Kristaps Porzingis and Jayson Tatum lead the Celtics past the Wizards.

Kristaps Porzingis ended with 34 points, while Jayson Tatum scored a game-high 35 to lead the Boston Celtics over the visiting Washington Wizards 133-129 on Friday.

After trailing by seven points at the half, Boston overcame Washington to win 36–16 in the third quarter behind 14 points from Porzingis and 11 from Tatum. In addition, Tatum pulled down ten rebounds and dish out eight assists in the victory, while Porzingis scored eleven rebounds and made 14 of his 14 free throws.

With 51.4 seconds remaining, the Wizards were down by four, but with 30.7 seconds remaining, Porzingis made a jump jumper to put the Wizards ahead by six.
With the win, Boston’s winning run now stands at three games, and the Celtics’ home record is now 25-3.

The Wizards, who have lost five straight, were led in scoring by Deni Avdija and Corey Kispert, each with 24 points. Avdija had eleven more rebounds. Jordan Poole scored 19 points and Bilal Coulibaly scored 21 for Washington. Out of their 47 3-point tries, the Wizards made 20 of them (42.6 percent).

The Celtics, who led 62–42 in points in the paint, finished with 20 points from Jrue Holiday, who converted nine of his 13 field goal attempts.

Despite Boston’s Payton Pritchard’s 50-foot attempt at the buzzer in the first quarter, Washington led 35–31 after the first 12 minutes. In the quarter, the Wizards scored eighteen points on fast breaks.

Late in the second quarter, the Wizards led 71-64 at the half after a 14-2 surge by the end of the quarter, despite a 62-57 lead for the Celtics. With 57.1 seconds left in the half, Kuzma made a 3-pointer to put Washington ahead 65-64. Poole and Avdija then each scored a 3-pointer to extend the lead.

After Boston went on a 13-2 run in the third quarter, they led 97-85 at the half. Tatum finished the quarter with a 3-pointer to give the Celtics a 100-87 lead going into the fourth.

Jayson Tatum compares the new Celtics addition to the Hall of Fame LA trade in Lakers news.

This seems a bit unrealistic.

Jayson Tatum, the All-Star forward for the Boston Celtics, made some intriguing remarks about his squad before the Los Angeles Lakers stunned the team on the road, 114-105. Throughout the entire season, Boston has been the top team in the league and has been on a roll.

This season, Tatum and Jaylen Brown’s core has performed flawlessly and has once again been dominant. However, Tatum feels that Boston’s offseason additions of a few players are the parts that are lacking.

According to ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne, Tatum recently discussed the addition of big man Kristaps Porzingis and likened the Lakers’ trade for him to their previous acquisition of Pau Gasol.
Tatum has a valid point, but Gasol was a far superior player than Porzingis. In addition, Gasol ranked as the Lakers’ second-best player; on any given night, Porzingis can rank third or fourth.
The Lakers were in terrible shape when they signed Gasol. Los Angeles hadn’t advanced far in the playoffs in years, and they needed another superstar to partner with Bryant.

Not only did Boston make it to the NBA Finals last season, but they were also one game away. Although the Celtics were already successful on their own, adding Porzingis does help.

Although it seems a bit unrealistic to compare Porzingis’ trade to Gasol, Tatum probably views Porzingis as the player who can help them get over the hump. Although Boston has improved this season, their team as a whole is well-rounded.

Although the star player for the Celtics has always looked up to Bryant, it looks like he missed this one.