BOSTON — After a deflating loss to the Utah Jazz on Monday night, the Boston Celtics were in desperate need of some energy. Enter the “Lawnmower,” also known as first-year Celtic Josh Minott.

During 136-107 beatdown of the Washington Wizards on Wednesday evening, Minott posted a career-high 21 points in 34 minutes while shooting 50% from deep and 8-for-12 from the field. The former second-round draft pick was flying around on both ends of the floor and his raucous alley-oop finishes captivated the TD Garden crowd.

Even Celtics star Jaylen Brown — who's now been in the league for nearly a decade — was impressed. The longest-tenured Celtic sounded very optimistic about his 22-year-old teammate.

“He's huge for us,” Brown said during his postgame presser. “Josh — his energy, his length, his athleticism is big for us. So, you know, when he brings it like that we're a better team. So [I'm] just encouraging him to be consistent every single night to bring that same energy because he's huge for us.”

Why Josh Minott has a golden opportunity in front of him

Prior to the 2025-26 season, Minott had never started in an NBA game. That quickly changed with the C's, as he's already entered the starting lineup six times in just nine contests. The former benchwarmer received the opportunity of a lifetime with the current C's, who are undeniably undermanned without six-time All-Star Jayson Tatum.

It doesn't sound like Tatum is coming back from his Achilles rehab within the next few months (at least), so Minott should have a spot saved for him in the starting lineup if he continues to perform.

“He could be a really good player in this league,” Brown praised. “And nights like tonight he showed it.”

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Along with his career day on offense, Minott also recorded three steals and five rebounds. Collectively, the Celtics had no trouble harassing the Wizards into 19 turnovers. The now 1-7 Wiz repeatedly committed forced and unforced errors alike that disrupted all of their momentum, especially amid a dismal second half in which they mustered just 47 points to the Celtics' 66.

Following the blowout, Boston has notched nine straight wins against D.C. — with eight of those coming by double digits. As for Brown, he's 17-9 against the Wizards for his career and, more importantly, has scored at least 30 points in four of his last five games.

He dropped a game-high 35 points in just 26 minutes of play on Wednesday while looking simply unstoppable at times. The current scoring streak he's on is a big reason why the C's are 4-5 and not further below .500.

Of course, Brown can't do it all. So, it's up to non-star players like Minott to contribute as much as they can to make life easier for the four-time All-Star.

“I'm looking forward to the rest of the season, the rest of the week,” Brown admitted. “We got some big games coming up in Orlando. We're going to need Josh to step up.”

The Celtics will travel to Florida on Thursday to prepare for a two-game slate with the 3-5 Orlando Magic. They square off with the Eastern Conference contenders on both Friday night and Sunday night.