The Washington Wizards are trying whatever tactics they can to get back into their second-round playoff series with the Boston Celtics.
Prior to Thursday’s Game 3 in Washington, Wizards backcourt duo John Wall and Bradley Beal voiced their complaints about getting held by the Celtics in the first two games of the series.
“If you look at the last play, he was holding my arm the whole time, but the ref told me he couldn’t see it, so … so be it,” Wall said in reference to getting the ball stolen from him by Avery Bradley towards the end of regulation in Tuesday’s Game 2, per Mark Murphy of the Boston Herald.
“My mindset is I ain’t going to get too many calls. Just play through the physicality and try to finish plays,” continued Wall. “Don’t look for the contact and just try to play through it. The one thing I can say with them being more physical than what our team is being, they’re not giving up easy layups like we have. I think we have to bring a different approach. It’s not trying to injure anybody, but you’re just playing physical and smart basketball.”
“I get held up coming off every screen,” Beal was quoted as saying in agreement. “Coming off a pick-and-roll, I get held. I get fouled a lot, but it’s the playoffs. You can’t complain about it. You can’t be passive. We’ve got to push back, fight back.”
There is some bad blood between the two teams, so we knew it would be a physical series. But if the Wizards, who currently trail 2-0, can draw some attention to the officiating and perhaps even swing it in their favor somewhat, it could be a whole new series, especially now it has moved to their home turf.
