The Washington Wizards are going to have to solve their defensive problem if they are going to even up their Eastern Conference playoff series against the Boston Celtics. The issues involve what they are going to do around the perimeter, as this game gets underway at 8 PM ET at the TD Garden. BetAnySports customers have the ability to do real-time wagering as they access the state-of-the-art software supplied through Live Betting Ultra.

Boston fell behind by fourteen points at the end of the first quarter, as the Wizards got off to a 16-0 lead. But then the Celtics went on a 71-42 run over the second and third quarters to pretty much salt things away. Coach Brad Stevens made the decision to, for the most part, continue what he was doing in the previous series against the Chicago Bulls, as he went “small” with Gerald Green. But Green played only seven and a half minutes and posted almost nothing on the stat sheet. But other guards made an impact, as Marcus Smart went 31 minutes and had a plus/minus of +12, with Terry Rozier posting a +13 in just fifteen minutes. Rozier, a 6-1 guard, had eight rebounds.

And speaking of rebounds, Marcin Gortat pulled down eight of them on the offensive end for the Wiz, which means, at least at first glance, like he could have a similar effect as Robin Lopez had for the Bulls in a series in which Chicago won the first two games and lost the last four. But Al Horford came up with the kind of game that the Celts had in mind when they signed him to a big free agent contract in the off-season, as he nearly had a triple-double, with 21 points (on 10-13 shooting), along with nine rebounds and ten assists.

In the NBA playoff odds posted on this game at BetAnySports, the Celtics are once against favored at home:

Boston Celtics -5

Washington Wizards +5

Over 217.5 points -110

Under 217.5 points -110

Isaiah Thomas went home for the funeral of his little sister, and has come back. He scored 33 points in Game 1, and he is very much a threat in the fourth quarters of games. Thomas appears to have gotten over the shooting woes that have plagued him the past two post-seasons. He was part of a three-point assault that saw Boston make 19 out of 39 attempts. And 43% of Boston’s shots were taken from downtown. Washington’s strengths aren’t exactly on defense, so this could once again become a case where they will have to get in a shootout and make a lot of shots of their own. John Wall and Bradley Beal, the Wizards’ potent guard duo, didn’t do too badly from the field, making 18 of their 39 shots. And maybe Otto Porter, who scored 16 points in Game 1, should shoot some threes, as he was 43.4 in the regular season.

BetAnySports patrons should be aware that Washington pretty much fought the Celtics on even terms except for the triples. They matched them in rebounds, and they were able to put six players in double figures, including Kelly Oubre, who hit for 12 points (on 5-8 shooting) but had the worst plus/minus of anybody on the floor (-22).

A question surrounding this game is whether Markieff Morris can take the floor for the Wizards. He played only 11:20 for Washington, and had to leave with a sprained ankle. He has said he’ll play, but he has been announced as a game-time decision. He supplies needed size, but the effect of his absence might be minimized if Boston goes small.

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