The Celtics are looking for their fourth straight win when they take on the Wizards in Washington. This is the second of three games between these two teams this season. The Celtics defeated the Wizards 122-102 in Washington in their second game of the season. They will play for the third and final time in Boston on April 6. The Celtics won the series 4-0 last season. The Celtics are 203-120 all-time overall and 83-74 in Washington.

The Celtics last played on Tuesday, while the Wizards last played on Monday, so both teams should be well rested. So while the Celtics spent Thursday at the White House being honored as the 2024 NBA champions, they may be a bit hungover from that ceremony. The Celtics have won their last three games, while the Wizards have lost their last nine games. The Wizards are 1-4 at home, while the Celtics are 7-1 on the road.

This offseason, the Wizards added 3 first-round picks from this year’s draft: 2nd pick Alex Sarr, 14th pick Carlton “Bub” Carrington and 24th pick Kyshawn George. They also added Key veterans Jonas Valenciunas, former Celtic Malcolm Brogdon, Saddiq Bey and Anthony Gill. They also traded Deni Avdija and lost Tyus Jones to free agency. The Celtics, as we know, are basically the same team as last year’s championship team.

After this Emirates Cup match, the Celtics will host the Minnesota Timberwolves and the LA Clippers before playing Chicago and Cleveland. They will then have a five-game homestand against Miami, Detroit, Milwaukee, Memphis and Chicago. They then visit Chicago and Orlando before playing another four-game home stretch, hosting Philadelphia twice, Indiana and Toronto.

After playing in New York on Monday, the Wizards will play this game at home against the Celtics, travel to Indiana to take on the Pacers and then return home for games against Chicago and the Los Angeles Clippers. They will then play Milwaukee and Cleveland before a four-game home stretch against Dallas, Denver, Memphis and Charlotte.

For the Celtics, only Kristaps Porzingis is out as he completes his rehabilitation from offseason ankle surgery. He has been practicing with the Maine Celtics and is nearing a return, but will miss this game. For the Wizards, Saddiq Bey and Tristan Vukcevicis are both out with a knee injury. Bilal Coulibaly is likely to miss Monday’s match with a head injury but is expected to complete full training on Thursday. Marvin Bagley III is questionable due to a groin injury.

Likely Celtics starters

Grid view

Celtics Reserves
Lucas Kornet
Payton Pritchard
Neemias Queta
Sam Hauser
Baylor Scheierman
Jaden Springer
Xavier Tillman, Sr
Jordan Walsh

2-way players
J.D. Davison
Drew Peterson
Anthony Watson

Injuries/out
Kristaps Porzingis (ankle) out

Head Coach
Joe Mazzulla

Likely Wizard starters

Grid view

Wizard Reserves
Patrick Baldwin Jr
Malcolm Brogdon
Johnny Davis
Kyshawn George
Anthony Gill
Richaun Holmes
Corey Kispert
Jonas Valanciunas

2-way players
Jared Butler
Justin Champagne
Tristan Vukcevic

Injuries/out
Saddiq Bey (knee) out
Tristan Vukcevic (knee) out
Marvin Bagley III (groin) questionable

Head Coach
Brian Keefe

Key matches

Grid view

• 

  Dirk White
  
  

  Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images
  

• 

  Jordan Poole
  
  

  Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images
  

Derrick White vs. Jordan Poole
Poole is averaging 21.1 points, 2.3 rebounds, 4.6 assists and 1.9 steals per game. He is shooting 45.8% from the field and 44.4% from beyond the arc. In the first game against the Celtics, Poole finished with 26 points, 1 rebound, 4 assists, 1 block and 4 steals while shooting 44.3% from the field and 38.4% from beyond the arc. The Celtics should stick with him at the rim as he is a threat to hit his 3s. He’s also a threat to steal the ball if the Celtics get sloppy.

Grid view

• 

  Jayson Tatum
  
  

  Photo by Winslow Townson/Getty Images
  

• 

  Kyle Kuzma
  
  

  Photo by Scott Taetsch/Getty Images
  

Jayson Tatum vs. Kyle Kuzma
Kuzma is averaging 17.9 points, 6.6 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game. He is shooting 40.9% from the field and 29.1% from beyond the arc. In the first game against the Celtics, Kuzma finished with 12 points, 2 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 block and 1 steal. He shot 37.5% from the field but didn’t hit a 3.

Honorable mention
Jaylen Brown vs. Bilal Coulibaly
Coulibaly is averaging 14.8 points, 5.8 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 1.3 steals per game. He is shooting 57.1% from the field and 37.1% from beyond the arc. In the first game against the Celtics, Coulibaly finished with 8 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists and 1 steal while shooting 50% from the field but not hitting a 3.

Keys to the game
Defense – Defense is always the key to winning. The Celtics won their championship last season with tough, physical defense. Once again, they will have to make defense a priority again. The Celtics rank 13th with a defensive rating of 111.9, while the Wizards rank 30th with a defensive rating of 120.3. The Celtics were first in the league in defense last season and they need to get back to playing that tough lock-down defense every game, all games again this season. The Celtics in particular need to defend the paint as they rank 27th, allowing 53.6 points in the paint per game.

Recoil – The Celtics are 10th with 42.7 rebounds per game, while the Wizards are 25th with 41.7 rebounds per game. Once again, the Celtics were second last season with 46.7 rebounds per game and basically the same roster. It’s important for the Celtics to bounce back, give themselves extra possessions and limit their opponents’ possessions. A big part of rebounding is effort and hustle, and when the Celtics put extra effort and hustle on the boards, it usually translates into the rest of their game. Each player must commit to crashing the boards and chasing every rebound from both ends of the court.

Maximum effort for 48 minutes – The Celtics’ losses this season can be traced back to a lack of effort. It also seems like they start slow and end up in a hole that they have to dig themselves out of, or they jump out to a lead only to give up in the second half and let their opponent get back into the game and make it close . The Celtics have to play hard on both ends of the court again, the full 48 minutes without letup.

3-point shooting – The Celtics lead the league in 3-pointers with 50.5 per game. They are 8th in the league shooting 37.9% on 3 pointers. The Celtics are tough to beat when they hit their 3s, but struggle to score when the 3s aren’t falling. They need to move the ball and find the open man to make the best shots possible. If the 3’s don’t fall in this game, they should abandon that strategy as well and move the ball inside.

X factors
On the road and focused – The Celtics play on the road after celebrating their championship at the White House on Thursday. They must overcome the distractions that come with playing on the road, such as travel, staying in hotels, missing family, an unfamiliar building and a hostile crowd. They also need to shake off the excitement of the White House visit and stay focused and not allow those distractions to play the trick.

On duty -Caregiving is always an x-factor in any game. Every team functions differently. Some call it tight, others let them play. Some prefer the home team. Some prefer the road team. Some just make bad, mind-bending calls. The Celtics must adapt to the way the referees are judging the game and not allow bad calls or no calls to take their focus away from playing the game.

And be sure to check out CelticsBlog’s Playback stream for a live conversation about the game. To participate, all you need to do is create a free account, connect your LP sub if you have one, and join our community.