The Boston Celtics are set to play their second game of the season on Thursday. After receiving their championship rings for winning in the NBA Finals against the Dallas Mavericks, the Celtics pulled off a dominant win against the New York Knicks with a final score of 132 - 109 on Tuesday night. Tonight, the Celtics are in Washington D.C. tonight to play the Washington Wizards inside the Capital One Arena. Boston and Washington faced off four times last season, with Boston winning all four encounters. The Celtics will be bringing the Wizards out of their offseason and into their first game of regular season action with some Thursday night basketball. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. tonight. You can watch tonight's game on NBC Sports Boston. You can also stream it on Fubo, Max, NBA League Pass, or Youtube TV.
Thursday, the Celtics take on the Wizards in the nation's capital. The visitors won't have Sam Hauser in the lineup because of lower back pain. Before the game, Joe Mazzulla shared an update on the sharpshooting forward. "It's a day-to-day thing," said Boston's bench boss, per CLNS Media. "He's getting better, working at it every day, and we'll see how he progresses."
Fortunately for the Celtics, whose title team is nearly entirely intact, returning 13 of 15 players on standard deals with them a season ago, the reigning NBA champions' depth is a source of strength. Boston's bench boasted the highest net rating among all second units in the 2023-24 campaign, per NBA.com. It ranked in the top 10 in offensive and defensive rating. "We have the flexibility and the depth to go different routes," said Mazzulla about navigating Hauser's absence. "It might not necessarily be a wing, it could be a guard, it could be a big, it just depends on what the matchups are in those second units."
The last time Hauser was in Washington, he generated a career-high 30 points in a 130-104 win. He also knocked down a personal-best 10/13 threes. The six-foot-eight sharpshooter became the sixth player in the 2023-24 season to make ten triples in a game, joining Keegan Murray, Stephen Curry, Trey Murphy, Karl Anthony-Towns, and Bogdan Bogdanovic. Hauser was well on his way to breaking Marcus Smart's franchise record of 11 makes from behind the arc and had his sights set on Klay Thompson's NBA-best 14 threes in one game. Unfortunately, he stepped on someone's foot on the Wizards' bench in the third frame, resulting in a left ankle sprain that sidelined him for the rest of the matchup.
Just as the Celtics' being without Jaylen Brown, Derrick White, and Kristaps Porzingis for that game allowed Hauser to step up while in an elevated role, the latter's absence on Thursday creates opportunities for his teammates further down the rotation. "What the sub-pattern is will change from game to game. It will change within the game," said Mazzulla. "We changed sub-patterns during the game in the first quarter last game, [a 132-109 win against the Knicks], and did a good job of adapting.
"I have trust in whoever we call that they'll be ready to play, just cause of the work that they put in and things that they do. So, it's gotta be everybody by committee, depending upon what the game needs at that particular time."
The Celtics torched the Knicks on Tuesday’s banner night, drilling an NBA record-tying 29 3-pointers in a resounding 132-109 win. Al Horford connected on the 29th 3-pointer with 8:54 remaining in the fourth quarter. Boston then missed the final 13 attempts from beyond the arc, equaling the record set by the Bucks in a 144-97 win over the Heat on Dec. 29, 2020.
The Celtics will look to continue the hot shooting on Thursday night in the nation’s capital. It’ll be the season opener for the Wizards, who went 15-67 last season — their worst record in franchise history. They’re hoping their offseason acquisitions and three first-round draft picks can help turn things around.
The Celtics could have a shorter bench than usual for Thursday night’s matchup with the Wizards. Boston added backup wing Sam Hauser to its injury report Wednesday, listing him as questionable for the game in Washington with lower back pain. Hauser, who emerged last season as one of the NBA’s top 3-point shooters, played 24 minutes in Tuesday night’s season-opening rout of the New York Knicks at TD Garden. The 26-year-old went 4-for-10 from the field and 2-for-7 from three, finishing with 10 points, five rebounds and one assist in the 132-109 win.
A durable reserve, Hauser has played in all but five games for the Celtics since the start of the 2022-23 season. If he can’t go against Washington, second-year pro Jordan Walsh likely would take on a more prominent role in head coach Joe Mazzulla’s rotation. Walsh, who played sparingly as a rookie, impressed this preseason, seemingly locking down the end-of-the-rotation spot previously occupied by departed free agent Oshae Brissett. The 2023 second-round pick played the final six garbage-time minutes against the Knicks.
Baylor Scheierman and Jaden Springer both did not see action against New York, and two-way players JD Davison, Drew Peterson and Anton Watson did not dress. The only other player listed on Boston’s injury report was Kristaps Porzingis, who’s expected to miss another month-plus as he works his way back from offseason leg surgery.
