The Celtics-Wizards Rivalry Is Misleading
Tensions are high as Boston clings to a 2–1 lead, but what has transpired between these two teams is anything but a rivalry
The Celtics and Wizards got into another heated exchange in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals. There were three different events that resulted in technical fouls. This has been a very exciting series, but for different reasons than you might be seeing on First Take or SportsCenter every morning.
Terry Rozier and Brandon Jennings ended up getting ejected because they couldn’t stop chirping at each other, and Jonas Jerebko and Ian Mahimni got technicals because they fell on each other. Both of those moments were dwarfed by Kelly Oubre shoving Kelly Olynyk to the ground after an illegal screen call.
This wasn’t the first time these two teams got involved with each other like that on the court, so there is a popular perception that this is a full fledged rivalry. However if you pay attention closely, you realize that calling it a rivalry is a little misleading.
Along with the three incidents that occurred on Thursday, there were about two separate occasions where the Celtics and Wizards fought each other in some way. When watching each altercation you’ll notice that a Wizards player starts it every time. Boston isn’t a team that rolls over, so of course they’ll respond. But let’s not ignore the fact that Washington is always the instigator.
I’m not complaining about the Wizards fight-picking strategy, because that’s what they do. They try and get inside your head to get you to think about something other than basketball. Since the Celtics are pretty close to them in their chances to win the Eastern Conference, Washington wants to get to them especially.
There’s a reason Oubre got ejected from the game for this move. Olynyk didn’t do anything excessive to warrant a running shoulder from the Washington wing. This caused a pretty big scene that some would look at as a rivalrous match up, but it’s just Oubre getting pissed that he got screened hard by a bigger player.
Here’s a classy play by John Wall. Up by 20, he decides to tackle Marcus Smart around the neck. Wall was ejected from the game for this move. This was the first altercation between these two teams this season, and it certainly hasn’t been different since.
Wall strikes again. This was after the Celtics beat the Wizards in Boston, and was not that long after the Smart-Wall altercation. Jae Crowder was walking back to the locker room before Wall decided to say some choice words to him. Crowder could have handled this better, but it displays the relationship of these two teams. Wall instigates, Crowder responds, Wall escalates.
The Celtics need to do a better job of not responding to the Wizards’ nonsense, but I don’t look at this as a rivalry because of the fights. If anything, it’s a rivalry because these two teams are trying to take out Cleveland in the Eastern Conference, and either will do what they have to do to get there.
We’ll see how this series continues, as the referees attempt to control the on court antics. Each time a team has won a game in the series, it has been the team that was more physical. We’ll see if the Wizards can be the more physical team when they can’t pick a fight every chance they get.
