he’d miss the rest of the game with a sprained right wrist.
Celtics head coach Brad Stevens was not asked for an update on Langford following the game, so it’s unclear what his status is going forward as the C’s gear up for their series against the Philadelphia 76ers.
Langford finished his afternoon with six points, four rebounds and as many assists in 30 minutes of action.
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Here are some other notes from Thursday’s Celtics-Wizards game:
— There weren’t a whole lot of standouts for the Celtics in the loss, but Javonte Green easily shined the brightest.
Green put up a career-high 23 points on 9-for-17 shooting, knocking down a third of his nine attempts from distance. He also pulled down four rebounds, three of which were on the offensive glass.
The 27-year-old was the last man in on the Celtics roster when camp broke last October, and he’s done a fine job this season of playing at a high level when his number is called. It’s unclear if he’ll have any role once the playoffs start, but either way, he did a nice job in the regular-season finale.
“I thought we had a few guys that played really hard, Javonte was obviously at the top of that list,” Celtics head coach Brad Stevens said after the game, as seen on NBC Sports Boston. “He played with great intensity on both ends of the floor, was trying to do all the right stuff and obviously made a big impact offensively.”
— Celtics fan-favorite Tacko Fall got some run, playing eight minutes.
He hit both of his field goals for four points, while also grabbing four rebounds with an assist, steal and pair of blocks.
— The Celtics’ attention now turns to the 76ers, with the two sides set to embark on a first-round best-of-seven series soon (the schedule has yet to be announced).
Stevens gave a quick rundown of how he views the Sixers.
“We’ve been looking at Philly, obviously, with the idea that they were a likely opponent,” Stevens said. “And they’re a heck of a team. In the games that (Ben) Simmons hasn’t played they’re the No. 1 offense in the league. The spacing, the shooting around, (Joel) Embiid posting, the ability to play both big with Embiid and Al (Horford) and then small with one of those two guys at the five and a bunch of shooters around them makes them very tough. Super physical, well-coached, good basketball team.”
