Do Wizards Have the Edge over Celtics Following Gritty Win, John Wall's Heroics?
John Wall wasn't going to let the Washington Wizards' season end without a Game 7.
And he most certainly wasn't letting the Boston Celtics leave D.C. without implementing a dress code:
Game 6 between the Celtics and Wizards, with the latter facing elimination, wasn't the prettiest. But it was the pettiest.
And for Washington, it'll also go down as a season-saving 92-91 victory that John Wall clinched with a deep three inside four seconds to play:
Boston threw the first punch before tipoff, rolling into the Verizon Center in all-black attire, a ploy it hoped would spell the end of the line for Washington. It was also a not-so-subtle troll job. The Wizards sported all-black outfits prior to their Jan. 24 victory over the Celtics.
"They want to be us so bad," Markieff Morris said, per SB Nation's Mike Prada.
Clearly, there remains no love lost between these two teams. So it's only right the Wizards forced a Game 7. It's even more fitting that they did it in such ugly fashion.
Despite entering the fourth quarter shooting 2-of-19 from three-point range, losing the transition battle 17-3 and hitting under 60 percent of their free throws, the Wizards trailed by only three. They were able to survive on a steady diet of Bradley Beal and second-chance opportunities. It helped, too, that Boston never played nearly well enough to pull away.
Though they finished a plus-18 from beyond the arc, the Celtics put down just 31.4 percent (11-of-35) of their outside looks overall. And they weren't able to match the Wizards' intensity off the bounce. Washington attempted 15 more shots than Boston inside the paint and restricted area, of which they buried 61.5 percent.
Where the Wizards' bench was bad, totaling almost as many fouls (nine) as points (13), Boston's was worse. Jaylen Brown, Kelly Olynyk, Terry Rozier and Marcus Smart combined to score five points on 2-of-15 shooting. Olynyk was the only one of the four to convert a field-goal attempt.
Depth is supposed to be one of the Celtics' crowning advantages, so they need more on offense from their supporting cast. That goes for certain starters, too. They can't have Jae Crowder blanking on uncontested looks, even when he's dishing out eight assists.
Isaiah Thomas has to work too hard for his points when Avery Bradley and Al Horford are his lone running mates getting buckets. He finished with 27—10 of which came in the final frame—but found nylon on just eight of his 24 field-goal attempts while being coaxed into an uncomfortable number of contested looks.
Thomas is now shooting 38.9 percent (23-of-59) since dropping 53 points in Game 2. The mere threat he poses on drives still forces Washington's defense into hysterics, but there are limits to what he can do. Boston, as an aggregate, isn't consistently capitalizing on collapses.
With the Celtics struggling on so many fronts, the Wizards spent most of the first half in control. When they did fall behind, they were able to hang around. Wall rebounded from a 1-of-9 showing in the first half to drop 23 points on 8-of-16 shooting through the final two frames, and Beal caught fire during the fourth quarter, pumping in 13 of his career-postseason-high 33 points.
And yet, it's hard to get too excited for the Wizards. Yes, they were the first home team this year to hold serve in an elimination game. But they could just as easily be prepping for vacation.
Beal and Wall carried the offense almost entirely on their own. They scored or assisted on all 26 of Washington's fourth-quarter points, according to ESPN Stats and Info (via ESPN.com's Ohm Youngmisuk). Most of the help they received down the stretch came from Marcin Gortat, and his commitment to dirty work:
Neither Boston nor Washington, as such, appears to have a decided ege. Home teams are undefeated in this series, which would seem to favor the Celtics. But, as SI.com's Rob Mahoney pointed out, this matchup is too brutal to call:
"Celtics-Wizards, while competitive, is a buffet of awful misses. Endless variety, all you can stomach.
— Rob Mahoney (@RobMahoney) May 13, 2017"
The average margin of victory through the first five contests was 18 points. Even Game 2 was anticlimatic. The Celtics erased a 14-point deficit to force overtime, but they ultimately ran away with a victory.
Game 6 was unchartered territory in that no team kept its foot on the gas long enough to sway momentum. It was ugly—at times unwatchable—but it was competitive.
And Washington can only hope this unsightliness carries into Game 7.
The Wizards are used to winning like this. They always lean on their stars, without the promise of anything from anyone else. As far as they're concerned, Game 6 was more of the same.
Their bench wrapped the regular season with a bottom-eight net rating—and that was with a quasi-resurgence later in the schedule. Things haven't changed in the playoffs. The second unit has the third-worst net rating overall, and the absolute lowest among teams that made it out of the first round.
Against the Atlanta Hawks, in the first round, the Wizards were able to play fast and furious. But the offense still stalled for protracted periods. They placed 14th in points scored per 100 possessions prior to their Game 6 detonation.
Morris has been hot and cold since the start of the playoffs. The Wizards are no stranger to Otto Porter's offensive vanishing acts, or even to Beal's own dry spells.
They haven't just been here before, winning within a less-than-ideal blueprint; this is essentially the only way they've won at all.
So yes, it's fitting this contentious series, baffling as it has often been, gets a Game 7.
And if Monday's winner-take-all tilt once again boils down to which squad can do more with less, we might as well fit the Wizards for their first conference finals bid since 1979.
Dan Favale covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter (@danfavale) and listen to his Hardwood Knocks podcast co-hosted by B/R's Andrew Bailey.
Stats courtesy of Basketball Reference or NBA.com.
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