Washington will travel to Boston to battle for the Eastern Conference’s seventh seed and while both teams have underachieved this season—compared to their preseason expectations—they each still have a chance in the NBA’s second season with the play-in tournament kicking off on Tuesday night.
- Spread: Celtics -2 (-110)
- Total: Over/Under 233
- Moneyline: Wizards +115
- TV: TNT, 9:00 pm ET
Odds via PointsBet
Wizards Projected Starters
- PG Kemba Walker
- SG Marcus Smart
- SF Evan Fournier
- PF Jayson Tatum
- C Tristan Thompson
Celtics Projected Starters
- PG Russell Westbrook
- SG Bradley Beal
- SF Davis Bertans
- PF Rui Hachimura
- C Alex Len
Washington is one of the hottest teams entering the play-in tournament and postseason, ending the season on a 17-6 run. Russell Westbrook is fully healthy and his lead-by-example mentality has been a major positive for the Wizards this season.
Earlier in the season, health was a major issue and while the team is locked in and gelling, health remains an issue yet again. Bradley Beal’s hamstring continues to give him woes.
“There’s no setbacks which is good,” Beal told FortyEightMinutes and other media on Monday. “I didn’t injure it any worse than what it was. Obviously it still probably won’t be 100 percent. It is just a matter of managing it as best I can.”
Beal missed three of the Wizards’ last four games with the ailment.
Boston isn’t without its own issues. The team is without Jaylen Brown and even when he was healthy, this was not the typical deep Celtics team under Brad Stevens. Evan Fournier has helped offset the loss of Brown to some degree but he’s only had a positive plus-minus in two of his last eight games heading into the play-in and he’s probably better suited to be the third or fourth option on this team rather than the second.
Some believe that Jayson Tatum is the best player on the floor (a debate for another day) and he has a chance to further prove that on Tuesday night. As we await the contest, let’s look at more from Boston:
More Wizards-Celtics
Trend to Note: Boston won two of three matchups this season against Washington, winning both home games.
Prop Bet to Consider: Jayson Tatum under 3.5 three-pointers made (-140)
- Over the last month of the season, Washington has become one of the stingiest defenses in terms of allowing opposing small forwards to make threes (1.9 per game, 4th-best defense, per Hashtag Basketball). This game is expected to be slower than a typical Wizards contest, and while Tatum, who is making 2.9 threes on the year, plays both forward spots, Rui Hachimura & Co. should help to keep that total low.
