WASHINGTON — This time, the Celtics actually paid for their season-long habit of bad starts against the Wizards.
In a game decided by the end of the first quarter, they lost Game 3 of the Eastern Conference semifinals to Washington last night, 116-89. The Celtics’ series lead was cut to 2-1, and neither team has won on the other’s floor this season.
The Wizards are averaging 39.6 points in the first quarter after last night’s 39-17 start, fleshed out by a debilitating 22-0 run that knocked the Celtics into an inescapable hole.
The current pattern, as they say, isn’t sustainable.