“Should never be a problem”

The defending champion Boston Celtics moved to 2-0 to start the season after defeating the Washington Wizards on the road 122-102.

The Wizards struck early, thanks to Jordan Poole's promise of an up-and-coming season with 17 points in the first quarter on 5-for-6 from three. Towards the end of the first half, Washington was ahead by eight, and the game was even tied until four minutes before the end of the first half.

Then the mighty Celtics came into play, going on a 43:19 run at the start of the fourth quarter and quickly scoring 30 points, as they were used to. They hit 17 triples, following an NBA record 29 on opening night.

Jayson Tatum continued his revenge spree after the Olympics, starting the season still in MVP quality with 25 points, 11 rebounds and 6 assists, while birthday boy Jaylen Brown also made an appearance. The Finals MVP scored 27 points, eight rebounds, three assists and four steals on 10-20 from the field, a plus-22. He and Tatum both outscored the Wizards' starters by one point. In fact, Poole finished with six three-pointers and the rest of the team only had one (7-36).

Derrick White continued his incredible all-around play as one of the game's most entertaining players and best two-way player, going plus-33 with 19 points, four assists, four rebounds and four three-pointers. He has three goals in the first two games, going 10 of 17. Neemias Queta even provided energy in his 13 minutes off the bench with 12 points, seven rebounds and 5-7 shooting. He held his opponents to 4-10 shooting and Queta's play on the glass was tireless, which was a great sign for him moving forward in the rotation this season.

Payton Pritchard, who left the field after a slow opening game and shot the ball poorly into the goal, also had great performances this season. He responded with 15 of his own on 5-10 from three. Pritchard landed another shot reminiscent of the Finals at the end of the third period when he was outside half court near the bench and shot one. You just felt like it was going to take off, knowing how elite Pritchard is now known for being there. However, the shot came too late after the buzzer and didn't count.

Pritchard talked about maintaining the same energy and focus as Boston on banner night after they finally got their rings.

“That should never be a problem, especially with our group,” Pritchard said. “We love playing basketball, so no one could be in the gym and we would love to play basketball. I mean, at least that’s the attitude I take, and I feel like everyone here just wants to play ball, so it should never be a problem.”

The Celtics guard also discussed the importance of maintaining the same energy as they opened the new season on Tuesday and distanced themselves from their championship past.

“I’m just ready to compete,” Pritchard added. “We go to practice and play five-on-five and everyone plays hard and no one is there watching, so even if it’s empty we’re going to go in and play hard.”

Boston is showing that they are approaching the 2017 Warriors level of just dominating teams and going on defense, going up to over 30 points in no time. The group looks even scarier than last year and doesn't even have Kristaps Porzingis. The train will try to continue in this direction on Saturday night in Detroit against the Pistons.