You know it’s been a good night when your star player doesn’t need to step onto the floor in the fourth quarter. In terms of offensive and defensive production, this was the best game we’ve seen from the Celtics to begin the season.

The movement was better.

The actions were crisp.

The decision-making was sharp (for the most part).

The shot selection was natural, with nothing forced.

The Celtics had options, and that’s not something we’ve been able to say in the first two weeks.

You can argue that the Washington Wizards’ defense was porous (they were 27th in the NBA heading into last night). You can point to their standing in the Eastern Conference. And you can stand on the fact that tougher tests await.

Every story needs to start somewhere. And last night, we finally saw the type of system we were led to expect coming into the season.

Jaylen Brown was exceptional. Payton Pritchard’s interior game is a welcome development. Josh Minott is the steal of the summer. I could go on…

Game 9: Celtics 136 — Wizards 107

📊 Key Stats

  • The Celtics ended the night with 51 buckets, 31 of which came via an assist.

    • The ball movement and off-ball player movement were both better than what we’ve seen for most of the year.

    • The Celtics got downhill far more frequently, and while corner threes still weren’t a big part of the offensive process (Cleaning The Glass has them taking 0 corner threes in non-garbage time minutes), drives out of the corner like the one from Josh Minott above gave Boston a reliable outlet on the drive-and-dish.

  • Pressure defense was a calling card throughout the game against Washington. The Celtics generated 19 turnovers, with 12 of them coming via steals.

    • In total, the Celtics added 30 points to their scoring tally via those turnovers.

    • Washington, on the other hand, had 3 points off turnovers.

      • Huge disparity.

  • Mid-range was king for the Celtics last night, accounting for 42% of their entire offense.

    • 17% of Boston’s attempts were long twos

    • 25% was in the short mid-range region (below the free-throw line and above the restricted area).