BOSTON — Two nights after narrowly avoiding an embarrassing loss, the Boston Celtics rolled to an easy win.
Jared Sullinger had 18 points and 15 rebounds in three quarters and Isaiah Thomas scored 21 points, leading the Celtics to a 111-78 rout of the Washington Wizards on Friday.
“From the beginning of the game it was contagious,” said Avery Bradley, who scored 16 points for Boston. “One person was making the extra pass and then the next guy was and we were getting easy shots.”
Jae Crowder had 17 points for the Celtics, who posted a runaway win against the Wizards for the second time in three weeks. Kelly Olynyk scored nine of his 12 points in the fourth quarter as both coaches left the finish to their reserves.
Boston looked nothing like the team that needed to rally from a five-point deficit in the final few minutes for an 84-80 victory over the lowly Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday.
“I think pulling out that Sixers game was huge,” Celtics coach Brad Stevens said. “I felt we had a pretty good shootaround and then felt like we played on both ends probably as consistently for 48 minutes as we’ve played all year.”
Jared Dudley scored 19 points for Washington, which has lost three in a row. Bradley Beal had 16 points, and John Wall finished with 10 points and six assists.
The Wizards shot 32 percent from the field and committed 22 turnovers.
“You can’t play this game solely based on if you’re making or missing shots,” Washington coach Randy Wittman said. “We have energy to start the game, but when we miss shots we lose that.”
The Celtics put together a 12-2 run midway through the opening period, and the Wizards never recovered. Boston led by as many as 17 points in the first quarter.
Beal had 11 points in the first quarter and then zero in the second. Washington made just six field goals in each of the first two quarters, going 12-for-45 in the half.
“It doesn’t matter how good your offense is if you can’t stop anybody,” Wall said. “I’m giving them all the credit for what they did. We just didn’t make shots offensively and we didn’t defend and they got whatever they wanted.”
Evan Turner added to Washington’s woes with a 19-foot jumper right before the buzzer, lifting Boston to a 54-36 halftime lead.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.