NBA Playoffs 2017: 5 keys to Wizards vs. Celtics matchup

4. The battle of the benches

The battle of the benches is, right now, more a title for show than truthfulness. In the Wizards’ four games against the Celtics in the regular season, their bench was outscored three times. To maximize their chances of a trip to the Conference Finals, the Wiz have to get contributions from players No. 6-9.

The Wizards’ bench has been a problem throughout the season; an issue they tried to mitigate with the acquisitions of Bojan Bogdanovic and Brandon Jennings. Both players have had flashes offensively, but only occasional bursts of scoring prowess won’t alleviate the Wizards’ reliance on its starters.

Since Bogdonavic joined the Wizards, he’s scored at least 20 points four times, including the playoffs. The sample size is small, but of those four times, three ended in a win, with the only loss coming to the Warriors. Yet, over that same span, he’s scored in single digits 12 times. The Wiz don’t need Bogdanovic to score over 20 to win every game, considering at least Wall or Bradley Beal will be on the floor more often than not (more on that later), but any burden off Wall and Beal could have a huge impact.

As for the Celtics, their depth has been one the strongest aspects of their team. Smart and Kelly Olynyk have given good minutes, with Olynyk playing the majority of his minutes with Smart on the floor. Both have been featured in the Celtics’ small-ball lineups.

Their flexibility with lineups allows them to play big, small and, when they’re feeling really frisky, super small. Through six games this postseason, the Celtics’ most frequent lineup has only played 57 minutes, compared to the Wizards’ most frequent lineup racking up 108 minutes over that same stretch.