The Boston Celtics were utterly outplayed and outworked Tuesday night as they were dealt an embarrassing 130-111 loss to the Washington Wizards at Capital One Arena.
The defeat drops the Celtics' record to 52-24 while the Wizards, who are in 11th place in the Eastern Conference, improve to 34-42.
Check out the full box score here.
ONE BIG TAKEAWAY
Any good vibes the Celtics cultivated with three straight wins of at least 20 points are long gone now since the setback to the Wizards was one of their ugliest losses of the season.
Washington was even without star Bradley Beal and Kyle Kuzma, which should have made this a layup of a game for the Celtics, but it was anything of the sort due to a putrid effort.
The Celtics certainly looked past the Wizards and seemed disinterested for most of the night, especially on the defensive end of the floor. Washington shot 54.5% from the field and led by as many as 23 points. Boston offered little resistance, allowing the Wizards to score 62 points in the paint.
The abysmal performance forced Joe Mazzulla to do something he rarely does. He waved the white flag with 9:21 left in the fourth quarter as he replaced the starters with bench players.
It was a critical game for Boston, too, as it tries to keep pace with the Milwaukee Bucks atop the Eastern Conference. But with the loss to the Wizards, the Celtics can basically kiss the No. 1 seed goodbye, and they better hope that it doesn't come back to haunt them.
STARS OF THE GAME
-- Kristaps Porzingis had his way with the Celtics defense. The 7-foot-3 center netted a game-high 32 points on 14-for-21 shooting to go along with 13 rebounds and six assists.
-- Deni Avdija helped torch the Celtics as well, pouring in 25 points while grabbing 10 rebounds and dishing out five assists.
-- Jayson Tatum was the lone bright spot for the Celtics. He tallied a team-leading 28 points on 11-for-19 shooting and added nine rebounds and five assists.
WAGER WATCH
Looking to cash in quickly, FanDuel Sportsbook gave Jaylen Brown +500 odds to net the first basket of the game. Brown banked in a short jump after a Wizards turnover to opening the scoring as a $100 wager on the prop bet would have netted a total of $600.
UP NEXT
The top two teams in the Eastern Conference collide Thursday night with the Celtics taking on the Bucks in Milwaukee. Tipoff from Fiserv Form is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. ET.
