The NBA playoffs are upon us and we almost have the full bracket locked in. The NBA play-in tournament will start Tuesday and the featured game will be the Washington Wizards and the Boston Celtics. The winner gets the No. 7 seed and will advance to take on the Brooklyn Nets. The loser plays the winner of the Pacers – Hornets matchup for the No. 8 seed. Here are two reasons why the Wizards will beat the Celtics in the play-in game.
Wizards playing great at the right time while the Celtics sputter
The Wizards finished the season scorching, piling up a 15-5 record in their last 20 games. While Bradley Beal continues to tend to a hamstring injury, he did return in the season finale win over the Charlotte Hornets and played 35 minutes. Russell Westbrook has been the maestro at point guard, per the usual, and the Wizards have figured things out.
It looked as though for much for the season that the Beal-Westbrook duo just wasn't going to work out in D.C. Then, the switch flipped and the Wizards have coasted ever since.
Their five losses down the stretch were all games that they could've easily won. They lost three of them by a single point, another in overtime by three points and the last by four points in Atlanta to the Hawks. Point being, the Wizards are even playing well in the rare contests that they have dropped in the last month and change.
Meanwhile, the Celtics are a mess.
Boston lost six of its last eight games to crawl into the play-in tournament. Thought of as one of the Eastern Conference favorites at the beginning of the year, the Celtics will now have to hope to get by the Wizards just to get the No. 7 seed. The confidence has been drained, the play lethargic, and the Wizards are catching Boston at a perfect time.
Bradley Beal (In), Jaylen Brown (Out)
This one is simply put. Once it gets to playoff time in the NBA, your stars are expected to rise to the occasion. That's difficult to do when they won't be on the court.
Bradley Beal has made it known he isn't at 100% for the Wizards but he will be suiting up and starting for the Wizards on Tuesday night. Beal finished second in the NBA in points per game behind only Stephen Curry and alongside Russell Westbrook, they make a heck of backcourt duo in D.C.
Jaylen Brown underwent wrist surgery and is out for the Celtics. He and fellow all-star Jaylen Brown were carrying much of the burden for Boston throughout the year and now Tatum will have to do even more. Kemba Walker is still a steady presence, but he isn't the caliber of player that Brown is.
It's a numbers game at times in the NBA and the Wizards having both of their stars while the Celtics will only have one makes all the more difference.
This No. 7 vs. No. 8 seed matchup should be a great one. The Celtics and Wizards have both taken wildly different paths to get to where they are, though. With the Beal being a full-go for the Wizards and Washington playing such consistent ball lately, it'll be the Celtics needing to clawback at the end before ultimately falling short.
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