4 takeaways as the Celtics crush the Wizards and remain undefeated

The Celtics put a slow start behind them on Thursday night and celebrated a stunning 122-102 victory over the Wizards in Washington DC. With the win, Boston improves to 2-0 on the year with an average margin of victory of 21.5 points.

Jayson Tatum led the visitors with his second straight double-double (25 points, 11 rebounds), while Jaylen Brown contributed a game-high 27 points, 8 rebounds and 4 steals in 30 minutes. Jordan Poole scored a game-high 26 points for the Wizards in the setback.

Boston actually trailed by eight points in the first quarter after Poole scored 17 points in the period. From there, the team patched things up, starting with timely offense from Tatum and Derrick White (19 points). Boston finally put the game away in the second half with a 58-24 run to defeat a rebuilding Wizards squad that lacked offensive firepower outside of Poole. The sensational stretch allowed Joe Mazzulla to rest his starters for most of the fourth quarter, as no starter played more than 30 minutes.

The Celtics will now hit the road again to complete their two-game road trip on Saturday night in Detroit.

Here are four takeaways from the Celtics' win on Thursday night:

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Celtics defense recovers from Jordan Poole's opening drive: The former Warriors guard put on a show in the first quarter against the Celtics, scoring 17 points in the frame, including some blistering shots from 3-point range. The Celtics were a step slow defensively out of the gate, including in transition, but they were able to quickly steady the ship when Poole left the game. Despite the outburst, Boston still led by one point after the first quarter, and the team stepped up its defense significantly in the middle two quarters, allowing Washington to score just 41 points in the two frames, while the Wizards scored 24 in both periods points exceeded. The Wizards' lazy 3-point shooting outside of Poole led to Boston running away with the game as they shot just 1 of 25 from distance outside of Poole.

Joe Mazzulla comes off the bench to great success: With Sam Hauser sidelined with a back injury, Jordan Walsh was the logical replacement to fill his minutes on the wing. However, Mazzulla decided to throw a bit of a curveball against the Wizards' size from the bench, choosing to play three big players off the bench (Luke Kornet, Xavier Tillman and Neemias Queta) rather than opting for the 20th -year-old Walsh to decide. The move opened up the opportunity for Boston to play multiple double-big lineups, and the strategy paid off for much of the contest. Queta looked good in his minutes against Jonas Valanciunas, holding on to the post and firing a few easy shots at the rim. Mazzulla was also able to take some pressure off of Al Horford and the Wizards' size with this look. Walsh will ultimately get some opportunities in the rotation this year if Boston is shorthanded, but the Celtics are content to handle the bigger lineups if opponents allow it.

Payton Pritchard recovers: The reserve team gained additional opportunities through Sam Hauser on Thursday evening and made the most of it. He shook off a miserable opening shooting performance (1 of 10 from the field) and made a team-high five three-pointers in his 28 minutes off the bench. The reserve guard also hit a three-quarter court heave to end the third quarter, but it was waved away after he let it go just after the buzzer. All in all, it was just another evening where Pritchard took much of the scoring responsibility away from the starters and did so efficiently at a fast pace. His second-half performance helped give the starters most of the fourth quarter off.

Neemias Queta turns out to be a ray of hope: The big man is on the 15-man roster this year, but started the year at the bottom of the middle depth chart. However, after an energetic effort on both ends of the floor, he ensured he needed more minutes in this game. Queta scored 12 points and seven rebounds in 14 minutes, including a team-high four offensive rebounds. He held his own against the Wizards' physical strengths in the post and looked particularly springy moving up and down the floor. Queta has always been a great weapon on offense, but in his fourth NBA season, he continues to make good progress down the stretch. This period of improvement should make it very easy for Al Horford (20 minutes) to keep his minutes down despite the absence of Kristaps Porzingis.