Celtics player grades: Boston loses to the Washington Wizards, but may yet right the ship

The Boston Celtics fell in double overtime yet again after shooting so poorly they might have missed the sea with a rock, yet the Celtics’ 115 – 112 road loss to the Washington Wizards might have been one of their better games of the season just the same.

If you are confused, we understand why. This squad has already snapped right back into the mold of “team-with-potential-that-never-reaches-it” mode as it was for virtually all of last season. But after a cluster of low-effort, unfocused games for Boston that saw it dredge up all of those bad vibes, it showed it actually is able to play with effort and focus, even if the schema new head coach Ime Udoka is trying to install on both ends of the court still needs a fair amount of work.

Let’s dive into a more granular analysis of why we feel Saturday’s defeat is about as close as one can get to a “good” loss, even if we don’t really believe in the concept.

Jabari Parker - 4 points

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It’s probably not the worst idea to give Parker some run on a night when the team struggles to put the biscuit in the basket, but when the specific skill that ails is 3-point shooting, a career 32.4% shot from that range might not be the guy to turn to.

We get the urge to turn to a veteran here, but we aren’t sure it’s worth playing him before Aaron Nesmith. Time, we suppose, will tell.

Grade: D+

Payton Pritchard - 5 points

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Fast PP provided some key buckets and boosted the team’s playmaking a bit in the amount of run he should probably get consistently, given this feels like a baseline performance with room to grow.

Hard to say where he will get the minutes from barring a consolidation trade, however.

Grade: C

Romeo Langford - 2 points, 4 rebounds

Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports

This was far from Langford’s best game this season, but it was also his first back from missing multiple games due to injury.

Some solid defensive plays as is the norm with him, but the Indiana product needs to find a way to score to warrant these kinds of minutes with such a deep bench.

Grade: D+

Josh Richardson - 18 points

Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports

This might have been Richardson’s best game as a Celtic on both ends of the floor, with the Tennessee product getting to the rim when his shot didn’t fall.

This was a familiar tactic for several teammates we will expand on shortly, but the increased communication and coherence on defense also kept the Celtics in a game they had no business being in.

Grade: B+

Grant Williams - 6 points, 4 rebounds

(AP Photo/Nick Wass)

It’s hard to ding Williams for missing his shots on a night so few could connect, but he does need to make the shots he gets to help his team space the floor.

The former Vol did find ways to contribute even still but was mostly a non-factor in this game despite his team needing him to step up. He has time to grow into that role, but Saturday was not his best attempt at doing so.

Grade: C-

Al Horford - 8 points, 10 rebounds, 5 assists, 6 blocks

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This might have been Horford’s worst game in a while, yet was still an excellent defensive effort (6 blocks!) making more than a few fantasy teams hum with his well-rounded play.

By this point, it should be clear why the front office was so excited to trade for the veteran big man given the multitude of ways he can help a team, and Saturday was no exception.

Grade: B

Dennis Schroder - 6 points, 9 assists

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Schroder managed to still have a solid night despite going 1-for-7 from the floor, and that’s saying a lot.

Keeping the ball moving and being a general pest on defense made up for a lot of the bad shooting, if not quite enough of it in the end.

Grade: C+

Jayson Tatum - 27 points, 15 rebounds

Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports

It might seem strange to look at a performance from Tatum that saw him go 10-of-32 from the floor with plenty of hands in the air why he continues to cry to the refs and say it was an improvement, but it was.

That the Duke product attacked the rim and got to the line 7 times (and should have at least 2 more times, to give our favorite complainer a shred of credit) while playing more engaged and aggressively gobbling up rebounds is a clear step up from Tatum’s last few games.

Grade: C+

Jaylen Brown - 34 points, 6 assists

(AP Photo/Nick Wass)

Above all players save perhaps Horford, Brown modeled how to stay in a game you can’t hit the broadside of a barn in with locked-in defense and a relentless attack of the rim.

One has to wonder if the team-high 47 minutes is going to come back to bite Brown on Monday given his recent comments that “every game feels like three,” but we couldn’t realistically ask for a much better turnaround from the Georgia native compared to Wednesday’s tilt with the Wiz.

Grade: A-

This post originally appeared on Celtics Wire. Follow us on Facebook!

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