Celtics-Wizards takeaways: Brogdon plays key role in bounce-back win originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
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The Boston Celtics avoided a three-game losing streak with a solid bounce-back performance in a 112-94 win over the Washington Wizards at TD Garden on Sunday night.
The difference was 3-point shooting. The Celtics shot 21-of-47 from beyond the arc and outscored the Wizards (7-of-32) by 42 points on 3-point shots.
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Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown combined for 47 points and shot 9-of-19 from the 3-point line. Malcolm Brogdon added 23 points off the bench and Grant Williams poured in 10 points in his return to the lineup.
The C's will be back in action Wednesday night in Cleveland, where they'll play the Cavaliers for the second time in a week. The Cavs beat the Celtics 132-123 in overtime Friday night.
Before we look ahead to that matchup, here are three takeaways from Celtics-Wizards.
1) Setting the tone early
The Celtics jumped out to a 34-15 lead after the first quarter with some hot shooting from 3-point range, including two baskets to open the game from Tatum.
Brown also was aggressive offensively by attacking the basket and finishing at the rim early and often:
Brown scored 16 points with four rebounds in the first quarter, while Tatum scored 11 points. The Celtics' star duo outscored the Wizards by 12 points by themselves.
The Celtics as a team shot 52.6 percent from the field and 6-of-13 from beyond the arc in the first quarter. The Wizards did trim the C's lead under 10 a few times throughout the game, but they could never fully climb out of the early hole Boston put them in over the first 12 minutes.
2) Where was Bradley Beal?
It's tough for the Wizards to win games, especially against quality opponents like the Celtics, if Beal makes almost no impact offensively.
Beal failed to score a single point in the first half and didn't get on the board until 2:29 of the third quarter with a pair of free throws. His first basket came at 1:04 of the third quarter. Beal began the game 0-of-12 from the field.
The star guard entered Sunday averaging 22.6 points on 59.6 percent shooting. He finished with 12 points on 4-of-16 shooting with eight assists in 37 minutes. The Wizards were outscored by 13 points in those minutes.
The Celtics did a great job staying in front of Beal, fighting through screens and contesting his every shot.
Sunday's performance was arguably the worst of Beal's 11-year career. The Wizards cannot survive that kind of night from their franchise star because they don't have a legit No. 2 scoring option.
3) Malcolm Brogdon a huge boost off the bench
Brogdon has been as advertised through the first six games of his Celtics career.
The veteran guard gave an efficient performance Sunday, scoring 23 points on 6-of-12 shooting (8-of-8 from the free throw line) with four assists and zero turnovers in 23 minutes.
Brogdon scored seven points in the third quarter to help the C's go on a 12-4 run that pushed their lead to 19 entering the fourth quarter.
Brogdon has scored in double-figures in four of Boston's six games. He's also running the offense with limited turnovers (1.6 per game) and finding shooters open looks. If Brogdon stays healthy, the Celtics' second unit is going to be much improved over last season.
