The Washington Wizards and Boston Celtics go toe to toe Wednesday night in a huge game 5 that could determine which team statistically will win the series. The series moves back to Boston in which Isaiah Thomas and the Celtics try to take care of business like they did in the first two games of the series. This game is huge because right now, history is on the side of the Celtics. In all eight games that the two have played this season, the home team won all eight times.
Washington keys
First and foremost for Washington is their defense on the perimeter.
The Celtics have shown flashes of dominance shooting the ball from beyond the arc and the Wizards need to slow them down Wednesday night. Secondly, Bradley Beal needs to step up again. John Wall has been automatic all series but when Bradley Beal steps up this Wizards team is completely different. They are more dangerous, their depth is a lot better, and their scoring is through the roof when Beal is hitting shots consistently.
Lastly, the team energy needs to be there in game 5. Games 3 and 4 got a bit chippy and that seems to have favored the Wizards a lot. Washington needs to get in the head of the Celtics and just be aggressive and attack them. If they do that they have a good chance of winning.
Boston Keys
The offense starts with Isaiah Thomas. Everyone on the team knows this, and everyone watching knows this. The Celtics need to get Isaiah Thomas going and then try and get other role guys to hit shots. Once Thomas becomes effective, it opens up a lot of space for the Boston shooters to get shots off. The role players are going to have to step up offensively for the Celtics.
Avery Bradley, Jae Crowder, and Al Horford have to be a threat from three if they want to find success in game 5. If they don't, the Celtics are in for a long night.
Defensively, the Celtics need to hide Isaiah Thomas. The Wizards have been doing a good job of finding who Isaiah is guarding and go straight at him, but the Celtics need to find a man for Thomas to guard to where they will live with the shots he takes.
This will likely end up being Otto Porter Jr or Kelly Oubre. Both of those guys can score on Thomas but Boston will live with those odds over John Wall or Bradley Beal.
These two teams are so evenly matched that no matter who wins game 5, a 7th game should be expected to come. The Wizards are on a roll right now but the Celtics still have homecourt advantage the rest of the way. It's the battle of two teams who hate each other.
