(Picture above from Washington Wizards twitter @WashWizards)

General Game Information:

Where: Verizon Center in Washington, DC

When: Sunday, May 7 at 6:30 pm EST

Where to Watch: TNT

Injuries:

Wizards: Ian Mahinmi – expected to play (calf)

Celtics: none

What to Watch For:

ISAIAH THOMAS’ DEFENSE (IF YOU CAN EVEN CALL IT THAT)

The Wizards took advantage of Thomas’ “defense” by attacking him on every possession he was in the game in the first quarter. It didn’t matter who the Celtics tried to hide him on. John Wall, Brad Beal, and Otto Porter all dominated when guarded by IT. Wall would either post him up or have Gortat said a hard screen him, Beal would run off screens with Thomas chasing him, and Porter posted him up and scored over him consistently. This made it harder for Thomas on offense because he was worn out from defense. Look for the Wiz to continue to attack Thomas in Game 4.

WILL BEAL HAVE HIS BREAKOUT GAME?

Beal appeared to be on his way to a big game when he scored the first 7 points for the Zards, capped off by this deep three:

However, he only scored 4 points the rest of the game, finishing with 11 points on 4/12 shooting (1/4 from three). He only played 25 minutes in the blowout victory so it’s likely he would have scored more if he had to play 35+ minutes again. This fast start was still a step in the right direction and it appears Beal is on the verge of having his breakout game this series.

Expect him to score 25+ points and knock down 3+ triples.

EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIES BETWEEN THE TEAMS

These teams do not like each other. This dates back to the regular season:

This was taken to a whole new level in Game 3 when Kelly Oubre decided there was only room for one Kelly in this series and bulldozed Kelly Olynyk.

Oubre has been suspended for Game 4.

There were eight technical fouls and three ejections in the game (Brandon Jennings and Terry Rozier each picked up two technicals and were ejected).

Expect the refs to call this game tight and make sure nothing happens after the whistle.

Jennings and Rozier have gone at it all series, so if something happens it will probably involve those two.

Prediction:

The Wizards come out energized from their Game 2 win and show why they had a 17 game win streak at home earlier this season, Thomas gets exploited on defense again, but Celtics keep this game closer than the last one. Wizards 117 – Celtics 111.

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