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Teams at both ends of the NBA standings will face each other on Sunday night. boston celtics visit washington wizards.
Boston (52-14) aims to improve on the league's best record.of celtics They defeated the visiting Phoenix Suns 127-112 on Thursday, extending their winning streak to four games.
of wizard (11-56) have lost three straight in 19 of their last 21 games and have the worst record in the NBA.
for celtics, Jaylen Brown continued his hot streak with a game-high 37 points in Thursday's win over the Suns. Brown is averaging 28.9 points per game since the All-Star break.
“From the organization to the coaches to the players, we're all in this together,” Brown said. “I think what creates an environment is the level of respect. There's no hierarchy. We all come to work together, and everyone comes to do their job.”
“Joe (Boston coach Joe Mazzula), first of all, sets the tone during preparation. He's a hard worker. And he lets us be ourselves. We're very Well-coached, well-disciplined, and we've continued to do that.'' There weren't that many lapses this season. ”
Boston made 25 3-pointers against the Suns, tying a season record. Al Horford made 6 of 10 3-pointers and finished with a season-high 24 points.
“I think we did a good job of reading the game quickly and getting everyone in the paint, and I think the rest of us benefited from that,” Horford said. “So they were attacking in the paint and kicking the ball out when the defense was concentrating. And we had time-ins and time-outs and looked like we made the right plays most of the night.”
of wizard Washington is looking to bounce back from Saturday's 127-98 loss to Chicago, dropping its record to 4-20 under interim head coach Brian Keefe. Corey Kispert led Washington with 16 points, and Bilal Koulibaly added 15 points.
Washington's Deni Avdija suffered a right knee contusion late in the game and did not play in the game against the Bulls. Kispert started in place of Avdija.
“He (Avdija) warmed up but couldn’t go all the way,” Keefe said.
Washington is also without Tyus Jones, who missed the first game of the season with a back injury.
“They hurt us deep in the paint,” Keefe said. “They were able to get the ball in the paint, score in the paint, and get offensive rebounds in the paint. We probably didn't have enough resistance early in the game, but as the game went on, our fight got better. It actually got better.'' I was happy. ”
Boston has been without center Kristaps Porzingis for the past four games. Porzingis is suffering from right hamstring tightness, and Mazzula said his condition is day-to-day.
“I think you can see that regardless of who's in and who's out, we've been playing a certain level of basketball, and that's the most important thing,” Mazzulla said. “We're going to have a locker room environment with no players, but we're able to maintain a level of physicality and a level of play on both sides of the ball. That's the most important thing.”
Sunday's game will be the third meeting between the two teams this season. Boston won 126-107 against Washington on October 30th, and then won 133-129 against Boston on February 9th. Both teams will play their final game of the season in Boston on April 14th.
—Field Level Media
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