The Celtics came out the gate on fire in a wire-to-wire 146-101 rout of the Washington Wizards Thursday night at Capital One Arena.
Derrick White finished with 30 points on 12-of-21 shooting, including 5-of-12 from 3-point range to go along with seven rebounds and nine assists to lead seven players in double-digit scoring for the C's -- who were without Jaylen Brown due to a non-COVID related illness.
"He has a lot of responsibility," Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla said of White during his postgame presser. "He's carried us for a while as far as leading the team in steals, leading the team in blocks, doing everything defensively. He does a really good job of knowing when to take over, when to facilitate, and he can be a steadying force. He can go on a run by himself. He's just got that 'it' factor sometimes."Tonight, I thought the middle of the second quarter was when he went on his run. I just felt like when we put the ball in his hands, we make great things happen. He started the half -- the third quarter -- doing a lot of that, too. He's playing really well offensively for us."
Jordan Walsh continues to ascend in his new role as a starter, notching another career-high 22 points on a perfect 8-of-8 from the field. Payton Pritchard added 20 points, eight assists while rookie Hugo Gonzalez scored 18 points off the bench and Neemias Queta chipped in 17 points for the Celtics - who are now 13-9 on the season and are now fifth the East.
CJ McCollum had 22 points as the leading scorer for Washington with Khris Middleton and Kyshawn George netting 16 and 15 points respectively, as the Wizards suffered their worst loss of the season and fell to 3-18 in the standings.
Boston had a 66-59 advantage at the break before turning it up a notch in the third quarter with a 20-6 run in a four and a half minute span and never gave up their double-digit lead the rest of the way.
The Celtics, winners of eight of the last 10 games, return home Friday to host their rival Los Angeles Lakers (16-5) -- who have won nine of their last 11, including a seven game win streak that was snapped recently -- with both teams playing on a second night of a back-to-back. Amazon Prime will have the tip-off from TD Garden at 7:00 pm ET.
Game Notes:
Boston hit 55% of their attempts from the field and 20-of-47 (43%) from deep, while the Wizards were 42% from the floor and 10-of-31 (32%) from 3-point range. The Celtics won the rebound battle 46-37 and outscored Washington in the paint 58-40. The C's assisted 35 times on 54 made baskets and the home team handed out 21 dimes on 35 made shots.
Joel Pavón
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