The Celtics are shorthanded right now with Gordon Hayward, Al Horford, and Jaylen Brown all out for various reasons, but Boston is on a roll that even those injuries can’t stop.
The Wizards hosted the Celtics on Wednesday night and Kyrie Irving and John Wall had quite the duel, combining for 72 points on the night as the two teams needed overtime to decide a winner. In that overtime period, the game was tied at 125-125 with under 30 seconds to play as Irving dribbled the ball up the floor against Wall, who had recently come back into the game after an injury scare (and got a clutch bucket of his own to tie it).
Irving slowly prowled around the top of the key before unleashing a deep three-pointer from near the logo, finding nothing but net for his second straight big three-pointer in the overtime period.
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The Wizards were unable to answer on the ensuing possession and a pair of free throws from Irving got him to 38 points on the night and sealed a 130-125 win on the road. The win moves the Celtics to 17-10 on the season after their seventh consecutive victory, which puts them fifth in the East, with only one game separating them and the Sixers and Bucks in second place.
The Eastern Conference playoff race won’t be nearly as intriguing at the bottom as the West, but right now things are shaping up to be extremely fun among the top five teams — Toronto, Philadelphia, Milwaukee, Indiana, and Boston. All of those teams have depth to go along with star talent, but they also all have apparent flaws that will make a series between any combination of those teams extremely interesting.
