You could be forgiven if you had a feeling of déjà vu on Monday night, as the Celtics took the court without a whopping five players due to injury (or, in Gordon Hayward’s case, illness). And yet, despite the many absences, they found a way to will themselves to a win against Anthony Davis and the playoff-hopeful New Orleans Pelicans.
Now, tonight, the Celtics travel to the nation’s capital to face the Washington Wizards team that has seen little go according to plan in their own way. Projected this summer to be somewhere around a mid-tier playoff team in the Eastern Conference, the Wizards have limped their way to a record of just 11-16 and the 10th seed, with the fifth-worst point differential in the conference.