January 20, 2013; Auburn Hills, MI, USA; Boston Celtics center Jason Collins (98) and Detroit Pistons power forward Jason Maxiell (54) fight for the rebound in the first quarter at The Palace. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports

Jason Collins makes history in the sports world by being the first active athlete in the four major pro sports to come out as gay. Collins made this announcement to Sports Illustrated earlier this afternoon.

Collins played was a member of the Boston Celtics earlier this season. He was traded to the Washington Wizards along with Leandro Barbosa for Jordan Crawford. Collins averaged 10.3 minutes per game with the Celtics and has been an NBA journeyman for most of his career.

Doc Rivers spoke to Ian Thomsen of Sports Illustrated today on Collins and had nothing but good things to say about him.

“He didn’t play all the time, but when he did play he was ready,” said Rivers. “What I was impressed with was how much he prepared. There are a lot of players who are not playing and then when you need them, they’re not ready to play because they don’t prepare. You could bring Jason Collins in at any point in the game, and he has studied the opposing team’s scouting report like he thought he was going to be playing 40 minutes that night. And he did it that way every time.

Via Sports Illustrated

Apr 7, 2013; Boston, MA, USA; Boston Celtics shooting guard Jordan Crawford (27) drives the ball past Washington Wizards center Nene (42) and point guard John Wall (2) during the second half at the TD Garden. The Celtics won 107-96. Mandatory Credit: David Butler II-USA TODAY Sports

The Boston Celtics avoided a two game skid in the return of Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce to the basketball floor. Although Boston scored 107 points tonight, their work on defense and the glass shouldn’t go unnoticed tonight.

The Celtics outrebounded the Wizards 38-36, but the fact that they held the Wizards to only 36 rebounds is phenomenal in itself. The Wizards are the 9th best rebounding team in the NBA. They normally get 43.4 rebounds per game. They also were held to only 36 points in the paint.

Boston did a great job guarding John Wall around screens and playing him physically thoughout the entire game. Whenever Wall would get a screen, there was a wall of Celtics defenders ready to meet him and prevent penetration. The big played Wall soft and allowed the perimeter defender to do most of the work and force Wall in the direction that the Celtics wanted him to go.

Wall was one of three players to average over 23 points, seven assists, and five rebounds in the month of March. The other two were Kobe Bryant and LeBron James. For the Celtics to have guarded him so well should instill comfort in the hearts of Celtics fans.

Brandon Bass had his best performance as a Celtic this season. He scored 20 points on 9-12 shooting and had six rebounds to go with that as well. The Wizards allowed Bass to get to the rim for five of his nine makes. He isn’t known as a catch and drive guy, but Bass does that exceptionally well and he showed that tonight. This is the type of all-around performance that the Celtics need from him offensively night in and night out. He obviously isn’t going to go 9-12 every night, but he still needs to try to get some of these same shots rather than staying in the middle area for most of his offense.

Overall, the Celtics played a great game tonight and they should pat themselves on the back. The Wizards record doesn’t indicate it, but they’re a very good team. They’ve got a very good point guard in Wall–no doubt top 10–and they contained him very easily. Now, they’ll move onto the next game and try to continue to keep this good taste in their mouths until the postseason arrives.

Mar 25, 2012; Boston, MA, USA; Boston Celtics small forward Paul Pierce (34) shoots the ball against Washington Wizards point guard John Wall (left) during the second half at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: Mark L. Baer-USA TODAY Sports

After a loss to the lowly Cleveland Cavaliers where the Celtics blew a lead, they’ll look to rebound against the Washington Wizards today. The Wizards are mathematically eliminated from NBA playoff contention, but if you’ve watched them since John Wall’s return in January you would’ve thought otherwise.

When John Wall has played this season, the Wizards have been good enough to be a playoff team. Also, Wall is on a tear in the last month. He’s averaged 23 points per game, 7.8 assists per game, 5 rebounds per game, and only 2.9 turnovers per game all on 48% shooting from the field. The key to a Celtic’s victory tonight is stopping John Wall.

Wall scored 37 points against the Indiana Pacers on Saturday night. A majority of those 37 points came from transition opportunity. In fact, 19.4% of the Wizards offense came in transition last night. John Wall had 11 field goals in transition per Synergy Sports and he made eight of those. The Celtics have to do a great job of picking the ball up in transition and making sure that the Wizards don’t get behind them. Though the Wizards offense is pretty awful, anyone can make themselves look good in transition.

The Celtics will likely use some combination of trapping Wall and try to confuse him by playing over and under the screen in different instances. They’ll need to force him to the left side of the floor if they want to limit his effectiveness. With Bradley Beal out, the Wizards don’t have many scoring options outside of Nene and John Wall.

There’s no word on whether or not Kevin Garnett or Paul Pierce will play tonight. They both practiced yesterday and that’s a very good sign for the Celtics. With how bad the Wizards are on the road, they may not need either one to return tonight to play against them but the more help the better.