The Celtics relied on their championship tradition to win their first road game against the Wizards

WASHINGTON – They won't all be the same as they were in Tuesday night's home opener. They won't all be as crowded as TD Garden. The Celtics saw what the other side of the NBA looks like on Thursday at Capital One Arena, a Washington Wizards team that is in the early stages of a rebuild that could take years.

Washington started two rookies, a second-year player, the mercurial Jordan Poole, and Kyle Kuzma, who has yet to reach his potential, against the best team in the NBA. And the Celtics started slowly, allowing Poole to score 17 points in the first seven minutes.

It was Washington's home opener. The Celtics fully expected the painfully young, lottery-bound team to play hard, and they did. Maturity and experience defeated the Wizards' youth and energy in a 122-102 victory, a sign that the Celtics want to approach every game with the same seriousness and focus because they mean the same thing.

Of course, the significance of that stunning 132-109 season-opening win over the Knicks cannot be ignored, but the Celtics had to approach it with the same intensity in Washington, even if it wasn't necessary for 48 minutes.

Capital One Arena was half full at the time of opening, as enthusiasm for a team whose express goal is to enter the Cooper Flagg Sweepstakes is muted at best. The Wizards/Bullets have not won 50 games since the 1978-79 season and have not reached the conference finals since losing to the Seattle SuperSonics in the NBA Finals a year later.

That's actually how the other half lives, and the Celtics players, who have all won a championship and been to multiple conference finals, have to be thankful that they are in an organization that has made a concerted effort to win a championship every year since Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum arrived.

The Wizards start over, filling their roster with promising first-round picks, keeping Poole and Kuzma to maintain some semblance of respectability, then adding Jonas Valanciunas and Malcolm Brogdon to create a veteran presence. Unfortunately for the fanbase, it will be a losing combination.

But midway through the second quarter, Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla had to call a timeout after the Wizards went on a 6-0 run to cut Boston's lead to 47-46. It was a ball game because the Celtics didn't play with quite the same precision as they did on Tuesday night. They quickly put things right with a 17:8 run at the end of the quarter and then scored 16 of the first 20 points in the second half to restore order.

“Again, I think it’s a good team,” Mazzulla said. “From that point of view, they are well trained, fast and physically resilient. This will take some time and I think you have to adjust your expectations to how a game plays out. Once we got familiar with the game it was great. There was a little discomfort from a few days ago, but we responded well to it.”

After two games, the Celtics are simply trying to develop their rhythm and consistency that was so impressive last season. And it's not that difficult. The entire team is back and the roles are set. Sam Hauser had to miss out due to back pain and Mazzulla opted for other big players as replacements. It worked. Neemias Queta finished the game with 12 points and seven rebounds in nearly 14 minutes.

On his 28th birthday, Brown hit two 3-pointers early in the fourth quarter to give the Celtics a 31-point lead, then it was time for scrap. The atmosphere in Washington was, as usual, overwhelmingly pro-Celtic. Former Wizard Kristaps Porzingis was there, drawing cheers every time he walked from the tunnel to the end of the bench.

After the Celtics won, Tatum and Brown were applauded as they left the court and Brown signed a giant cardboard cutout of his new signature shoe. They were always greeted on the street by large contingents of fans. But now they're rock stars because of their status as reigning NBA champions.

And they appear to be prepared for the responsibility of being defending champions, especially against younger teams like the Wizards, who had a handful of young players looking to prove themselves against the Celtics' veteran team. During one stretch of the second quarter, Tatum hit a stepback 3-pointer into the face of No. 2 pick Alex Sarr and then had something to say to a fan sitting courtside.

Tatum may only be 26, but players like Sarr, Bub Carrington and Kyshawn George are rookies looking for the respect and fame that Tatum already has.

“It really shows how time flies,” Tatum said. “People who come into the league at 19 and probably watch me play for seven years. For perspective, I remember being in the top three, coming into the league and playing against guys I watched as a kid. I know that as a 19-year-old you want to earn the respect of your peers and guys you look up to. I'm not going to pursue (Sarr) because he's a rookie. When I was 19, no one made it easy for me, and that’s how you get better.”

The Celtics may not have taken as big a step forward as they did in Tuesday's opener because the opponent and atmosphere were significantly different, but they took a step forward on Thursday, facing an undermanned team that played with the same enthusiasm as the Celtics Going into the opening night, all hopes were taken away from another 29 squads.

The Celtics have taken care of their business and now they're heading to Detroit, the sign of a mature team.

Gary Washburn is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him @GwashburnGlobe.