Boston Celtics Battle for Control in Game Four
The Boston Celtics need to maintain control of the series with a game four victory
Nobody was expecting the Boston Celtics to sweep the Washington Wizards, so heading into game four with a 2-1 lead is a position everyone can be confident about. The unfortunate reality is that the Celtics did have an opportunity to make quick work of the Wizards, but their inconsistent play hurt them in a bad way in game three.
Escaping with a 3-1 series lead will put the team in a position that anyone would have loved heading into this series, but being tied 2-2 tells a completely different story. Before you point to the Bulls series to show how the Celtics are comfortable in a 2-2 series, take a closer look at what is happening, because that is a completely different scenario.
The difference between the Wizards on the road and the Wizards at home is bigger than any other team in the league. Turning this into a three game series is playing right into what the Wizards would have wanted.
The Celtics did their job in making sure the Wizards did not steal a game in Boston, giving them the kind of control a team needs to win a series. Even if it will still be tied, dropping game four and letting the Wizards tie things up at two a piece is conceding every bit of that control.
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The Celtics do not want to give the Wizards the confidence they need to win on the road, because coming out of this 2-2 means that the Celtics have no more margin for error. If they are successful in taking a victory in Washington while entering with a 2-0 lead, it would be foolish to think they would win game six in Washington.
Losing game four means that the Celtics cannot afford to have another bad game, because losing home court would likely mean the end of this series. With two big leads in their loses in Boston, the Wizards still feel as though they can get a victory in Boston. If they manage to tie the series up, they will be comfortable with exactly where they are, the same cannot be said about Boston.
They do not want to give up momentum in the series, and they do not want to get to the point where one bad game for an inconsistent team could mean the end of the series.
Even though the worst case is that the Celtics maintain home court in a three game series, taking that route is putting the Wizards in the driver’s seat, particularly after how much of a blowout game three was.
If, however, the Celtics do take down one of the best home team’s in the league, things will look a lot more dim for the Wizards. LeBron James proved that 3-1 is not a death sentence, but dropping a game at home is worst case scenario for the Wizards, putting the Celtics in a position anyone in the franchise would have taken prior to the series starting.
The Celtics have spoken about coming into this game as a must win, and that has a lot to do with how they lost game three. It is one thing to lose the way Washington did in Boston, knowing that they were at some point in a position to win. In game three, the Celtics never posed a threat. Another performance like that brings them right back to where they were when they couldn’t solve the Bulls, and it will be a lot harder to turn things around against the Wizards.
Game four in a 3-1 series is always a potential turning point, but with the crazy home and away split of the Wizards, it means even more. The Celtics have always been able to bounce back from awful performances, but this will be their biggest test.
The Wizards feel as though they have figured out how to attack Isaiah Thomas, while the Celtics are still searching for answers to stop John Wall. The tension in this series just adds another layer to the confidence winning this builds up, but the Celtics have embraced that environment all season long.
The Celtics were the best road team in the East this season, and they need to prove that tonight. The Celtics cannot afford to throw away two games like they did against the Bulls, making this the most important game in the Brad Stevens era.
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In the end, the real pressure is on the Wizards, because being down 3-1 is close to insurmountable, while being tied 2-2 after dropping two straight games is just an unenviable position. The Celtics did their job by winning those two games at home, but they know the importance of holding onto control of this series, and that will be lost if they do not get a victory in Washington tonight.